Before buying audio cables you should determine whether you think sound quality is important to you. There are so many different cables available; you want to be sure to get the most suitable one that meets your specific needs. A certain amount of money, usually between 5 and 7 percent of the overall cost for the sound system, should be spent on good quality cables. If sound quality is not your priority, you might want to stick with the cables that were included with your sound system.
The true audiophile believes that only the best will do, and they will commit the dollars to obtain cables that are not only sturdier, but provide optimum performance of their audio system. You can spend hundreds of dollars for audio cables, audio interconnect and gold plated connectors, but to the audio elitist the price is worth it, not only for the sound quality, but also for bragging rights. Still to many of us, it is hard to justify the added expense for the improved sound quality.
A cable has one basic purpose: transference of signal from point A to point B without interference. For audio frequencies the goal is minimization of loss through the control of Resistance, Capacitance, and Inductance. The four basic types of cables that can be used for these purposes are analog audio cables, audio video cables, Audio speaker cables, and digital cables.
RCA connections, like audio cables connectors, are utilized for passing analog line-level audio signals that go between components. RCA audio cables come grouped in stereo pairs, one connection is for the right channel and one for the left audio channel. A good idea for line level analog interconnects is the use of a cable with the following qualities: well shielded to eliminate interference and external noise sources, and low in capacitance.
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 are usually fairly thick, and have two conductors; they can be tipped with spade lugs, metal pins, banana plugs or just bare wire. One needs to ensure that there is the tightest connection of the cable to amp and loudspeaker to minimize contact resistance. One should always remember to keep the speaker cable runs as short as possible and not to loop excessive cables as this may slightly increase cable inductance.
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.
Good quality audio cables generally cost around 7percent 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.
Tags: audio cables, audio video cables, cables rca, digital cables, quality cables, true audiophile, very high frequency