Page 1 of Surround sound query; optical or wire.

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what the sound difference is between optical or wire connections between DVD player and amp? My system consists of a Kenwood 100 watts per channel power amp driving two Pioneer CS99A`s for the fronts, JAMO 100 Centre and once I`ve replaced the mid range drivers, a pair of old but top quality Sony 3 way ceramic speakers for the rear. Properly balanced, the Sony and Pioneer speakers should make a fine mix. Not sure about a sub yet; the Pioneers have 15" bass drivers so I may not need one. Does anyone `out there` have practical experience of optical versus wire connections?

Jim.

I take it you mean optical vs. coaxial? Use whatever is easiest for you - you won`t be able to tell the difference (unless you`re superhuman).

I find coaxial slightly more reliable than optical, the connections are a bit more solid. Just my humble opinion...

Presumably you`ve got an AV amp or sound processor in between your dvd player and power amp?

This item was edited on Saturday, 14th May 2005, 09:55

I`ve got the dvd connected to the amp by the coax, and my PS2 connected by optical. I can`t tell the difference, but I`m always worried I`m gonna snap the optical cable.

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Thank you everyone,

Yes Chris, I`ve a Kenwood KRF-V7030D AV surround receiver that combines pre and power amp plus an AM/FM tuner in the one box. From what everyone has said, for all practical purposes a good coax connector will handle the digital output of the DVD/VCR combination player I`ve got. I`ve never used an optical conection before; I was just wondering what their advantage was.

Thanks again; once I`ve got a shelf up I`ll hook everything together and see how it sounds. With six speakers and a five way crossover in each cabinet, the Pioneer speakers are an audiophile`s worst nightmare. BUT, (and it`s a heck of a `but`), they look and sound superb.

Best Regards, Jim.

To agree with Chris - I`ve used the both types with the same DVD and amp - only someone who is superhuman would notice a difference.

The only reason to use optical cables specifically might be where a longer cable in needed, but for a standard metre long cable I would just go for whatever`s easier for the kit you`ve got..

I find the biggest problem with interconnects is that the people selling them try to BS customers. When I first had a player back in `99 I just used a standard, shielded SCART cable that was included in the box. Urged on by various techies on the `net I went out and bought a much more expesive piece of cable and guess what - no descernable difference (and certainly not a big enough one to justify the price hike). A lot of the time when people say you need an expensive bit of cable it`s just posturing. As far as I`m concerned all you need from a coaxial cable is the ability to carry a digital signal. It shouldn`t cost you £60! A lot of it is Emperor`s new clothes stuff. Anyway, semi-rant over :)

Quote:
As far as I`m concerned all you need from a coaxial cable is the ability to carry a digital signal. It shouldn`t cost you £60!

You`re right all you need is the ability to carry a digital signal. But a cheap cable (especially if it`s fairly long, say over 3m) will erode that signal.

Good quality cables will give better quality sound/picture but you`ll ONLY notice a difference if they`re being used with good quality kit.

If you have top of the range kit then using a cheap cable is literally "spoiling the ship for a half pence of tar"

But equally, it`s ludicrous to spend £100 on a gold plated scart, if you`re going to use it with something like an XBox.

As a rough guide, spend about 10% on your budget on cabling. e.g. If your DVD player & Amp cost about £200, spend about £15-£25 on cabling.

It`s also worth finding a dealer than you can trust, who can give advice on this sort of thing. You`d be cautious about buying a car from a spotty 17 year old, you should be just as cautious when buying kit.