September 6, 2016

  • Cable Cooker, Part 10

    Let's go back to September 1992, the start of my senior year of college. While I was hooking up my Sony/Adcom stereo with Monster IL-400 and AudioQuest Topaz interconnects, my housemate Ron was connecting his PC to our regular landline. A cable burn-in device, the Duo-Tech Cable Enhancer, did exist at the time. But as it was not reliable, it was in the twilight of its market life.
    IMG_3206
    Back in 92-93, I do not believe any of us knew about CAT5 cables, RJ45, and/or Ethernet. While we found the AQ interconnects to be more accurate than the Monster Cable(s), we could not imagine any RCA-to-RJ45 conversion or adapter.
    IMG_3207
    But that is indeed what people today use, to transmit audio (from RCA out) via a house's internal wiring. The ones above have two male RCAs on one end, and a female RJ45 at the other. You should be able to find electronics stores, which sell these for well under US$20/pair, including tax and shipping.
    IMG_3208
    It is now 2016, and we now have so-called CAT5 (and higher) Ethernet cable and the audiodharma Cable Cooker. These same RCA/RJ45 adapters allow the Cable Cooker to treat Ethernet cables. Hooray! But do pay attention to which direction you are Cooking said Ethernet cable(s).