There are several types and dozens of brands of
There are several types and dozens of brands of audio cables. The choice depends on what one wants to hook up and how concerned is about sound quality. Generally speaking, 5-7percent of the total system cost is considered adequate to be invested in cables. If one’s just listening to background music, news shows, etc., or if sound quality isn’t all that important, one can use practically any cable - even the cheap ones that come packaged with many audio components.
For those who are more serious about listening, and want to go for better sound quality, there are affordable offerings from cable specialists. These cables are designed for optimum sound quality, and are also much sturdier than generic cables. One can also spend several hundred dollars for a pair of speaker cables or analog audio interconnects. It’s tough to make the case that the sonic benefits of these cables merit such a lavish expenditure, but the true audio elite may find that the pride in owning the very best is worth the sacrifice.
The four different types of cables are analog audio cables, like toslink audio cables, audio video cables, audio speaker cable and digital cables. Their job is to move a signal from one point to another without unchanged. This is accomplished along with minimizing losses, through control of the amount of Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance at audio frequencies.
For passing analog line-level audio signals between components, RCA connections are used. RCA audio cables are grouped in stereo pairs, with one connection for the left audio channel and one for the right. For line level analog interconnects it’s a good idea to use cables that are low in capacitance and are well shielded to eliminate interference and external noise sources from mitigating into the signal.
Video Cables are possibly the most important as the signal that is passed through is at a very high frequency. As the frequency increases it becomes more critical to ensure adequate shielding, solid terminations and proper impedance that audio video cables provide. Therefore it is necessary for a video cable to be adequately shielded and maintain characteristic impedance.
Audio speaker cables are normally quite thick and have two wires: they may be tipped using spade lugs, banana plug or simply bare wires. It is required to be sure that the connections are really tight to the amplifier and the loudspeakers to reduce contact resistance to a minimum. You should never forget to keep the speaker cables as short as possible and avoid looping cables too much since this may augment cable inductance slightly.
A special group of cables is digital audio cables. There are two types: optical and coaxial. Optical cables transmit digital audio signals as pulses of light. Coaxial digital cables look like standard analog RCA cables, but instead transfer digital audio signals. They are typically a single cable, whereas analog RCA cables are usually double plugs, for stereo audio.
Although there are many types of audio cables, expensive ones are not necessary if listening to background music and radio broadcasts etc. The job of the cable is to pass the signal from source to output minimizing any interference. Paired RCA cables, preferably low in capacitance and resistance should be used for line level analog interconnects. audio video cables should have adequate shielding as a high frequency signal is used. audio speaker cable needs to be secured tightly to ensure low contact resistance. Special digital cables are available namely, coaxial and optical which transmit light pulses and digital signals respectively.
1 comment December 21st, 2008