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In Holland, we commonly refer to these connectors as 'Tulip connectors' ( http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpstekker ). Might be nice to add this somewhere. -- Raboof ( talk) 19:41, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
what does RCA stand for? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.168.230.116 ( talk • contribs)
Today, RCA jacks and jack plugs are mostly found on audio/video consumer products. Does anyone know the standards for the audio signals it carries (i.e. lowest and highest voltage, dynamic range handling etc.)? - unfortunately i can't find any articles on the internet regarding analogue audio standards. Thanks, -- Abdull 14:25, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
Anyone know the maximum length for one of these things?!! I have been looking for days....... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.69.63.29 ( talk • contribs)
It says here that RCA's need two cable to carry one signal. This is, at least in my experiance, untrue. An RCA can handle one signal and one channel so you would need two RCA's for two channels (Right and Left) to get stereo sound . I have never seen an (audio) appliance connected to an amplifier with more than two RCA's. I don't belive that the "four cables" example is accurate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reallybadtrip ( talk • contribs)
The TERM 'RCA' is used in the EMU sound card manual as is Coaxial for the same connector. I presume the CA in RCA is a ref to CoAxil?.. However the most important point is that a single cable is used to carry TWO Audio signals or a stereo signal using digtal format and in this case is used by the S/PDIF interface on the EMU sound card.. S/PDIF offers coaxial and Toslink digital data transfer options —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidjary ( talk • contribs) 11:46, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
The link to the article "ST" at the end links to a disambig that doesn't link to the intended article. I'm removing the link for now 192.136.22.4 19:30, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
The current photo of RCA jacks and plugs is very out of focus and has low contrast. Could it please be replaced with a better image? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Navstar ( talk • contribs)
is possible to use an RBG(M) cable in an RYW(F)? -- 61.68.27.183 15:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
see 'Color coding' below dhutch 17:53, 30 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dhutch ( talk • contribs)
Could be more precise on cable and connector specification: how many wires, for example. A picture head-on with the connector wires identified (and easy one for RCA...but S-video cables etc will have more complexity) should be made available (This could be a consistent feature across connector entries)
While balanced/unbalanced audio signals should (and do) have their own wiki articles, this article should include a reference to the fact that using RCA connectors for audio implies that the connection will be unbalanced.
Snottywong 18:56, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Video is normaly 75 ohms, Sync Positive 1.4 v Peak to Peak, no matter what sort of connector is used. .. In the good old days, it was carried on UHF or BNC connctors. I think the Apple ][ was the first place I saw an RCA used for Video, and the place I worked sold rca-BNC and RCA to F connctors the later as the RF modulator for the apple also put it's signal out on an RCA. If you wanted to mention the video impredence, it should probaly be in the terms of "standard Video". The 1.4 V BTW is 1 volt for the picture, and .4 volts for the sync. The old RCA radios connected the jack to the grid of the 12SQ7 with a 0.5MFD cap, so they were High impedence by default. Normaly low impedence is associated with ballanced circuts. cmacd 18:28, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
If this isn't already in the article, someone should add it. When you have RCA cables that are red, green, and blue instead of red, white, and yellow, the conversion is this:
Meaning, plug a green cord into the white input on your tv or device, plug blue into yellow, and red into red.
