Stereo speaker set up questions.

Connecting my computer to my stereo: in wall wiring question

• I am wiring several sets of speakers in my house (through existing walls.) I want to connect my mac to my stereo as a source. Mac & stereo are about 15 feet apart separated by two walls; I want to connect them via physical wires not wireless (I'm using wireless now and it drops out on occasion.) minijack (headphone) out of the computer. rca inputs into stereo (I'll likely use the tape-2 ports.) I have the guys at the house tomorrow doing the work. Several questions; 1) What type of cable should I use? Would speaker cable work? 2) I'm having trouble finding RCA jack wall outlets. I'm finding speaker-type wall outlets that take a bananna plug. Will these work? Basically, the goal is to run a wire(s) from my kitchen to my stereo through the walls. I'd like wall jacks at both ends. From these jacks, I'd like to connect one end to the headphone jack on my computer. On the other end, I'd like to connect to two rca-jacks which represent "tape-2" on my stereo. Stereo will drive 3 sets of remote speakers in the house. I'm hoping for an answer today or tomorrow. Thanks

• Answer:

  Hi, Rillette! I spent a lot of years selling consumer electronics, so I've been down this road a time or two. I have the pieces at home to do just this, but never used them because I sold my house and went back to renting. The first piece you need is a cable to go from the 1/8" mini stereo ("headphone/speaker") jack on your Mac to the RCA connections you'll be using the rest of the way. These are widely available. Below, you will find a link to the version from Monster Cable, on the Radio Shack website (I'm assuming you are in the US, and therefore have easy access to Radio Shack). http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F007%5F002%5F003%5F012&product%5Fid=12%2D2057 Monster Cable, of course, is a high-end audiophile product. They also offer a lightweight house brand version of the cable, shown at this link: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F007%5F002%5F003%5F009&product%5Fid=42%2D2551 A wall plate with RCA connectors is available at this link: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=40-990 This particular plate has three connectors on it, allowing for video use as well as audio use. While that is no part of your current project, it's not a bad notion for future use. Bear in mind that your installers should be able to source wall plates through their own suppliers, so you may want to discuss this with them. As for the wire running through your walls, you have a couple of choices. Speaker wire will work, though for continuous runs of over 20-25 ft you will want to use a heavy gauge of wire; I'd say nothing less than 14ga. with 12ga. being preferable. This is a bit on the pricy side, but it reduces signal loss. Another option would be to use coaxial (ie shielded) cable, similar to your television cable in design. This is the style used in higher-end audio cables. Here, budget will be the deciding factor; you'll have to settle in your mind how much you're willing to pay for this installation and then price out your wiring options accordingly with the installers. There is no particular reason why you could not use wall plates with binding posts ("banana plugs") instead, since the end result is the same. However, it would require adding RCA=>banana plug adaptors to the y-cable coming from your computer and again, at the other end, when you connect back to your stereo. Since each connection will degrade your signal to a degree, this is undesirable in the overall scheme of things. Search strategy: As you've undoubtedly guessed, this answer was constructed from personal knowledge. I chose Radio Shack's website as the place to source these items simply because of their ubiquity; if you need something in a hurry there's not much point supplying your with online ordering options. The Shack, on the other hand, is everywhere, and these products should be in stock (the Monster Cable might be special order for smaller stores, so phone first). I should add that your username gave me a welcome chuckle to start my day (I'm a cook by trade). Thanks for that! I'm off to work now for the day, but if you should require any further information please let me know by way of the "request clarification" button, and I'll amplify on this (pardon the pun) as needed. -Chromedome