cable questions (1 Viewer)

[kurtZoom]

I've been searching and reading and just want to make sure I have it correct.
digital audio cable=composite video cable=subwoofer cable=any 75 ohm rated cable including something like RG-6

Is this right?

So for my LFE out on my pre/pro I could buy a subwoofer cable or just use a composite video cable?? or make my own with RG-6?

Also...is optical digital better than coaxial digital? It seems most of the receivers have a lot more optical connections than coax connections. It seems to me the digital to optical back to digital conversion would actually be worst than just straight digital.

 

[ScottCHI]

identical performance

nothing "digital" is passed by a coax cable connection either. optical is not susceptible to electrical interference and will not participate in ground looping. coax is (generally) more rugged, physically, cable-wise and connection-wise.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Personally, antenna lead-in cable wouldn't be my first choice for a subwoofer cable because, since it's mostly intended to perform in the megahertz range, it may not pass signals near DC -- and sub signals are pretty close to DC, from that perspective -- as cleanly as something like a composite video cable. Having said that, I actually have used an off-the-shelf antenna cable, with RCA adaptors on each end, as a sub cable, and didn't think it was too bad. As a digital audio cable basically anything with 75 ohm surge impedance will work.

TosLink optical and coax digital are basically equivalent in terms of performance. The one nice thing I've noticed about TosLink is that you can connect two components without making an electrical connexion between them, which can be important if you have a ground loop, or if you have all your equipment except the reciever connected through a surge protector and you're in an area prone to lightning strikes.
Basically, some components have one, some have the other, and I use whichever is available.