Source 1: [1] Source 2: Determining color code RCA cable left right
actually it doesn't matter, the idea of a conversion is just silly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.70.60 ( talk) 07:18, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
the idea of an adopted standard for using miss-coloured cables isnt totaly stupid, partiuarly if there is more than one person working on a job or the cable run large, however other than its being common to adopt red-red i havnt noticed any patern in my place of work. That alone however isnt useless, at you would typicaly notice a mix up between video and audio (white/yellow) where a swap of audio channels (white/red) could go unnoticed for some time, while sounding poor, particualarly inconjuction with other audio (ie, rear channels, or room sound) dhutch 17:52, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
When wiring RCA cables, you typically use the terms "tip" and "sleve" to referr to the inner part, and the outer part. For audio uses, the tip is negative (-) while the sleve is positive/hot (+). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.9.138 ( talk • contribs)
outside the US they're only know as Phono or Composite —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.70.60 ( talk) 07:17, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
In the UK they are called Phono (i worked in an electronics shop, maplin electronics and thats what we labelled the boxes as). This term is also used in the hi-fi world (check the "Richer Sounds" chain website) Oddly, we are the opposite of the US insofar that in the professional sound world, asking for a phono lead CAN get you a DIN plug (i think because a lot of european gear back when hi-fi began used DIN plugs almost exclusively instead of Phono/RCA plugs (this was the trend until the late 80s) 86.16.153.191 ( talk) 03:45, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
In Germany, Switzerland and other continental european countries they are mostly referred to as Cinch, sometimes "chinch". If you'd ask a clerk for an RCA they'd just not understand. Not so for "Jack" vs "Klinkenstecker", they are both quite common. -- 130.92.9.56 ( talk) 21:29, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
In the Netherlands I have never heard RCA plug used. Cinch plug or tulip plug are both common. 83.163.67.199 ( talk) 19:32, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
Ive worked in venue sound and lighting rigging four about three years and never heard it called RCA, always phono. Or somtimes if talking about a set of them for AV occataionly as 'conponent'. Refering to both 2audio+video setups and multi component video setups with and without audio. Slightly confusing as 'component' is also a valid term for component av using BNC conectors. dhutch 17:39, 30 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dhutch ( talk • contribs)
I live in the UK and am confused by the different standards which operate here.
One standard is for AV cables, which uses 3 cables. These use a yellow, white and red scheme. Yellow is video, white is left audio and red is right audio.
Another standard is solely for audio cables, which use two cables: a black and a red. Presumably one is for left audio and one is for right. I am, however, not sure which way round they are meant to go. Is the black left or right audio? (This article contains no reference to it and I have no idea which search terms to use on google - audio related terminology is not my strong point.) -- 88.83.110.216 ( talk) 02:03, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
Sine the electrical characteristics are the same, regardless of color, it is only important that the each end of a given cable be plugged into the appropriate socket. It is easier to remember for me when red = right and black = left, but, again, as long as we are "only" talking about analog audio, it doesn't matter.
As for the absurd, ridiculous and annoying tag about the article not reflecting world language use, sigh, I have done audio work in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, US, UK, Malta, Canada and Finland. Sure, each area has a pet name, "Cinch" in Germany, "tulip" in Amsterdam...but every single solitary country knows and everybody everywhere calls them RCA cables. Remove the stupid tag or justify it. Honestly, the bloody things have been spreading lately like the plague. I think we should institute some sort of policy requiring the posting of concrete grounds for objecting with concrete proposals of solutions as prerequisite for all these labels. I do wish th purists in both the US and UK would finally accept that whoever writes the article first, chooses the dialect.
