Gauge of wire (1 Viewer)

[Ryan Leemhuis]

Do I need to replace the cables to a HTiB system if I am only running them in a small room? More importantly, will I notice a difference if I do? Secondly, will wiring a 20" WEGA with component cables give me any noticeable difference over Composite/S-video?(In what way, bolder brighter colors? or sharper picture?)

P.S. If anyone could get a speaker dimension comparison of the Onkyo 650 and the Kenwood 505 systems? I can get them for the same price but I will not have a lot of room in a dorm room.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

For short runs (about less than 10 ft) 16 ga wire is fine. Is this what comes with the HTIB? If not, it's cheap enough to find at Radio Shack/Home Depot.

I think you should see a improvement with SVideo over composite. But only a bit of improvement with Component over SVideo.

Look at contrasting colors that intersect with straight lines. (text is a good example) With composite, you should see a lot of 'dot-crawl' - little ants that flicker. Most of these should be eliminated with SVideo, even more with Component.

Find a scene with bright, contrasting colors. With composite, the colors will start to get dim/fade near the intersection of different colors. SVideo and Component should stay a lot more solid to the edges.

While there is only a bit of improvement with Component over SVideo, a fellow member took some spare component cables and upgraded his bedroom system (19") and saw a visible improvement over SVideo.

Note: Your TV will take Composite video and run it through the Comb filter to produce: SVideo. Another filter converts the SVideo to Component.

But if you feed that same TV with component video from a good source, both these filters are by-passed. This can make a dramatic difference especially on a budget set.

My advice: find a local dealer like Best Buy and buy the AR brand of Component and SVideo cables. Go back to your dorm, and hook both up. Freeze a scene and toggle between the two feeds to do your own A/B testing to see if the difference is worth the $$.

Good Luck.