Belkin PureAV RCA Audio Cable (12 feet)

I like this cable, as I do everything I have that is from Belkin. I've used them for years. They connect to the jacks nicely and tightly, to make a very good connection.I had a cheap cable coming out of the back of my computer, going to my stereo amp. It runs near all sorts of power cables, USB cables, video cables and Ethernet cables. It goes past two monitors, two UPSs, several transformers, and assorted other equipment. With the old cable I got hum and static. I coupled this with a C2G / Cables to Go 29771 SonicWave RCA M/F Audio YCable and the hum went away and the static is reduced. There is still static, but you can only really hear it during silent times.I don't know if it was this cable or the C2G splitter that did the trick (probably a combination of both). C2G is also a good brand, making quality stuff.Also, even though this is packaged in that hard plastic, on the back there is a place you can punch in with your thumb and get it out without any knives or scissors! Kudos to Belkin for that.One thing, though - Belkin now only has this in 6-foot and 12-foot lengths. I have some older Belkin RCA cables that are 3 to 5 feet long, which is generally a better length. I'm worried that they might be discontinuing cables like these.

I needed to connect one of these Belkin cables from an RCA output to a spring clip (wire) connector on a speaker, so I cut off the RCA heads on one side. The actual copper wires inside of these cables are shockingly small, consisting of a twisted pair (2) of thin copper strands that I would estimate together to be smaller than regular 22 gauge speaker wire. I have posted a photo showing the RCA connectors and the actual wires inside for comparison to show how tiny the wires inside these cables actually are.These Belkin cables are 12 feet long, so if the wire inside was 22 gauge which is the smallest common gauge of speaker wire (and I believe they are in fact smaller than that), 12 feet would be the absolute maximum acceptable wire length without signal degradation if you are connecting to 8 ohm speakers. In other words if they were 22 gauge wire they would be BARELY acceptable at this length for connecting to 8 ohm speakers. And note that many speakers are not 8 ohm speakers, but are 6 ohm speakers, 4 ohm, or even 2 ohm subwoofers, and this length for such a small wire would be UNACCEPTABLE to connect to those speakers. Btw, I am not talking about audiophile wire mumbo jumbo, these are just the basic standards for wiring speakers that are determined by physics and everyone agrees on. In other words, if you are connecting your system with these speaker cables you are probably losing some of the signal quality because the wires inside these Belkin cables are too thin for the job, they are like the very thin wires you might see inside some $5 electronic toy, that is the size of wire we are talking about.The one positive thing about these cables is that they do seem to be well shielded, with not only a foil cover around the wires but also many aluminum (it appears) strands surrounding the further insulated copper wires inside, so the shielding does seem to be pretty good. I'm not an expert about wires, so all I can say is "seems to be pretty good", but it does seem the advertising is honest that they have put some effort into the shielding on these cables.I'm very disappointed in the quality of these cables after (luckily?) discovering how thin the actual wires inside the cables are. I had already ordered this cable and found out I am going to need a regular speaker wire instead, and was planning to just cut the RCA ends off of this cable and use it as speaker wire to save myself a few dollars, but it turns out the copper wires inside these Belkin cables are far too thin for satisfactory use as speaker wire even over relatively short distances. So they're just a throw away, really.I certainly don't reccomend them, but if you have them already and they are working ok for your purposes don't worry too much about it, if you are connecting 8 ohm speakers with them (which is most home speakers I think) then you are probably not missing much if anything. But generally, you need thicker wires than this to hook up your AV system if you want to maintain your system's signal integrity (if the wire is too thin it has a high resistance and you get signal degradation).

I did not want to spend too much money on this. After some research I found this Belkin AV cable. It does the job. I am happy with it. The quality is not great but the price is also very reasonable.

The world of hi-fi audio is expensive. The Belkin PureAV audio cables, however, prove to be an exception. This product is packed full of features usually reserved for cables ten times its price. What is first noticed when the product is removed from the packaging is the sturdiness of the cables. The wires are wrapped in an aluminum foil shield that prevents interference with the audio signal from both EMF and RF fields, and although the cables are thick and sturdy, they remain flexible. The tip of the plugs are also built well. The connections are plated with 24k gold, which prevents the copper underneath from corroding. The tip of the plug is also split so that it remains flexible and expands to make the best contact with your equipment.Despite the price, this is a product that I am not afraid to use on my hi-fi audio system, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants hi-fi on a budget.

installing these in a car I need them to be rugged as I have to snake the darn things around seats, behind protective plates, under carpets, etc. They held up to whatever pulling and dragging that had to be done without a scratch.2nd they need to really isolate ground loop noise, esp. in a noisy car like these Honda products with their pumped up ignition system. They did that well and delivered a clean music source as promised, while not breaking the bank. I will definitely consider getting these again. BTW, 12 feet was just enough to reach from a top of trunk amp. mount, to the side of trunk, down back of seat corner to floor, under carpet and up behind the dash structure with just enough left for a comfortable connect to the head unit.After using this for a while, I did notice there is a mild alternator whine but only at night with the headlights on. I was able to clear it up by putting in magnetic decouplers which you can easily find at your nearest RS. Separating the run of the interconnect from the power didn't seem to help. Ground loop noise like that is probably everywhere.

This cable is better than picture...performance is excellent..nice and sturdy..smooth feel to touch...I usually hide my cables but this looks good for a cable... so if you cant hide, this will look good.....do not hesitate if you need one you will not be disappointed... price is right to... I have a set of more expensive cables I wont tell you how much (to ashamed)that i spent that much, I put my expensive cable against this cable and could not tell the difference that's how good this cable works....