fibre optic cables

[MrGongGong]

The one I like is the 'directional' analogue audio interconnects - for what is essentially an a/c signal .

there's a hell of a lot of woo about !

like this !

http://www.hifi-adverts.co.uk/secondhand/4965_siltech_signature___compass_lake_g6_satt_xlr_mono_cable

make sure your head is clamped securely to avoid introducing any spurious phasing effects !

[Stunsworth]

I always thought they originated from the same signal (on computer systems the same digital signal drives both the optical + the digital outputs) - optical connects have the advantage of avoiding earth loops and possible hum pickup (not on the TOS link but when amp switched eg to phono) - there is much rubbish taked about cables and some crazy prices obtained.

I probably won't be able to find the original references, but I believe that coax connections _do_ provide a better connection than optical ones, from memory it's mainly in the area of timing errors and jitter. Whether the differences are theoretical, and not audible is another matter.

[Dave2002]

I would say that unless you are using absurdly long or stupidly cheap "interconnects" (where on earth did that come from ?) then the speaker cable will make more of a difference than spending stupid money on oxygen free copper wound by virgins in the moonlight interconnects (have you ever opened a bit of kit up and seen what connects it all INSIDE ?)

hefty mains cable works well for speaker leads

I don't agree about speaker cable, though it has to be adequate. My post suggested that the lengths have to be short enough that damping factor effects become insignificant, and obviously it should be capable power wise, so the cheapo stuff you sometimes get with kit is not good. Nevertheless, you don't normally have to pay much to get something which will work well, and if you look on "the bay" you can find what seems to be cable which is good enough at very reasonable prices. Of course it hasn't been stroked by 10,000 virgins all reciting some esoteric poetry ....

I agree that hefty mains cable should work, though a while since I tested that.

Re interconnects - my views are similar there too - but with a proviso that I have been able to hear distinct differences between cables costing a few pounds and up to (say) £30. If someone wants me to obtain them one for £1000+ I'll check to see if we have any virgins nearby ... I "only" charge an overhead of 50%.

[Dave2002]

I probably won't be able to find the original references, but I believe that coax connections _do_ provide a better connection than optical ones, from memory it's mainly in the area of timing errors and jitter. Whether the differences are theoretical, and not audible is another matter.

I think that for most practical purposes the differences are insignificant - for most people who aren't paranoid. Allegedly some people can hear a difference, and with some kit there might be issues, but most people who spend more than £30 for a cable have to have some justification afterwards. With very long cables there might be problems, but again most in domestic environments don't have a need for 20 metre long cables - or even 10 m ones. As I recall I bought some quite long optical cables for under £10 - perhaps even under £5. They do work - though I don't use them much.

[MrGongGong]

Surely one of the reasons that many studios and diffusion systems have gone over to powered speakers (usually Genelec, ATC etc) is to keep the speaker leads as short as possible ......... as thats where the most loss can take place, keeping the amp as close to the speaker as physically possible means that you can run balanced (or digital) signals to the speaker minimising the possibility of interference

[Dave2002]

Surely one of the reasons that many studios and diffusion systems have gone over to powered speakers (usually Genelec, ATC etc) is to keep the speaker leads as short as possible ......... as thats where the most loss can take place, keeping the amp as close to the speaker as physically possible means that you can run balanced (or digital) signals to the speaker minimising the possibility of interference

MrGG possibly - but the distances involved can easily be much greater than one would expect in a domestic environment. I would perhaps expect even longer term for them to switch to digital wireless transmission, thus avoiding the need for signal cabling altogether. It may even be happening already. What is the point of having wires which often represent a considerable health hazard if the same thing can be done wirelessly? There are quite a few other issues in studios surely, such as trying to minimise interference between cables. Another is connecting, reconnecting, and disconnecting cables, where with many cables there is always a chance of errors arising, even if it's "only" getting the speakers out of phase, or the left and right mixed up etc.

These issues may apply in a domestic environment, but generally to a much lesser extent. Sometimes improvements in sound in domestic environments can be made by rerouting various cables away from each other - e.g signal cables away from mains, low level signals from high level etc or ensuring that cables cross over at right angles. For most people, most of the time, these considerations are not really terribly important. Note that optical fibres are good news re interference, though bad news if you have to take them round very sharp corners, or if people tread on them. You shouldn't really do either of these things with regular wire either, but you may well get away with it.