Professional technicians and home consumers alike face a variety of choices among audio cables, each of which serves a specific purpose.
Professional Cabling
Professional instrument cables use quarter-inch "phone plug" connectors to connect instruments to amplifiers. Patch cables and microphone cables, also used in professional applications, may have phone plugs or large, rounded connectors called XLR connectors, according to Musician's Friend.
Speaker Cables
Speaker systems use RCA cables to receive the music signal from a receiver or amplifier. RCA cables usually have red and white connectors to differentiate right and left speaker channels.
Audio vs. Video
An RCA cable can carry either video or audio, but a yellow-tipped connector traditionally supplies video. Component video cables resemble RCA cables except for their combination of blue, yellow, and green connectors.
Digital Audio Cables
Digital audio cables can have either a TOSLINK connector, which boasts a small clear-plastic pin, or an RCA-type connector. USB and Firewire cables can also send digital audio signals.
Warnings
Musician's Friends warns against using an audio cable for anything other than its intended purpose, because electrical "noise" affects some cables more drastically than others.
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