Name: AudioQuest Black Lab
Brand: AudioQuest
SKU: 703BLAB5M
Price: 75.95 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (181 reviews)

by Crutchfield's Steve Kindig

Help your subwoofer sound its best

AudioQuest's Black Lab cable delivers all the deep bass goodness your powered subwoofer is capable of. This cable features two identical conductors, and each conductor is a single, unbroken strand of AudioQuest's high-purity Long-Grain Copper. Solid conductors eliminate electrical and magnetic interference that can make multi-strand conductor cables sound brittle.

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Help your subwoofer sound its best

High-quality connectors eliminate the weakest link

Black Lab features RCA connectors made of gold-plated copper. The connectors are fastened by cold welding — a solder-less process that uses high pressure and silver paste to minimize signal loss. By contrast, solder tends to impede the signal, and heating the copper conductor can negatively affect its performance.

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Product highlights:

two solid Long-Grain Copper conductors eliminate "strand-interaction" distortion
air-filled foamed-polyethylene insulation minimizes energy storage and its associated distortion
100% coverage metal shield with AQ's Noise Dissipation System to resist RFI interference
cold-welded gold-plated RCA connectors for reliability and resistance to corrosion
built-in ground wire with spade lugs to prevent hum
smooth PVC jacket
warranty: 5 years
MFR # BLAB05

What's in the box:

16.4' Mono-RCA subwoofer cable (w/ a male RCA connector and 8" ground wire on each end)

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181 reviews

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Researched by Crutchfield's Stacey B.

Product Research

Features

Solid Long-Grain Copper (LGC) Conductors: Solid conductors eliminate strand-interaction distortion. Black Lab's solid Long-Grain Copper allows a smoother and clearer sound than cables using regular OFHC (Oxygen-Free High-Conductivity) copper. OFHC is a general metal industry specification regarding "loss" without any concern for distortion. LGC has fewer oxides within the conducting material, less impurities, less grain boundaries, and definitively better performance.

Foamed-Polyethylene Insulation: Black Lab uses air-filled Foamed-Polyethylene Insulation on both conductors because air absorbs next to no energy and Polyethylene is low-loss and has a benign distortion profile. Thanks to all the air in Foamed-PE, it causes much less of the out-of-focus effect common to other materials.

Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System (NDS): AudioQuest's Noise-Dissipation System prevents a significant amount of RFI from reaching the equipment's ground plane.

Symmetrical Coax Geometry: Identical positive (+) and negative (-) conductors prevent the shield being used as an inferior audio conductor.

Cold-Welded Gold-Plated Plugs: This plug design allows for a connection without the use of solder, which is a common source of distortion. Because the ground shells are stamped instead of machined, the metal can be chosen for low distortion instead of machinability.

Grounding: If you hear noticeable hum in your system after connecting your subwoofer, please attach the subwoofer cable's ground leads to your audio gear. Some audio equipment have a ground (GND) connection on the back-panel, if not, attach the ground spade lugs to any screw on the equipment chassis of both the source and the subwoofer. Usually, this wire will not need to be connected.

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10 questions already asked

Is this cable acceptable for in wall use?

aaron Jun 30, 2015

6 answers

Yes you can run this in your wall .I have mine running under the sub floor and carpet no problems.The sound quality from the Infiniti sub is excellent

michael a Jul 02, 2015

The cable is perfectly acceptable, but the problem will be snaking the thick cable through the walls. So unless you are addressing new construction or a substantive remodeling job, you might want to consider cable raceways or channels.

garrett Jul 01, 2015

Hi Aaron, Yes it is. Unfortunately I had mine go bad but they come with a five year warranty. So I sent it back to audio quest and they sent me another. I have two but of course the one that went bad was the one in the wall. I hope this helps. Don.

donald Jun 30, 2015

Yes it is. I pre-wired my house with two of these for my theater. Just remember not to run the wire parallel with the electrical in your home.

christopher Jun 30, 2015

I used it in the wall and it seems to work just fine.

steve Jun 30, 2015

I Put it inside my wall and haven't had any problems with it.

steven Jun 30, 2015

Can you use this for center speaker pre-out?

michael Jan 04, 2016

3 answers

Sorry for the delayed respond. I'm guessing you. I would think the connections are the same. I only use it for my sub but it works like any other audio cable.

