J A M B U Z Z !!!!

When it comes to audio cables, there are several brands and types available, with the choice depending on what you are trying to hook up and how concerned you are with the quality of the sound. In general 5-7% of total cost is adequate for investing in the cables for the system. If you are not terribly concerned with sound quality and are just listening to things like news and music in the background then you can use pretty much any cable, even the cheap one packaged with your system.

People who want improved sound quality for listening can find something in their price range from cable specialists. Specialized cables provide optimum sound quality and are very sturdy. These are a better alternative to generic speaker cables which offer lower sound quality and aren’t as sturdy. Although the specialized cables may be affordable, the cost still could be several hundred dollars for the speaker cables or analog audio interconnects. Some people may find that the extra money spent is well worth the benefits of better sound and pride in owning the very best in audio equipment.

The four different types of cables are analog 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 minimizeing losses, through control of the amount of Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance at audio frequencies.

RCA audio cables have one connection for the left audio channel, and one connection for the right audio channel, as they are grouped in stereo pairs. The connections are used for passing analog line-level audio signals between components. You need to use low capacitance, well shielded cables for line level analog interconnects so that interference and outside noise do not drift into the signal.

The most important cables are video cables as very high frequency signals travel through them. Audio video cables provide proper impedance, adequate shielding and solid terminations found with high frequency, and the right type of cable can be critical. So the shielding and maintenance of the proper characteristic impedance need to be aspects of a video cable.

Audio Speaker cables can be ended with spade lugs, metal pins, banana plugs, or bare wire and are normally fairly thick with two conductors. To minimize contact resistance there needs to be the tightest connection of the cable to the loudspeaker and amplifier. Do not loop excessive cables and keep speaker cable runs as short as possible so that cable inductance is not increased.

There are two basic types of digital audio cables, optical and coaxial. Digital audio signals are transmitted as pulses of light by optical cables, while coaxial digital cables transfer digital audio signals. Coaxial digital cables look like standard analog RCA cables, and are usually a single cable, but analog RCA cables have normally double plugs, providing stereo audio. These both, optical and coaxial are a special group of cables.

Good quality audio cables generally cost around 7% of the total audio system cost and can be chosen from several brands. They can be categorized as analog cables, audio video cables, audio speaker cable and digital cables. Analog cable uses RCA connectors that come in stereo pairs for left and right channels. Video cable carries signals at a very high frequency while speaker cables are generally thicker and have two wires. They should connect to speakers and amplifiers with least contact resistance and should be as short as possible. Digital cables can be either optical or coaxial and carry audio signals in digital form.

- M Green

Popularity: 6% [?]