A coaxial speaker cable, often known as coax, is an electrical cable with an inner conductor surrounded by a concentric conducting shield separated by a dielectric (insulating substance).
Most of coaxial speaker cables generally have outer sheath or jacket for protection. The outer shield and the inner conductor share a geometric axis, which is referred to as coaxial.
Coaxial speaker cable is a type of transmission line that is used to send high-frequency electrical signals with little loss.
Examples of applications include cable television transmissions, telephone trunk lines, broadband internet networking cables, high-speed computer data buses, and connecting radio transmitters and receivers to their antennas.
It is different from the other types of shielded cables in that the cable size, other dimensions and connections controlled with much precision to ensure a precise, consistent conductor spacing to enable to function it as a transmission line.
Oliver Heaviside demonstrated how coaxial wire may minimise signal interference between parallel cables in his 1880 British patent.
Coaxial speaker cable was utilised in the first and subsequent transatlantic cable deployments (1858), but its theory was not detailed until 1880 by Oliver Heaviside, an English scientist, engineer, and mathematician who patented the idea in that year (British patent No. 1,407).
Applications of Coaxial Speaker Cable
For radio frequency signals, coaxial speaker cable is utilised as a transmission line. Feedlines connect radio transmitters and receivers to their antennas, computer network (e.g., Ethernet) connections, digital audio (S/PDIF), and cable television signal distribution are all examples of its uses.
One advantage of coaxial speaker cable over other types of radio transmission lines is that the electromagnetic field carrying the signal only occurs in the area between the inner and outer conductors in an ideal coaxial cable.
This permits coaxial speaker cable runs to be put near to metal objects like gutters without experiencing the power losses that other transmission lines do. The signal is protected from external electromagnetic interference by using coaxial wire.
Description
An insulating layer surrounds an inner conductor, and the entire structure is shielded by one to four layers of woven metallic braid and metallic tape.
An outer insulating jacket protects the cable. The outer of the shield is kept at ground potential whereas the centre conductor receives a signal carrying voltage.
The advantage of coaxial design is that the signal’s electric and magnetic fields are contained to the dielectric, with low leakage outside the shield, thanks to differential mode, equal push-pull currents on the inner conductor and within the outer conductor.
Electric and magnetic fields outside the cable are also kept from interfering with signals inside the cable if unequal currents are filtered out at the receiving end of the line.
Coaxial speaker cable is a good choice for carrying both small communications that cannot tolerate environmental interference and powerful electrical impulses that must not radiate or couple into neighbouring structures or circuits. Larger diameter cables and cables with many shields reduce leakage.
Coaxial speaker cable is commonly used for RF and microwave transmission, video and CATV distribution, and computer and instrumentation data interfaces.
The dielectric constant of the inner insulator and the radii of the inner and outer conductors determine the cable’s characteristic impedance.
A consistent cable characteristic impedance is necessary to minimise loss in radio frequency systems where the cable length is comparable to the wavelength of the signals delivered.
To guarantee maximum power transfer and a low standing wave ratio, the source and load impedances are set to match the cable’s impedance. Attenuation as a function of frequency, voltage handling capability, and shield quality are all significant aspects of coaxial cable.
Connectors
Connectors are used to join the ends of coaxial cables. Coaxial connectors have the same impedance as the attached cable and are meant to retain a coaxial form across the connection.
High-conductivity metals like silver or tarnish-resistant gold are mostly used to coat connectors. The RF signal is only conveyed by the plating at higher frequencies due to the skin effect, and it does not permeate the connection body.
Silver tarnishes quickly and the resulting silver sulphide is poorly conductive, reducing connector performance, making it an improper material for this use.
Uses of Coaxial Speaker Cable
Short coaxial cables are often used in NIM, ham radio systems, and to link home video equipment. Twisted pair cables have mostly superseded twisted pair cables for constructing computer networks, particularly Ethernet (“thick” 10BASE5 and “thin” 10BASE2), with the exception of the increasing consumer cable modem sector for broadband Internet access.
Long-distance coaxial speaker cable was used to connect radio, television, and long-distance telephone networks in the twentieth century, although it has mostly been replaced by newer means (fibre optics, T1/E1, satellite).
Shorter coaxials are still used to transmit cable television signals to the majority of television receivers, and this is the primary use of coaxial cable.
Coaxial speaker cable was also used in computer networking in the 1980s and early 1990s, most notably in Ethernet networks, until being superseded by UTP cables in North America and STP cables in Western Europe, both having 8P8C modular connections, in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Micro coaxial cables are found in a variety of consumer electronics, military equipment, and ultra-sound scanning devices.
Although different impedances are available for specific applications, the most generally used impedances are 50 or 52 ohms and 75 ohms. Although 75 ohms is often utilised for broadcast television and radio, 50 / 52 ohm cables are regularly used for industrial and commercial two-way radio frequency applications (including radio and telecommunications).
From a satellite dish to a satellite receiver, from a television antenna to a television receiver, from a radio mast to a radio receiver, and so on, coax cable is frequently used to transfer data/signals from an antenna to a receiver.
In many cases, the same single coax cable also transports power in the reverse direction, from the low-noise amplifier to the antenna. In some situations, such as DiSEqC, a single coax cable can carry both (unidirectional) power and bidirectional data/signals.
How to Install Surround Sound Using Coaxial Speaker Cable
A coaxial Speaker cable is a type of digital cable that is often used to link video sources. Coaxial audio cables resemble coaxial video cables in appearance, being thick and insulated with dark tubing.
Coaxial audio cables, on the other hand, have a thicker prong than coaxial video cables. Coaxial cables use electric pulses to convey audio through copper wiring. Because they transmit high-quality music at a low cost, coaxial audio cables are a popular choice for connecting home audio systems.
In comparison to braided wire RCA cables, the solid copper wire coaxial audio cable allows for the transmission of a higher fidelity digital signal.
Step 1: Place the audio receiver for your surround sound system so that you can easily access the back panel.
Step 2: Connect one end of your coaxial audio cable to the “coaxial audio in” port on the surround sound system audio receiver.
Step 3: Connect the coaxial audio cable’s opposite end to the audio source. Connect the coaxial speaker cable to the “coaxial audio out” connector of the cable television receiver, for example, if you’re connecting your surround sound system to your cable television.
Step 4: Purchase an RCA-to-coaxial audio converter if you have only RCA ports on your audio output devices. In this scenario, use RCA cables to connect your audio output device to the converter. Then connect the coaxial audio cable from the converter to the surround sound system’s coaxial input port.
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