coaxial connection.... (1 Viewer)

[John Roger]

Can expensive coaxial cables make a difference?

I've come across cheap to expensive coaxial and optical cables, and i'm quite surprised at the price range.Why not use ordinary cables.Do they make a difference to a digital signal?

 

[Leo Kerr]

As you know, any cable question has the potential to start a major flame war.

That said, for serial digital (2-wire) cables, very often you can get away with murder for short lengths. Wire coat-hangers, tin cans, whatever.

For longer hauls through worse electrical environments, going to a 'real' cable - RG-59, RG-6 with good ends can improve the reliability of the connection.

For really long hauls or through really bad environments, you really want to go with something like AES/EBU - 5v differential balanced serial digital. Very robust.

Leo Kerr

 

[Drew_W]

Try hitting up the cables forum.

 

[Carl Johnson]

Expensive cables can make a difference but of all the pieces of the puzzle (receiver, speakers, dvd player, the DVD itself, etc) the digital cable is least likely to make a difference in your presentation.

 

[Chu Gai]

Can expensive coaxial cables make a difference?

Only if your existing ones are broken.

There's no reason to be surprised as to the wide disparity in prices as this happens in all sorts of consumer items such as peanut butter, watches, dishes, glasses, shoes, bottled water, etc.

No reason you can't use a run of the mill video cable for digital. Consider this link: Using a CoatHanger as a Digital Cable.