View source for RCA connector

An '''RCA connector''' '''phono connector''', '''cinch connector''', casually '''A/V jack''') is a type of [[electrical connector]] commonly used to carry [[audio and video signals]].

== Description ==

The name "RCA" derives from the [[Radio Corporation of America]], which introduced the design by the early 1940s for internal connection of the pickup to the chassis in home radio-phonograph consoles.

== History ==

It was originally a low-cost, simple design, intended only for mating and disconnection when servicing the console. Refinement came with later designs, although they remained compatible.

RCA connectors began to replace the older quarter-inch phone connectors for many other applications in the consumer audio world when component high-fidelity systems started becoming popular in the 1950s.

However, quarter-inch phone connectors are still common in professional audio, while miniature phone connectors (3.5 mm) have become predominant in personal stereo systems.

== Phono plug ==

The connection's plug is called an RCA plug or phono plug, for "phonograph."

== Confusion with Phone plug ==

Not to be confused with [[Phone connector (audio)]] - Tip/Sleeve (TS) or Tip/Ring/Sleeve (TRS) connector - or to a 4P4C connector used for a telephone (which is often, though incorrectly, called "RJ9", "RJ10", or "RJ22").

== See also ==

* [[Audio signal]]
* [[Phone connector (audio)]]

== External links == 

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_connector RCA connector] @ Wikipedia

[[Category:Audio]]
[[Category:Sound]]