This page does not mention the usual cable connected to such a connector. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.87.192.98 ( talk) 16:06, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, i think it worth mentioned this ultimatly, one of the main point of rca (phono) conectors is that the inner pin remains shelded. Other than when used for wiring contections to speakers where 'bell wire' type cable is common i dont think ive ever seen other than shelded cable used. (though not high spec co-ax cable) dhutch 17:33, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
One of my TVs only has a single white female jack, instead of a white and red female jacks. I'm not an expert, but shouldn't the article cover what the difference is? -- Scandum ( talk) 04:58, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
It already does. If it only has a white one, thats because it only has 1 audio channel (its mono, not stereo). This is the norm on smaller and/or older tvs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.16.153.191 ( talk) 03:48, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
"in all three cases, red denotes right" presumably this is because they both start with the same letter so it's easy to remember? But I don't know how to reference that to put it in the article. 71.167.68.209 ( talk) 15:30, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
Is there any official standard for the size of this RCA / Cinch connector? For the plug I do find e.g. 0.125" for the inner pin (3.175 mm) and 1/3" for the female outer size (8.467 mm). Others name 3.2 or 3.7 mm for the pin, 8.7 mm for the outer size, 0.415"/0.425" for the inner plug dimension (10.54 mm/10.8 mm) and 0.445" for the outer size of the contact (11.303 mm) - and that's just a first random selection. Isn't there an IEC, DIN, EU standard? -- Traut ( talk) 10:15, 19 December 2014 (UTC)
I am reading that the RCA socket is expecting 1 Volt (RMS or peak to peak?), but I have HiFi gear that has 150mV sensitivity. What is the standard? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.167.3 ( talk) 16:30, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
What kind of current can these connectors take using DC Voltages of around 12V? This would be in conjunction with decent cables made myself rather than the the pre-made ones which frequently have thin wiring which would limit the current carrying capability. User alan smith ( talk) 13:15, 6 December 2015 (UTC) alan smith
Article states 'by the 1940s'. I have old radios from the late 1930s that have an RCA jack - does anyone know an exact date they came out? 64.91.60.209 ( talk) 04:57, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
The article states 1940's for the RCA connector. I used to own an RCA model 242 radio. I obtained a schematic for the Radio in the 1970's from the RCA corporation. From that literature, the Radio was introduced in 1934. I can attest that the Radio had RCA connectors on the back of the metal radio chassis for use with an optional turntable. Therefore, I would say that the RCA connector was sold in at least the early 30's. -- User klimot talk 01 February 2019 —Preceding undated comment added 12:31, 1 February 2019 (UTC)
An IP editor has made changes to clarify that RCA was the inventor of this connector. The article previously indicated that the origin was unknown but made a case that it was RCA who popularized and named it. Neither the new or old assertions are well cited. The changes are a mixed bag and I'm tempted to revert it all but what we'd be reverting to is not clearly better. ~ Kvng ( talk) 16:03, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
What is the difference between gold tip and silver tip RCA jacks 2603:6011:947:F87C:78C8:50AE:94A6:326F ( talk) 06:22, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
In Holland, we commonly refer to these connectors as 'Tulip connectors' ( http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulpstekker ). Might be nice to add this somewhere. -- Raboof ( talk) 19:41, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
what does RCA stand for? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.168.230.116 ( talk • contribs)
Today, RCA jacks and jack plugs are mostly found on audio/video consumer products. Does anyone know the standards for the audio signals it carries (i.e. lowest and highest voltage, dynamic range handling etc.)? - unfortunately i can't find any articles on the internet regarding analogue audio standards. Thanks, -- Abdull 14:25, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
Anyone know the maximum length for one of these things?!! I have been looking for days....... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.69.63.29 ( talk • contribs)
It says here that RCA's need two cable to carry one signal. This is, at least in my experiance, untrue. An RCA can handle one signal and one channel so you would need two RCA's for two channels (Right and Left) to get stereo sound . I have never seen an (audio) appliance connected to an amplifier with more than two RCA's. I don't belive that the "four cables" example is accurate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reallybadtrip ( talk • contribs)
The TERM 'RCA' is used in the EMU sound card manual as is Coaxial for the same connector. I presume the CA in RCA is a ref to CoAxil?.. However the most important point is that a single cable is used to carry TWO Audio signals or a stereo signal using digtal format and in this case is used by the S/PDIF interface on the EMU sound card.. S/PDIF offers coaxial and Toslink digital data transfer options —Preceding unsigned comment added by Davidjary ( talk • contribs) 11:46, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
The link to the article "ST" at the end links to a disambig that doesn't link to the intended article. I'm removing the link for now 192.136.22.4 19:30, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
The current photo of RCA jacks and plugs is very out of focus and has low contrast. Could it please be replaced with a better image? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Navstar ( talk • contribs)
is possible to use an RBG(M) cable in an RYW(F)? -- 61.68.27.183 15:47, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
see 'Color coding' below dhutch 17:53, 30 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dhutch ( talk • contribs)
Could be more precise on cable and connector specification: how many wires, for example. A picture head-on with the connector wires identified (and easy one for RCA...but S-video cables etc will have more complexity) should be made available (This could be a consistent feature across connector entries)
While balanced/unbalanced audio signals should (and do) have their own wiki articles, this article should include a reference to the fact that using RCA connectors for audio implies that the connection will be unbalanced.
