Audio Interconnects

[LegendARRY]

Just a thought... can you use high quality home A/V interconnects for a car audio system? Eg, Monster M series... are they "adequate" enough or do you need something specifically designed to reject DC generated noise, alternator hum etc...?

[Clepto]

You tend to not want quite as much jacketing in order to get the wires where you want em, especially for RCAs... Car audio tends to be a bit cheaper, though not necessarily worse quality than what you would find for HT...

I think due to the target demographic more than anything else... Stay away from monster car audio though, they tend to have much smaller gauge wiring than the competition, especially for the 6 channel rca cables.

[knukonceptz]

Ergonomics is about the only difference, an Audio RCA for home will work in a car and vice versa. Mobile audio usualy does use smaller ends to fit into tighter areas but the general cable is the same. I often get asked about this with speaker wire, folks tend to think car speaker wire and home speaker wire (non CL2/3) are different for some odd reason.

[Clepto]

I've actually found that car speaker wire in bulk is more cost effective than 'home' speaker wire...

[goobenet]

Here's what i've learned.

Speaker wire, Lamp cord works the best, and is a ho-gillian feet for $20 at your local lowes/HD. Works just fine.

RCA Cables. If you have a domestic car, you more than likely have a noisy alternator/electrical system. When i first got my ford, i plugged in some old RCA's i had thinking nothing of it... Until i turned on the heater! Well now i made some RCA cables using shielded professional/broadcast grade wire. No issues anymore!

And for those who are wondering, i did try monster wire to see if it really was better. Answer: NOPE. :)