Home audio questions

[Raptor2216]

Alright, so I just received my 42" LCD TV and i'm looking to buy a home theater system to go along with it. I've done some research and i'm leaning heavily towards the onkyo HT-S800 because it has all the new hi-tec gizmos and all that. My parents own a HT-S680 and it has worked great so I don't doubt the reviews on the 800.

My question is regarding the cable to go along with the system since they seem to be quite the investment by themselves. I am looking at some monster HDMI cables at circuit city and they will end up costing about $120/cable. My TV came with one free monster cable but in order to get the whole system working with HD cable and DVD, I will have to purchase two more HDMI cables. There are some cheaper options available but I don't want to end up killing quality over a $100 bucks. So, what should I do?

 

[Brett327]

Alright, so I just received my 42" LCD TV and i'm looking to buy a home theater system to go along with it. I've done some research and i'm leaning heavily towards the onkyo HT-S800 because it has all the new hi-tec gizmos and all that. My parents own a HT-S680 and it has worked great so I don't doubt the reviews on the 800.

My question is regarding the cable to go along with the system since they seem to be quite the investment by themselves. I am looking at some monster HDMI cables at circuit city and they will end up costing about $120/cable. My TV came with one free monster cable but in order to get the whole system working with HD cable and DVD, I will have to purchase two more HDMI cables. There are some cheaper options available but I don't want to end up killing quality over a $100 bucks. So, what should I do?

Monster cables, especially anything digital are a waste of money. Anyone telling you different is just trying to get you to spend your hard earned cash. You can get an HDMI cable for ~$20 and it will work just the same.

Brett

 

[Raptor2216]

Where can i find these $20 cables?

Monster cables, especially anything digital are a waste of money. Anyone telling you different is just trying to get you to spend your hard earned cash. You can get an HDMI cable for ~$20 and it will work just the same.

Brett

 

[Brett327]

Where can i find these $20 cables?

Fry's Electronics
Amazon.com

A digital cable is digital. Either it works, or it doesn't. There's no improvement in quality by using heavy gauge conductors or gold plated connectors. How come nobody is trying to sell "monster" USB cables? Same principle - they're going after the audiophile idiots who think more $$$ means it's better.

Brett

 

[The Chief]

Where can i find these $20 cables?

Brett is absolutely correct. Electrons do not care about no oxygen. Monster cable are a plain waste of money. I run 500 watts each channel (Carver amps) on 14 gauge zip cords.

Here is link re HDMI cables. I have some long HDMI runs and they made some custom links up for me at reasonable prices/time frames.

http://www.homeavcables.com/hdmi-hdmi-cables.html

 

[insanebikerboy]

www.newegg.com

Just another place to look, and it's way cheaper than Best Buy, etc.

 

[Swanee]

Just another example of why regular cables work:

I used to work backstage as a Sound Tech for touring music acts (Degree in technical theater). On a tour where 90% of the venues were outdoor amphitheaters in the south we used regular copper cables. We didn't have problems with corrosion or lack of sound quality. We used some big gauge cables, but we were also running a lot of power though them. 4-5k watts in some instances.

IMHO If regular cables are good enough to use with a multi-million dollar sound system, they are good enough for your home audio applications.

If you are handy with a soldering iron you can go to Radio Shack and buy a spool of cable and some connectors and have at it, it may say you money depending upon how many cables you need.

 

[Gatordev]

A digital cable is digital. Either it works, or it doesn't. There's no improvement in quality by using heavy gauge conductors or gold plated connectors. How come nobody is trying to sell "monster" USB cables? Same principle - they're going after the audiophile idiots who think more $$$ means it's better.

Brett

One caveat is if you're going over a distance. More than about 6-8 feet and HDMI starts to get massive signal loss, so you either need an amp and/or a "higher quality" cable. However, DO NOT take this as an endorsement for Monster digital cables. Way too much money.

I'll second Newegg. That's where I got my HDMI cable for $20.