Snottywong 18:56, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Video is normaly 75 ohms, Sync Positive 1.4 v Peak to Peak, no matter what sort of connector is used. .. In the good old days, it was carried on UHF or BNC connctors. I think the Apple ][ was the first place I saw an RCA used for Video, and the place I worked sold rca-BNC and RCA to F connctors the later as the RF modulator for the apple also put it's signal out on an RCA. If you wanted to mention the video impredence, it should probaly be in the terms of "standard Video". The 1.4 V BTW is 1 volt for the picture, and .4 volts for the sync. The old RCA radios connected the jack to the grid of the 12SQ7 with a 0.5MFD cap, so they were High impedence by default. Normaly low impedence is associated with ballanced circuts. cmacd 18:28, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
If this isn't already in the article, someone should add it. When you have RCA cables that are red, green, and blue instead of red, white, and yellow, the conversion is this:
Meaning, plug a green cord into the white input on your tv or device, plug blue into yellow, and red into red.
Source 1: [1] Source 2: Determining color code RCA cable left right
actually it doesn't matter, the idea of a conversion is just silly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.70.60 ( talk) 07:18, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
the idea of an adopted standard for using miss-coloured cables isnt totaly stupid, partiuarly if there is more than one person working on a job or the cable run large, however other than its being common to adopt red-red i havnt noticed any patern in my place of work. That alone however isnt useless, at you would typicaly notice a mix up between video and audio (white/yellow) where a swap of audio channels (white/red) could go unnoticed for some time, while sounding poor, particualarly inconjuction with other audio (ie, rear channels, or room sound) dhutch 17:52, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
When wiring RCA cables, you typically use the terms "tip" and "sleve" to referr to the inner part, and the outer part. For audio uses, the tip is negative (-) while the sleve is positive/hot (+). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.9.138 ( talk • contribs)
outside the US they're only know as Phono or Composite —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.70.60 ( talk) 07:17, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
In the UK they are called Phono (i worked in an electronics shop, maplin electronics and thats what we labelled the boxes as). This term is also used in the hi-fi world (check the "Richer Sounds" chain website) Oddly, we are the opposite of the US insofar that in the professional sound world, asking for a phono lead CAN get you a DIN plug (i think because a lot of european gear back when hi-fi began used DIN plugs almost exclusively instead of Phono/RCA plugs (this was the trend until the late 80s) 86.16.153.191 ( talk) 03:45, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
In Germany, Switzerland and other continental european countries they are mostly referred to as Cinch, sometimes "chinch". If you'd ask a clerk for an RCA they'd just not understand. Not so for "Jack" vs "Klinkenstecker", they are both quite common. -- 130.92.9.56 ( talk) 21:29, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
In the Netherlands I have never heard RCA plug used. Cinch plug or tulip plug are both common. 83.163.67.199 ( talk) 19:32, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
Ive worked in venue sound and lighting rigging four about three years and never heard it called RCA, always phono. Or somtimes if talking about a set of them for AV occataionly as 'conponent'. Refering to both 2audio+video setups and multi component video setups with and without audio. Slightly confusing as 'component' is also a valid term for component av using BNC conectors. dhutch 17:39, 30 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dhutch ( talk • contribs)
I live in the UK and am confused by the different standards which operate here.
One standard is for AV cables, which uses 3 cables. These use a yellow, white and red scheme. Yellow is video, white is left audio and red is right audio.
Another standard is solely for audio cables, which use two cables: a black and a red. Presumably one is for left audio and one is for right. I am, however, not sure which way round they are meant to go. Is the black left or right audio? (This article contains no reference to it and I have no idea which search terms to use on google - audio related terminology is not my strong point.) -- 88.83.110.216 ( talk) 02:03, 13 November 2008 (UTC)
Sine the electrical characteristics are the same, regardless of color, it is only important that the each end of a given cable be plugged into the appropriate socket. It is easier to remember for me when red = right and black = left, but, again, as long as we are "only" talking about analog audio, it doesn't matter.
