[Azumandus]

Hey guy's am curious although I know that a coaxial cable offers better sound than and Toslink am a college student with a budget system...basically I have a playstation 2 and am making it my source for pretty much everything from Dvd's, game, and Cd's. I know its bad but again am a poor college student. Now I heard that changing interconnectors can help quite a bit in sound so I would like to start changing them. First off I need to change the toslink that I have connected to my playstation2. So what are some good ones that aren't monster. Second I own a Videologic DTs all in one speaker/decorder system which is what am using a speaker system (i.e 5.1 system). I would like to change the connector on the speakers as well to see if I can get a better sound too since I generally like the speaker I have and are doing a decent job for the moment. Thanks guys.

 

[NewSc2]

For your applications, any toslink should do. I've read of tests being done on various toslink cables and the difference wasn't too major - nothing you could point out on the Videologic Digitheatre DTS's (I have these in storage) or the output from your PS2 (PS2 isn't widely regarded as having great audio quality).

Try Radio Shack or Acoustic Research

 

[Dwagun]

Im currently using an audioquest Toslink cable between my panny DVD and my Onkyo Receiver...its pretty affordable (30-40 bucks CDN) try Omer @
www.ozenterprises.net (prices in CDN)

very nice...sound is much cleaner than similar priced noname/big box brand name toslink i've tried. And its green

the one that I've heard is pretty snazzy but I havent heard myself is the XLO ERTOS. Omer has them in stock...I've been itching to trade up for them...but I've spent a lot of money recently so I'll probably hold off...

and what NewSC2 has said is pretty true...you would most likely hear a difference if you were using high end (1000s of dollars) worth of transports, DACs (Digital-to-Analog Converters) etc

Again since we are talking budget, for speaker cables, I would recommend you making your own cables. Go to Home Depot or some other hardware store that sells CAT-5 cable bulk and ask them for Plenum type CAT-5 cable (its about 1 buck a metre) make sure its plenum cuz then it has the proper insulation. In CAT-5 there are 4 twisted pairs of solid copper wire. Each pair consists of 1 coloured and one white. Separate the pairs, strip the ends, twist all of the white ones together and then twist all of the coloured ones together...Do that at both ends and those are your two connections (I use dark = black and white = red). I use that for my surrounds...in the fronts I braid three cables per speaker but that's a little hardcore for your speakers...

The style of cable that I described above is used by XLO and others (kimber I think) and sell for several dollars per foot...

PM if you need more clarification
good luck

and that's all kids

 

[JMedeiros]

I have been using Acoustic Research opticals between my DVD and Laserdisc players and I am very pleased with build quality and performance. They are available at any Best Buy and at their online store.

I am looking for new speaker cables as well...so I am in the same boat. I am still using Monster stuff that I bought back in the mid 90s for my speaker connections.

John

 

[dudlew]

If you are looking for single wired, do a search for DNM Reson. I dont think they make it any more but it has an IXOS clone.

I have the Reson speaker cable and so does one of my brothers and the other wants some as well. In all of our systems it is a solid cable. From my cheap system to my brothers B&W cdm7nt speakers and my other brother's Dynaudio Audience 50s these cables sound good, with good bass weight a full rich sound and a smooth yet extended treble.

Look for the IXOS clone and you could give it a try.

D

 

[DLoken]

I know having a decently built cable (One that won't fall apart I guess) is important, but uh, how can you really improve the quality of a digital input/output with supposedly "better" cables?

I mean, the only thing that would really affect the sound (The digital aspect of it, when using SPDIF or Toslink I mean) would be the DACs as far as I see.


Correct me if i'm wrong here.





As to Acoustic Research cables, I have a few digital coaxial cables, and a set of componant cables and they are all of excellent quality.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

I've found that these Hosa Optical Cables are a good value.

 

[Dwagun]

For digital cables, I think the consensus is that coaxial cables sound a bit better than Toslink cables, and for Toslink cables, the general belief is that glass is better than plastic.

The problems with digital cables are different than for analog/regular cables. Digital cables can introduce errors (extra 1 or 0s) in the data stream, as well as accentuate "jitter" and clock problems.

This is all stuff that is debated and discussed very heavily at the home theater and hifi forum: www.avsforum.com

Try doing a search there...try both and decide for yourself...

 

[blr]

For your optical cable, in a word don't bother. I never heard any difference between optical fibres. They might need replacement only if the toslink connector is worn out and doesn't make a nice tight contact (happens to cheap cables after about 100 plug- unpug cycles)
Now, about the speaker cables. They do make a difference and having good speaker cables is very important. I roll my own. Following simple considerations and building principles one can build a pair of cables for about 30-35 USD (including some good quality terminations) that will sound on par with commercial cables costing 10 times as much. I am not kidding, me and friends have done some blind testing and the homemade cables were indistinguishable from some cbles in the 250-300 USD range. So, why don't you try it. It's a fun project and doesn't need any special skills or instrumentation. If there is an interest I can post my designs.
Finally a word of advise, if you decide to go DIY with the speaker cable, spend the cash you'd save on some budget CDP. If the redbook playback on Playstation 2 is anything like Playstation 1 it is horrible, even it is 5 times better still it's bad.