 

[The Chief]

One caveat is if you're going over a distance.../QUOTE]

True, with any interface. The CAT I interface "standards" specification for High Definition Multi-media (HDMI) is a bit differentfrom other cable specs in that it does not contain a maximum cable length, only minimums without attenuation. If constructed of 28 gauge copper the minimum length before degradation is 5 meters, If constructed of 24 gauge copper the minimum is 15 meters. All without attenuation. Runs of up to 100 meters are specified with Cat II HDM.

My runs are 10 meters, so I had the cables constructed of 24 gauge. No problemo.

Oh, and forget THX certification, it is a bunch of hogwash, designed to take your $$$.

Man, I love my job.:icon_smil:icon_smil

 

[Raptor2216]

Thanks for the info on the cables. I did some more research on the net and I found a lot of info about the scam behind these cables. In fact, I also found myself at a circuit city forum website and the moderator, who is a CC employee, was telling some poor smuck that he considered anything less than monster cable to be a waste of money. I went ahead and left a reply for everyone to see and i'm just waiting to see when it will be deleted.

 

[squorch2]

One caveat is if you're going over a distance. More than about 6-8 feet and HDMI starts to get massive signal loss, so you either need an amp and/or a "higher quality" cable. However, DO NOT take this as an endorsement for Monster digital cables. Way too much money.

HDMI was not designed for the consumer - it was designed for the entertainment industry. This link (informative, if geeky) has more.

 

[The Chief]

Not a very good standard, well and good, but think it is the nature of standards. Take a look and our very first Information Processing Standard, FEDSTD-001, or ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Turned out to be a soup sandwitch, but none the less we stuck with it.

I know we must start somewhere, but seems we could do a better job of it.

GOSSIP anyone?

 

[Swanee]

HDMI was not designed for the consumer - it was designed for the entertainment industry. This link (informative, if geeky) has more.

HDMI was mainly designed for a specific niche inside the industry. Specifically the recording and mastering industry where absolute quality and low noise was needed. The idea was perfect signal out and perfect signal in. But that level of precision is really undetectable to 99.99% of the population.

Also, you have to realize that your system only works as well as the weakest link. Those soldering points inside your receiver are most likely going to be that weakest link. No point in buying a $100 cable when the manufacturer bought the cheapest solder they could get away with.

 

[60B Rotorhead]

MY 2 cents even if it's a little late-
With most things audio you won't get signal attenuation until you hit about 12 feet. Honestly, I've gotten a lot of my cables at Walmart and just bought the Phillips brand. It's a name that's been around and I trust and isn't too terribly expensive.
Also, now that you have your system, upgrade a little bit at a time. I originally built mine piece by piece while I was in college and took time to look for deals and what not, but also got pretty much top stuff (granted I had a buddy at CC who was able to get my his employee discount on a few things). And I honestly wouldn't wait until stuff breaks, just grab a set of speakers here, a receiver there, etc. And when you've completely re-outfitted it, throw the original system in your bedroom.
I picked up a Pioneer system at BB a while back for about $300 and it works great. The only pain was that I had to run speaker wires for two rooms when I moved here.

 

[puck_11]

I've got the HT-s800, its an awesome package deal. I also have a 56" DLP TV, and I use cheap $10 cables off of ebay and the picture quality is great. A friend of my family does the buying for Best Buy corporate, they get Monster cables for dirt cheap and mark them up ridiculously.

Alright, so I just received my 42" LCD TV and i'm looking to buy a home theater system to go along with it. I've done some research and i'm leaning heavily towards the onkyo HT-S800 because it has all the new hi-tec gizmos and all that. My parents own a HT-S680 and it has worked great so I don't doubt the reviews on the 800.

My question is regarding the cable to go along with the system since they seem to be quite the investment by themselves. I am looking at some monster HDMI cables at circuit city and they will end up costing about $120/cable. My TV came with one free monster cable but in order to get the whole system working with HD cable and DVD, I will have to purchase two more HDMI cables. There are some cheaper options available but I don't want to end up killing quality over a $100 bucks. So, what should I do?