As for the absurd, ridiculous and annoying tag about the article not reflecting world language use, sigh, I have done audio work in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, US, UK, Malta, Canada and Finland. Sure, each area has a pet name, "Cinch" in Germany, "tulip" in Amsterdam...but every single solitary country knows and everybody everywhere calls them RCA cables. Remove the stupid tag or justify it. Honestly, the bloody things have been spreading lately like the plague. I think we should institute some sort of policy requiring the posting of concrete grounds for objecting with concrete proposals of solutions as prerequisite for all these labels. I do wish th purists in both the US and UK would finally accept that whoever writes the article first, chooses the dialect.
This page does not mention the usual cable connected to such a connector. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.87.192.98 ( talk) 16:06, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, i think it worth mentioned this ultimatly, one of the main point of rca (phono) conectors is that the inner pin remains shelded. Other than when used for wiring contections to speakers where 'bell wire' type cable is common i dont think ive ever seen other than shelded cable used. (though not high spec co-ax cable) dhutch 17:33, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
One of my TVs only has a single white female jack, instead of a white and red female jacks. I'm not an expert, but shouldn't the article cover what the difference is? -- Scandum ( talk) 04:58, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
It already does. If it only has a white one, thats because it only has 1 audio channel (its mono, not stereo). This is the norm on smaller and/or older tvs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.16.153.191 ( talk) 03:48, 30 June 2009 (UTC)
"in all three cases, red denotes right" presumably this is because they both start with the same letter so it's easy to remember? But I don't know how to reference that to put it in the article. 71.167.68.209 ( talk) 15:30, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
Is there any official standard for the size of this RCA / Cinch connector? For the plug I do find e.g. 0.125" for the inner pin (3.175 mm) and 1/3" for the female outer size (8.467 mm). Others name 3.2 or 3.7 mm for the pin, 8.7 mm for the outer size, 0.415"/0.425" for the inner plug dimension (10.54 mm/10.8 mm) and 0.445" for the outer size of the contact (11.303 mm) - and that's just a first random selection. Isn't there an IEC, DIN, EU standard? -- Traut ( talk) 10:15, 19 December 2014 (UTC)
I am reading that the RCA socket is expecting 1 Volt (RMS or peak to peak?), but I have HiFi gear that has 150mV sensitivity. What is the standard? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.167.3 ( talk) 16:30, 7 March 2015 (UTC)
What kind of current can these connectors take using DC Voltages of around 12V? This would be in conjunction with decent cables made myself rather than the the pre-made ones which frequently have thin wiring which would limit the current carrying capability. User alan smith ( talk) 13:15, 6 December 2015 (UTC) alan smith
Article states 'by the 1940s'. I have old radios from the late 1930s that have an RCA jack - does anyone know an exact date they came out? 64.91.60.209 ( talk) 04:57, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
The article states 1940's for the RCA connector. I used to own an RCA model 242 radio. I obtained a schematic for the Radio in the 1970's from the RCA corporation. From that literature, the Radio was introduced in 1934. I can attest that the Radio had RCA connectors on the back of the metal radio chassis for use with an optional turntable. Therefore, I would say that the RCA connector was sold in at least the early 30's. -- User klimot talk 01 February 2019 —Preceding undated comment added 12:31, 1 February 2019 (UTC)
An IP editor has made changes to clarify that RCA was the inventor of this connector. The article previously indicated that the origin was unknown but made a case that it was RCA who popularized and named it. Neither the new or old assertions are well cited. The changes are a mixed bag and I'm tempted to revert it all but what we'd be reverting to is not clearly better. ~ Kvng ( talk) 16:03, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
What is the difference between gold tip and silver tip RCA jacks 2603:6011:947:F87C:78C8:50AE:94A6:326F ( talk) 06:22, 6 September 2022 (UTC)