Jun 14, 2018
8
0
510
I have a pair of 1970s Zenith Allegro 1000s and a Pioneer Receiver VSX-819H-K . The Zenith has RCA cables while (Im not 100% sure on this) that my Receiver only takes Bare Wire, Banana, and Ring Terminal audio cables and not RCA cables. And if it does take RCA, then I cant figure out which settings it should be on and which ports. I was wondering if I should cut my speakers RCA cables and convert them into bare wire so I could plug them in or get a converter http://. Im not sure what to do and I dont want to waste hours of my time just to find out I did something I shouldn't have or there was a simple solution.
 
Solution
If you aren't ever going to connect those speakers to an amplifier/receiver/whatever which has RCA speaker outputs, then I would have no problem recommending cutting the wires and going bare or swapping the RCA connectors for banana ones - most modern consumer equipment is either bare wire, 4mm banana or hybrid.

Adding adapter cables if you don't need them as cable extensions or to preserve the original connectivity only adds unnecessary potential points of failure.

USAFRet

Illustrious
Moderator
And for continuity and a somewhat better sound, be sure to get the same 'wire' in the + and - connectors on the Pioneer.
It won'y actually break anything, but the sound may be a bit muddied if you have each speaker connected differently.

Doesn't matter which is which, as long as both speakers are the same.
 

InvalidError

Distinguished
Moderator
If you aren't ever going to connect those speakers to an amplifier/receiver/whatever which has RCA speaker outputs, then I would have no problem recommending cutting the wires and going bare or swapping the RCA connectors for banana ones - most modern consumer equipment is either bare wire, 4mm banana or hybrid.

Adding adapter cables if you don't need them as cable extensions or to preserve the original connectivity only adds unnecessary potential points of failure.
 
Solution

dudio

Admirable
I agree..no need for adapters.
Cut down and bare the wire for connection to the Receiver..bare wire is fine.
You do need to pay attention to polarity with speaker hook ups tho. Normally the center wire on the RCA connection is positive (+)
and the outer is negative (-). Use a multimeter to confirm which is which when you connect to the amp if it's not physically apparent.
 

InvalidError

Distinguished
Moderator

I hate hacking perfectly good cables too. In this case though, I haven't seen audio equipment using RCA speaker connections in something like 30 years, so cutting the RCA plugs from your speakers' original cables is the simplest, cheapest and most reliable way of bringing your '70s speakers into the new millennium :)