RCA Audio Cables

[MLA]

Theres a difference between a traditional coax with a woven conductor over a center conductor and twisted. Twisting prevents EMI. You see twisted conductors on such applications as ABS wheel speed sensor leads and crank and cam sensor leads that produce an AC voltage.

[gregski]

What do you mean by differential op-amp?

Generally we say "amp" to mean the box that you install in your boat or car. The actual components inside the amp are things like resistors, capacitors (passive components) and active components like op-amps. Op-amps are the fundamental electrical building block that are inside the "amp" in the signal path. Like David Analog said these are ICs (integrated circuits) - the chips and components on the circuit board.

[gregski]

Theres a difference between a traditional coax with a woven conductor over a center conductor and twisted. Twisting prevents EMI. You see twisted conductors on such applications as ABS wheel speed sensor leads and crank and cam sensor leads that produce an AC voltage.

Coax also prevents EMI. It's just a difference of how the signal is driven.

[MLA]

Coax also prevents EMI. It's just a difference of how the signal is driven.

And "twisted" is not a marketing gimmick, as some might say.

[gregski]

And "twisted" is not a marketing gimmick, as some might say.

They are playing off of the terminology of a twisted pair conductor, which is a good transmission line for a differential signal but are talking about the stranded wires of the coax shield? Twisting the shield conductors doesn't help with EMI, there's only one conductor. What you want is a solid continuous ground surface.

I would like to see a construction diagram of a "dual twist" coax. I stand by my statement that it is a marketing gimmick.

[David Analog]

Quote, "I would like to see a construction diagram of a "dual twist" coax. I stand by my statement that it is a marketing gimmick."

Not a marketing ploy. Just a basic description. Pretty simple. For most of the RCA cable length the left and right + positive and negative are intertwined. Then they split at each end and are single twisted pair for the short distance to the end terminals.

[gregski]

For most of the RCA cable length the left and right + positive and negative are intertwined. Then they split at each end and are single twisted pair for the short distance to the end terminals.

Ah, now that makes sense but the advantage would be cable size by sharing one shield, but it wouldn't improve noise immunity.

[jstenger]

This thread has been full of great info, but a couple questions have not been answered.

Brian - Are the XM amps and the ZLDMKII single ended or differential?

Anyone-How do you test to see if the equipment is single ended or differential?

From what I have read online, if the outer conductor is grounded, then it is single ended. If the outer conductor is not grounded, then it is a differential. Am I wrong?

[MLA]

This thread has been full of great info, but a couple questions have not been answered.

Brian - Are the XM amps and the ZLDMKII single ended or differential?

Anyone-How do you test to see if the equipment is single ended or differential?

From what I have read online, if the outer conductor is grounded, then it is single ended. If the outer conductor is not grounded, then it is a differential. Am I wrong?

Unfortunately, the waters have been muddied. None of that matters when pairing those together with a standard mobile audio stereo RCA's from Monster, Kicker, JL, Wet Sounds, Rockford, Metra T-Spec, Knu-Konceptz, Stinger, Mono-Price, on and on and on.