First of all, I would like to say thanks to all of you on the forum. I am the type that does all kind of research before buying anything. This has been the most friendly audio/video forum that I have participated in. You do not chase off newbie’s with questions that are thought by some to be standard knowledge, so THANKS! This is my first HT and without this forum, I would have made some very costly mistakes.

After six months of reading and a question or two here and there, I have ordered everything for my HT with the exception of my TV and cables.

On order:
M60s
VP-150
QS8s
SVS 20-39 PC+
Denon 3805
Dish VIP 622 HD DVR
DVD Sony SVP-NS55P (waiting on Blue-ray)

Now my question, what cables do I need order to make all these new toys sing?

Speaker cables (12g Home Depot) are all wired in wall in my new basement.

Need to order:
• Sub cable from Rec to Sub
• HDMI from Sat to TV for video
• ? from Sat to Rec for sound
• Component from DVD to Rec
• ? from DVD to Rec for sound
• Component from Rec to TV

Am I missing anything?

Still trying to decide between new 56” Samsung LED and 60” Sony SXRD

I will be bouncing off the walls until everything shows up!

Congrats on your order, looks like all you need is a couple optical cables for your receiver to connect DVD and Sat. for digital sound, and some speaker wire.

I would recommend digital coax, over digital optical..


I have monster cables, some feel they are over priced, others well.. I would say that monster is over priced, unless you pay way below retail like I have…

Blue jeans cables are pretty good cables.. dependes, do you want pretty cables that look nice out in the open, or do you want cables that will get the job done.?


A lot of people like to get 12 gage wire from home depot, and that works quite well, and there honestly isn't much of a difference between a 10ft cable that cost you 2$ from home depot or a 10ft monster cable that you may pay 50-100$ or more for… the only real difference is that one will be pretty and the other wont be so pretty…


So give us a little bit more information, later when I'm home from work, ill look on the net for you, and find some links.

I would recommend digital coax, over digital optical.
Why? I thought optical was better.

I already have 12/2 Home Depot wire in the walls.

The cables will not be seen, so looks do not matter to me. Just want high quality cables at a fair price. Also want to make sure I am ordering all the cables I will need to hook everything up. Don't want to have to go out the a local B&M at the last minute.

I use Blue Jeans Cables and am very happy with them, quality at a good price. Link
Some people prefer digital coax over optical because it is supposed to be more robust over distance, I think for normal short runs there would be no perceivable difference.

First, thanks for the compliments. I'm glad we've been able to help you. We have our spats now and then, but by and large, if we're treated courteously, we will respond in kind.

I use Dayton cables from PartsExpress. I've found them to be well made cables at a fair price. BUT! If Monoprice.com had been in existence when I bought my cables, I DEFINITELY would've purchased them there. Excellent quality and a crazy low price. I'm using Monoprice exclusively for all my cable needs now.

You can use the Digital Coaxial Audio cables for your subwoofer.

You can use the same cables for your digital audio hookup from SAT to receiver, and from your DVD player to receiver, unless you'd prefer to use Digital Optical Audio cables.

It is my personal belief that there is no particular advantage to either type of cable. The optical cable is not subject to electrical interference, but I've NEVER experienced any interference with any well constructed coaxial cable I've owned. It is often claimed the coaxial connection is a stronger connection, but I've NEVER had an optical cable slip out of it's connection or even be pulled out accidentally. I recommend you go with what suits your budget and your personal preference.

Monprice's HDMI cables are very reasonable. For shorter runs, the 28 gauge thickness will suffice. For longer runs look at the 24 gauge or 22 gauge (the lower the gauge number, the thicker the wire).

Here are Monoprice's Component Video cables. If you're running component video alone from your DVD to receiver and receiver to TV, the 3-RCA Component Video Cable will be all that is necessary. I would get the "Premium" version just because of the more substantial connectors, but that's just me. I doubt the Premium connectors will provide any better video signal than the standard connectors.

Thanks for the research and convenient hyperlinks Ajax.

1 HDMI
1 Sub
2 Component
2 Optical

For less than I was about to pay for 1 sub cable. Seems too good to be true. Has anyone had any quality issues with any of Monoprice's products?

>>> Has anyone had any quality issues with any of Monoprice's products? <<<

Not me.

Great links Jack, thanks. I'm gonna get myself a couple more optical cables from them, soon as they become available again in a couple days.

Ditto Jack's suggestions. Refreshingly frank how MonoPrice describes their "Premium" cable difference, i.e. "with fancy connector".

You're welcome. Every cord I've ordered from Monoprice has exceeded my expectations. My two 24 gauge DVI cables with ferrites are as substantial as any I've ever seen. The only thicker cord I own is the AC cord to my Belkin PureAV PF60.

Though I'm reasonably sure you'd be satisfied, if you're concerned about the quality of the cables, order one or two to see what you think. You'd pay a little extra in shipping for two separate orders, but at those prices, it wouldn't be much, and the peace of mind might be well worth it.

I use the digital optical cables to run the audio. Bought them at WalMart. LOL!!! And, they work just fine.

Well doing the current HT re-build I treid some of the Monprice cables and after trying a couple for a sampling I invested about $150 in the Monoprice cables. They are good quality and the prices can not be beat.

i said I would use digital coax over optical, because some times there can be a delay with the optical, and with the digital coax there is no conversion from eletrical signal to optical.. this is just an issue that I have read about on the net, but the theory is sound don’t know if anyone here has ever had that problem or not.

With the roll out rack design, most of the cables needed to be from 15 to 25 foot lengths. The C2 has four each of optical and digital coax. I needed to use some of each to avoid being out of connections, and I have not noticed any differance between Monoprices digital coax or thier optical cables. The opticl has some advanatge as the cable is smaller and more flexible.

In reply to:

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because some times there can be a delay with the optical, and with the digital coax there is no conversion from eletrical signal to optical..

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Huh? Do you know where you read this? If the theory was sound, why does the majority of internet traffic traverse optical links?

I honestly don’t remember where I read it, and yes I know most of the back bones, on the net are fiber optic cables, mostly OC 128 or OC 3, I do know and the transisters that conver the eletrical signal to optical signal are not very suseptible to delays. But the reason that the intenet uses optics is because of the infinat more bandwidth that fiber optics provides over a copper connection..and with audio there is not a need for infinate amounts of bandwidth your only carrying 5 channels of audio. So in the end I pperfer copper just due to the fact that your not changing the signal from eletrical to optic back to eletric.. and there isn't reall a “real” reason for my preference, I just like it.

Interesting, I have never heard that about optical digital cables. I have to wonder if it was a "mis-statement" of some type??