does the quality of component cable matter? (1 Viewer)

[Dave H]

Your condescending sneer aside, I've talked to several engineers who have told me different component cables can make a slight difference (never got into specific details).

 

[chuckg]

Really crappy cables work slightly less well than top of the line, super-duper, ego-reinforcing expensive cables.


That, in a nutshell, is it. that's all there is to say. And that is directly from an engineer. You decide how much you want to spend.

Oh, and BTW, the cables that fit tight have the added benefit of not falling out. There is a certain brand of expensive cables with the monstrous problem of always falling out of any equipment that I own. I don't buy things with monstrous prices when there are better alternatives for lower cost.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Not *this* engineer. Component cable quality does matter. An easy test to prove this to yourself is: swap the component cables you have now (assuming they are "good" ones: shielded and 75 ohm) with "regular" stereo audio interconnect cables. You *should* see a difference. (Depending on how far the display is from the source, your EMI/RFI environment, etc.) Assuming too of course that you are using a good source and have it hooked up to a good display.

And ... you do *not* have to buy "super-duper, ego-reinforcing expensive cables". Quality made 75 ohm cables (and connectors) that are shielded are good enough. Like the one dude said, the AR's he got were actually cheaper than Monster, but exhibited better video quality. I.e., they are a better made cable.

I didn't used to believe that cables mattered either. But when I saw this myself, it's easy enough to believe it. Component video is a much more sensitive application for cables than most other things.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Well, sure, audio cables that aren't 75 ohm coax aren't going to be interchangable with proper 75 ohm coax. All you've seen is that using a blatantly incorrect cable does not work.

 

[John Garcia]

Actually, audio cables are not required to be 75 Ohm, but they usually ARE because the manufacturers generally already have this cable in bulk already and it works fine for audio too. 75 Ohm coax is 100% compatible with analog audio AND coaxial digital audio.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Hey Philip- So do you actually think that component cables of questionable repute that are labelled "75 ohm", actually are 100% of the time? I have seen "component video" cables advertised by places like MCM and Parts Express ... for something like $5 each for 6 ft. I just get the feeling that those things are not 75 ohm, no matter what they say. Especially when they come with molded plastic connectors.

John- I wouldn't assume that if I were you. I saw one test where a guy actually tested some quality audio interconnects. They were about 55 ohm. It does take a more expensive cable structure to guarentee 75 ohm, but it doesn't have to be "super-duper, ego-reinforcing expensive cables" .

And for short runs, good audio cables might actually be good enough, or even those $5 ea "component video" cables. But all bets are off for longer runs.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Yes, I think they are. As a matter of fact I'm using two 50 foot runs of cables like this and the picture for both HDTV and DVD is 100% perfect.

 

[John Garcia]

I guess what I was getting at is I don't recommend using analog audio interconnects for video (because while most of the time they may be 75 Ohm, not ALL are). You may try it out and it will work, but I can say that it is luck of the draw on that one. On the flip side though, using video cables for analog audio shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

http://store.a2zcable.com/videocablesfaq.html They also mention Canare too.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Because I have an understanding of basic electrical principles (as opposed to an understanding of hype and market-speak) and know that if an electrical component meets a certain specification, whether it's an IC, a resistor, capacitor, transistor, cable, whatever, that's all there is to it.

 

[John Garcia]

It is not exactly black and white though, especially with a few of those item. Caps definitely can make a difference. I have two pairs of the same speakers, one with a capacitor upgrade and the other standard, and there is an audible difference between them.

Video is much more finicky about cabling that audio, so I do vote for better cables. However, I also know that there is a lot of marketing fluff out there too, which is why I recommend places like Bluejeans that don't try to sell hype or marketing BS, just quality products. That's really all you need: something that does what it is supposed to do; beyond that, the extra money is going towards fluff.

 

[david*mt]

On a similar note, does the kind of optical cable I use make a difference? I'm just using a cheap one now, but the sound is good to me.

 

[John Garcia]

There may be a small difference between glass vs plastic cable, but other than that, no.

 

[Teddy TD]

Anyone looking for cable can also keep impact acoustics in mind.
http://www.impactacoustics.com/index_flash.asp

 

[Arthur S]

With all due respect: In my humble opinion there is a really, really good reason that this Forum does not have a tweaks forum.

 

[Tim L]

I was looking to replace the component cables that comcast supplied to me- but I was looking for a good quality video/audio component cable setup- all the ones I have seen are just the three-not five rca plug type. Anyone know of a good source to pick these up? thanks
Tim

 

[Stephen Tu]

Uh, why? Unless you did something like move your equipment rack & need longer cable to reach your TV, there wouldn't be any reason to. monoprice.com has good inexpensive cables and has both component video alone & component video + audio if you need something longer.

 

[Tim L]

I don't need to really replace them- I am just a tweaker-I thought it might be worth a shot just to squeeze any more quality out of the picture...I know its sad.
Tim

 

[Stephen Tu]

If you want to tweak the picture get a copy of DVE or the like & tweak the TV's display settings. Changing the cable isn't going to have any visible effect. Use your money to rent an HD-DVR, save up for HD-DVD; best way to enjoy great picture on HDTV is get as much good HD content as possible, avoid old analog sources as much as you can.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

If you have a set of poor quality component vidoe cables, it is quite possible you will get a visible improvement.

For all of you who question the value of buying good quality (read: not necessarily expensive) component cables, I strongly urge you to go back about 5 years in time when component cables were new to all of us, and do some searching here on HTF and over at AVS for comments from people who actually did do some quite extensive comparisons.

If the cable itself is not made by Belden or Canare, it is quite likely you will get an improvement.

You can argue all you want that generically, cables don't make a difference, and I would mostly agree with you. But as others have stated, component video is one application where many people have seen differences. It is a very high bandwidth application where impedance matching and shielding can be very important.