Telling Left from Right on unlabeled RCA cables


The gray RCA phone plugs coming out of the back of my turntable have no color labeling and no L or R on them. On one the "head" is about 3/8" longer. So which one is the left channel and which is the right channel to plug into the back of my amplifier?

Thank you!
williams5

Showing 1 response by jax2

Get the Sterophile Test CD which has a speaker channel orientation track. It will take you 10 seconds to fugure it.

I would strongly discourage attempting to play a CD on your turntable. Unless I've completely lost touch with the advancements in technology, it will not likely yield the results you need to determine which cable is which channel.

I'm not sure how proficient you are with adjustments to your turntable, but you could potentially determine which connection on the tonearm-cartridge interface is for the right channel, pull that connection (carefully) with a pair of tweezers, and play an LP to determine which is the left. Once you figure that out, it should be pretty easy to figure out which one is the right.

Marco