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rca testing

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Old 01-09-2008, 05:16 PM
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rca testing

what is the best way to test ?
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Old 01-09-2008, 08:23 PM
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i was thinking of cutting an old rca's run a 9v to the wires and using a bananna clip to add it to my rca then use a meter to see if i have 9v at the othere end
does that look good or is there a better way ?
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Old 01-10-2008, 12:33 PM
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What are you trying to test for? Voltage drop is going to be miniscule if anything, for the length that an RCA is. You may see a little bit of resistance increase but again, negligible. Most of those hung up on RCAs are all about how they sound and you will never be able to measure that with anything but your own ears. Of course, absolutely everything else in the system that you using to reference those RCAs must be top notch, if the RCAs are going to be the 'weak link' in the system to improve upon. Do you have tens of thousands of dollars wrapped up in your home system to ensure that nothing else is inferior to measure those RCAs? I suppose of course you can do straight a-b testing on whatever you listen to now to see if there are differences. Then the question is raised if those differences are 'better' or not.
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Old 01-10-2008, 04:07 PM
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i have more then one set i removed form my suv (6-10 )sets i know one is bad (it have 1/2 power on one side ) so i need to test them to see what set is bad
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Old 01-10-2008, 05:21 PM
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get an rca female and short it out. plug it into one end of the rca cable. Read the resistance at the other end with an ohmeter. It should be a short.

get a few rca females and short out all your cables. Test em all at once!
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Old 01-10-2008, 06:08 PM
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would you test ohms or V ?
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Old 01-10-2008, 06:52 PM
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Did say use your ohm meter to test resistance or user your volt meter to test voltage?

You want to test continuity.

You also want to do the same test without the short on the end. It should be an open .


So if you read 0 with the short AND very high ohms without the short your cables are good.
If you read an open with the short then your cables are cut somewere.
If you read a short without the shorted rca plug at the end, it means something is crushing your cables, or cutting into them and shorting them out.

IF you used your voltmeter, what would you read? You have no voltage source, plus the short = 0 volts.

Before you do this. google ohms law and read a bit.
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Old 01-10-2008, 08:11 PM
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I don't know what you have for a multimeter but on mine i have the ability to have a test tone emitted if the cable is good. Basically you connect the positive clip from the meter to one side of the cable and then the negative to the other side of the same cable, if its good, then the meter will make a tone, if not you wont get anything. Maybe that will help you out a bit.
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Old 01-11-2008, 08:26 PM
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see i was thinking of harder ways then you
thank you
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Old 02-11-2008, 04:16 AM
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I was wondering, could you bridge the rca across a speaker to see if there was an output from the stereo ?
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