If you just listen to background music new shows
Friday, December 26th, 2008If you just listen to background music, new shows, etc., you can use the cheap audio cables that come in the package with your audio components. But only if you are not too concerned about sound quality and what components you are hooking up to the cables. Usually you will invest about 5-7percent of the systems cost in your cables. This is usually adequate. Several types and many brands of audio cables can be found.
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 basic purpose of a cable is to transfer the signal from point A to point B unadulterated. At audio frequencies the goal is to minimize losses by controlling the amount of Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance. There are four basic kinds of cables that one can use which are analog audio cables, audio video cables, audio speaker cable and digital cables.
To pass analogue line level audio signal between components, RCA connections are employed. RCA audio cables are joined in stereo couples, with a connection for the right channel and one for the right channel of audio. For line level analogue connections it is a good idea to employ cables which have low capacitance and properly shielded to avoid interferences and external noises from getting to mix to the signal.
Video Cables are possibly the most critical cables since the signals that pass through them are at very high frequencies. The higher it is, the more critical to have a proper impedance, proper shielding and good teminations that audio-video cables should provide. So, a video cable must be well shielded and must keep the proper typical impedances.
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.
Audio cables come in two different types and are usually a single cable. The first type is an optical cable; it transmits digital audio signals as pulses of light. The second form is coaxial cables look like standard analog cables, but what they do is transfer digital audio signals.
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.