chase a. Jan 06, 2016

No for a powered sub not for center

timothy m Jan 04, 2016

Yes. I use it for my center speaker.

lee m. Jan 04, 2016

Wher do I plug in the subwoofer to the reciever my sub has mic-in and a control jack. How and where do I connect to my reciever?

sara Nov 25, 2019

3 answers

I wish I could be more help. On my receiver it plugs into pre out subwoofer 1. On the sub side it plugs into line in. Warm regards

shawn Dec 06, 2019

Hi Sara, thank you for your question. In order to best answer your question, we would need to gather a little more information regarding the gear you are using. Please chat with an Advisor online or by phone at 1-800-324-9695, with the model info on your receiver and your subwoofer. They will be able to look at the connections you have available to you. If you purchased your receiver or subwoofer, or both, from us at Crutchfield, you do have access to free technical support. You will find their number in your shipping confirmation email, or by logging into your online account. Just give them a call with your order number handy, they will be able to provide you with any installation assistance you may need.

jessica Dec 05, 2019 (Staff)

Subwoofer #1

mark e Dec 05, 2019

Wher do I plug in the subwoofer to the reciever?

sara Nov 25, 2019

1 answer

You plug it into the receiver subwoofer out put

joe Nov 25, 2019

Is this one or two cables per order? My setup is the Klipsch 120SW which requires two RCA style connections.

justin Dec 06, 2018

10 answers

This is a single RCA cable with a single ground wire attached.

robert Dec 12, 2018

One cable

mario Dec 12, 2018

This is a single cable. If I understand you may be looking for a pair of rca cables and this is not them. Happy audio-ing!

michael Dec 12, 2018

I used the AudioQuest Black for LFE connections of the subwoofer since I have two subwoofers so I brought two cables with a y splitter. If you like to connect to left and right, then you will need a rca with left and right. This way it will input the full range of frequencies into the subwoofer which will sound booming or not clear. It is best only let the low frequency into the subwoofer like 100hz or below it will much cleaner with pure bass. The LFE connection will do that

the Dec 12, 2018

This is a single subwoofer cable. For the Klipsch 120sw you would need to use an RCA Cable.

leo Dec 12, 2018

Just one cable with one connector as shown on each end.

erik Dec 12, 2018

One Cable per order. I have a Klipsch SW and use 1 Audio Quest-Black Lab Cable, the LFE output on Amp.and the LFE input on back of Klipsch SW. This set-up works great for me in a large great room(17 × 25) setup. Bass is non-directional, and Klipsch Speakers are very efficient. Little power can produce big sound. Klipsch SW with Audio Quest Cable are a excellent combination. Enjoy! Hope my comments helped. C.Wright, North Carolina

charles Dec 12, 2018

Mine was only one...

frank Dec 12, 2018

Just one!

sam Dec 12, 2018

It is only one cable. Double check to make sure you need 2 cables. My Polk PSW110 only needed one.

jason Dec 12, 2018

What direction should the arrow be pointing when hooking-up a subwoofer?

anthony May 08, 2017

2 answers

The directional arrow end goes TOWARD the subwoofer, that's the destination, and the other end connects to the source.

gerald Aug 06, 2021

Arrow faces sub.

edgar May 08, 2017

Is this cable riser rated? It must be labeled on the cable with the rating for the inspector just like riser rated CAT cable is.

ashleyfemita Apr 14, 2022

1 answer

We cannot find any information about a riser rating in the documentation provided to us or on their web site. It does not appear to have a riser rating

jason Apr 19, 2022 (Staff)

Is this cable directional ? Or does it matter ?

thomas Feb 02, 2020

1 answer

Yes it is directional the ends are labeled

kimberly Feb 02, 2020

What is the diameter of the cable? Wondering if I can run it tightly against my door trim and only be semi noticeable.

patrick Feb 25, 2021

1 answer

I was able to tuck it in where the carpet met the wall trim. I would say it's only semi noticeable.

kevin Feb 25, 2021

I have an old Pro 800 DT sub. I see no ground location on it. What do I connect the ground to? Or is grounding something newer subs will have?

ronald e Mar 02, 2019

1 answer

Some equipment requires a ground, some don't. If you don't have ground posts then you probably don't need them. My new Klipsch subs don't have ground posts either. If you needed it, you would know what to do with it and where it goes.

mark p. Mar 02, 2019

SHOW MORESHOW LESS

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