Audio & Video Connections - The Definitive Guide

[Audioholics]

From the very first commercially produced radios to the latest in high-definition television technology, the manner in which the components used to deliver our news, music, movies and entertainment are interconnected seems to have escaped logic. For both the newcomer and the old hand alike, connecting equipment in the most efficient and effective manner can be a painful chore. It is hoped this article by Impact Acoustics will improve your background knowledge concerning potential A/V system connection schemes and where each is most appropriate. The next time you find yourself in a “connectivity quandary” perhaps the ideas shared here will help you to quickly solve the riddle of which wire goes where and why!

Clear Up the Connection Confusion

 

[aussie]

Basic practical issues

Hi,

The posted guide provides a great technical overview of the various interconnection types, however I'm after some basic info on interconnection and have struggled to find this anywhere !!

What is the best practice for providing access from the Receiver to the speakers, projector, tv etc if they are not co-located, as is often the case.

Should I use wallplates with the various correct interfaces - banana sockets for speakers, RCA sockets, S-video sockets etc, then run short jumpers from the receiver to the wall plates and of course, the same will be required at the projector or speaker end.

If wallplates are the way to go, what good quality ones are available.

Or do I just cut a large hole in the wall and run all the various cable thru it, with corresponding smaller holes at the other end. Thus no joins. I dont think the better half would think this is the way to go however.

thanks for any advice

 

[Mr.T]

Aussie, in a new home construction we usually run A/V multimedia wiring over the studs interfacing with appropriate individual wall plates or A/V control panel on the wall where customer is able to switch and control a variety of interfacing cables among the equip. used DVI-HDMI - S-Video - Component Video - Composite Video - Audio L/R - etc....

When a multimedia installation has to be done on a house already built, we usually use plastic wire ducts instead of breaking walls down, something like this:
http://cableorganizer.com/wire-duct/

 

[av_phile]

Maximum Interconnect lengths

Maybe a separate thread is in order. But since this topic is about interconnect, might was well post it here.

What's the maximum length an RCA interconnect can have without significantly degrading sonic quality? Have read about your speaker cable lengths, what about interconnect lengths?

A colleague of mine has a rather large AV room, I'd estimate about 8x6 sqm. He has a separate stereo amp for the surround rear located at the back so his stereo interconnects between the processor/preamp near the monitor screen required him to position nearly 20 meters of shielded coax cables that went almost around the room floor. Also, he has to position about the same length of RCA cable for his rear subwoofer. Is 20 meters OK?

Another question is about those progresssive video cable lengths. He's planning to wire the ceiling for his preowned projector mounted halfway across the room in the ceiling and will require about 15 meters of AV interconnects. Again, what's the maximum safe length for video cables? S-video and progressives? Thanks.

 

[gene]

AV_Phile;

That is a good question and certainly a topic worth writing an article on. Now if only I had the time

Bottom line on interconnects is to select a cable with the lowest possible capacitance and you will be fine. I usually recommend Coax with dual braid/foil shield such as what Bluejeans Cable sel model 1695A. At 16pf/ft I see no issues with running long lengths (60-70ft). Of course this is a function of how good the drive circuitry is at handling capacitive loading. With todays excellent opamp circuits, its really not an issue, especially since they are bandwidth limited and are typically operating in a low gain configuration. This is a topic I would like to go further into now that it was brought up so I will keep this on my back burner.