i wouldent even spend $5 on RCA wires. My home stereo puts out an easy 600watts and all i use are cheap $1-2 RCA wires from a doller store. There even gold plated but only real loss is that there not inspected 10 times in the factory and will break, but as long as your not using them as a jump rope or anything you shouldent have a problem. I've bought like 50+ different wires etc and only once has anything gone wrong which was my fault because it was broken in the package and i wasnt paying attention.

 

A modest counterpoint to those who say that better RCAs are a waste of money:

Many purists claim that in a properly-designed car audio system, all RCAs are about the same (meaning spending extra $$ is a waste). This is true, PROVIDED THAT you understand that their definition of "properly-designed" includes keeping the RCAs away from sources of noise (like the power cables) and that everything is scrupulously grounded. This isn't always easy to do in real life.

A few years ago, I installed a modest system into my Hummer. I originally used some Stinger RCAs that were middle of their line. I picked up all kinds of alternator noise. Out of desperation, I bought their top-end RCAs and the problem was solved like magic. It made a believer out of me.

As far as twisted-pair goes, Roamer is dead-on. Unless you're prepared to invest in a HU that provides balanced outputs, and an amp that properly "decodes" such a signal, you're better off going shielded.

 

I've been doing ALOT of reading into this subject and came to the conclusion that you do NOT need a balanced output to see the benefits of a twisted pair design. From what I understand, with an UNbalanced output, you have one signal wire and one ground (reference) wire. The input circuit of an amplifier receives the signal from the signal wire and ground wire and then amplifies the difference between the two. With a twisted pair design, any noise that enters the wires during signal transmission will be present equally in both the signal and ground wire and would subsequently get subtracted out by the amp's input circuit.

If this is correct, then the logic behind the noise reducing technology of a twisted pair design is sound, at least in principle. Am I understanding things correctly or am I just completely misinformed? I'm not an electrical engineer, so this subject isn't exactly my forte.

References...
http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/archive/...es/twisted.cfm
http://www.bcae1.com/amplfier.htm

 

The MTX article makes no mention of the *output* device (the HU). As for the BCAE article, if you follow the link, you'll go to this page:

http://www.bcae1.com/ballndrv.htm

Which says, among other things, "The balanced signal makes it easier to cancel out the noise, leaving a 'clean' signal. If you run your preamp cables next to your power wire (like the diagram below), you're more likely to pick up noise with an unbalanced signal line than with a balanced signal line."

The whole idea of balanced vs. unbalanced has to do with the devices in question, not the cables that connect them. And *that* is where the noise elimination comes from.

 

best way to elimate noise isn't spending $50 on some fancy RCA wire, spend like $15 at Canadian Tire and buy a noise filter. it is easy to install, only 3wires, one goes to ground, one to the positive wire goin to the stereo, one goes to the stereo (if you have an amp, install a noise filter on it to).
I had a lot of interference with my amp, mostly from my alternater but i installed the noise filter and its all fixed, only problem i have left is my own fault because i ran the input to the amp plus the power cable side by side as well as another wire to power the lights on the speakers. lucky for me, you cant hear it unless the volume is really low, and if the volume is gonna be low enough to hear it, you dont need to be running an amp.
its so easy, just cut the positive wire to the stereo, connect the red wire on the filter to the positive, the black to the ground, and the blue wire to the positive on the stereo, and if your cheap, attach the positive wire for the amp the the blue wire on the filter to, then you only need to buy one filter.
I dare somebody to find a better way, unless you all enjoy wasting money on expensive wires.
Just never run power lines with your amp input lines. basic rule of thumb, i got way to lazy and mine are all pressed side to side from the dash behind stereo to the back by the amp.

 

That is the rub, Those $50.00 cables can set right next to a power wire and never get noise induced to them. You can either wrap your wires with shielding or run it somewhere else.

 

After even further research into the subject of twisted pair vs shielded RCAs, I now fully understand the faults of the twisted pair design and why regular shielded RCAs are better at rejecting noise. The info presented in these two sites should convince anyone...

http://www.installer.com/tech/cat5.html

http://www.adireaudio.com/Files/Tech.../CarCables.pdf

From the second link, I got the missing bit of info that "I" needed to understand everything...In an UNbalanced system, there is a difference in terminating impedences between the signal and ground wires; therefore, even if these two wires were exposed to an equal amount of noise, the induced current between the two wires would be different and would not get subtracted out completely by the amp's input circuit. As I said prior, I am not an electrical engineer so all this is new info to me.

According to the author of the first link, inducted noises in car audio (noise radiated right into the cables) are fairly rare. I guess as long as you route your signal cables away from obvious sources of noise (eg. power wires), the differences between shielded or twisted pair should be inaudible.

 

well i can tell a difference in cables. i was using lightning audio (the top of the line stuff, not the bolt or strike stuff) and just swapped it out to audiobahn's specialist grade cables. on most systems you can't tell a difference with cables, but with high resolution systems there is a noticble difference.