The advent of HDMI — with its ability to carry both video and audio—has somewhat simplified home theater connectivity. Yet, at the audio level we still encounter various types of cables carrying analog and digital audio between the different system components in a home entertainment setup.
In this short audio cable guide, we discuss the most common type of audio interconnects found in the home theater.
Typical analog audio cables consist of RCA or BNC connectors terminated over a coaxial cable.
Cables for multi-channel audio are characterized by a separate cable connection, one for each channel; color coding is normally used to facility identification between the different channels in the audio setup.
Digital audio cables may use either a single coaxial connection or a single optical connection; the latter is known as TOSLINK and makes use of a fiber optic cable to transfer audio signals via pulses of red light from a digital source.
Good quality cables use precision engineering technology and pure copper conductors often in the form of oxygen-free copper (OFC) to ensure that audio signals pass with minimal loss and remain unaffected by both electro-magnetic and radio frequency interference. Exotic cables may also use thick silver coating of the copper conductors to improve connectivity; but the real primary benefit of silver coated conductors is that this silver coating helps to improve the connection between the conductor and end connectors.
Most high quality cables
also include two separate shields—a braided copper shield to guard against RFI, and one made of foil to guard against EMI. In some cables, the shield is grounded only on the end that connects to the source so that interference will drain away from the destination end of the cable.
These cables incorporate directional arrows printed on the outer jackets and should be hooked up with the arrow pointing away from the source (i.e. the arrow should be pointing in the same direction as the signal flow from source to load).
Connectors are extremely important to the overall cable quality. Good RCA and BNC coaxial connectors provide constant, high-pressure contact with the respective systems terminations. The use of gold plated connectors in high quality audio cables is your guarantee for a corrosion-free connection. This is necessary to ensure continued high quality signal transfer between system components—one that would not degrade over time.
Other new products in Cable=wholesale.com, please click: HDMI Adapter