radio shack switch boxes, sacd & dvd-a, and interconnects... (1 Viewer)

[Rob Michaw]

I have recently purchased these switchers (I was just running either SACD or DVD-A at a time for the last few months...which was a big hassle).

When I first got my DVD-A player, I tried hooking up 6-channel using cables supplied with various components collected over the years (el cheapos). My subwoofer sounded like it was going to explode. I switched out some stock $1 dollar cable for a digital coax cable I had laying around, connecting it to the sub output. Everything sounded much better (even though I don't know if digital coax is a preferred sub output IC).

Now that I am going to be using this switcher mechanism, should I go out and buy 2 more digital coax cables for the sub connection, or should I buy 3 new sub cables, or could I just use any cable for that connection?

Thanks.

 

[Brian L]

OK, I'll bite.

When you say your sub sounded like it was going to explode, I assume you don't mean that is simply very loud, right? You are talking nasty noises like you had a shorted input, correct?

So, assuming that is what you mean, you just had a bad cable.

Also, IMHO (and you will get plenty of debate on this), there is no magic in a "digital" interconnect (or in ANY interconnect, IMHO). Even the vaulted Stereophile once suggested using a RS 75 Ohm coax as a "budget" digital cable. Its in Robert Harley's Guide to the High End (the whole book was totally discredited by the Audio Critic, buts thats a story for another day).

As for your sub, ANY quality RCA cable should be fine. I personally use Phoenix Gold entry level stuff (gold plated plugs, clear cable covering). If you need to run a single line from Receiver to Sub, the RS Gold 75 Ohm Coax should fine.

Of course, if you want to spend money on special "subwoofer" cables, don't let me stop you! I am sure they will work too, but at a ridiculous cost.

Enjoy,

BGL

 

[Scott Merryfield]

www.partsexpress.com also sells some quality-made interconnect cables for a reasonable price. They are sold under the Dayton brand name. I am using some of these for the 5.1 analog connections between my DVD-Audio, SACD, RS switch box and receiver (hey, it only requires 18 cables ).

 

[Doug_B]

Video cables (and digital audio cables, I believe) need to be 75 ohm. Analog audio cables do not, but 75 ohm cables can optionally be used for analog audio. For a sub cable, decent shielding and decent connectors are usually sufficient. The longer the run, the more important shielding becomes, but we generally have higher "noise tolerance" with low frequencies (e.g., bass, mid-bass) than for higher frequencies. Thus, sub interconnect quality is generally less important (but not night and day) than source-to-preamp or preamp-to-amp interconnect quality for a given length. OTOH, sub interconnect lengths are often much longer, so... an RG6-quality interconnect is inexpensive and will work just fine.

Sorry for all the rambling.

Doug

 

[Andrew W]

I've got the almost the same situation, but I've also got an Outlaw ICBM in the mix. This makes for a real cable snake-pit. I'm using a mix of Rhino cables and AR Pros from Accessories4less. The Rhino sub and audio interconnects are the exact same components, so it doesn't make much difference.

Putting in the A/B switch and the ICBM triples the effective length of signal path and opens up a lot of opportunity to pick up RF noise, so I decided to use good quality cables for all of this.

 

[Rob Michaw]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I just had a bad cable then. When I say it sounded like it was going to explode, I did mean that it just sounded terrible (loud, uncontrolled, full of distortion). I assumed that it was because it wasn't a specific type of cable.

Now to clarify, I am using a "sub" cable from my sub output to my receiver. What I was referring to was the sub output from the SACD player and DVD-A player to the sub input on the 6-channel input on my receiver.

I gernerally have purchased mid-fi and higher cables for most purposes, but since this would require 18 cables as noted in Scott's reply, I was trying to see what types of cables were specifically needed. I now see that any average/good IC can be used for any of the 6-channel input/outputs.

Thanks.