Trigger

I've got a Sony STR DE 835 receiver.
I've got a Toshiba DVD player 2109.
I want DTS sound.
I want to know the best place to pick up cables - monster or otherwise. I've heard radio shack, but I want something a little better than what came with the components while not costing 1000 bux for 6 feet of it.
I also don't know what LFE is. I also don't really know how to set up my receiver for best sound. I've got Klipsch speakers... 2 with 8" woof, 2 rear with 6" woof, center with 2 6" woofs, and a 12" sub. How should I hook my speakers up? So far, I don't get any rear seperation. I assume this is cuz I have my DVD player hooked up with analog cables.

Thanks in advance.

[This message has been edited by Trigger (edited October 13, 2000).]

ZenDog

The first thing you need to undertstand is that Radio Shack puts out quality cables which are almost identical to Monster. Since you are not using a $10k system I would suggest buying the RS cables and save yourself a bunch of cash since you will not notice any difference by using Monster cables. Here is how I would suggest you hook everything up. You need to get a single RCA 75ohm coax cable with gold ends to run from your digital out on you dvd player to the digital coax in on your reciever. You then can hook the video cable from the dvd player (S-Video, component video, analog video???) to the reciever or tv. I would hook your speakers up using an oxygen free 14gauge wire that seems to have good shielding, and use gold banana plugs on the wire ends. To run your sub get another single RCA 75ohm coax cable with gold ends and run it from the LFE in on your sub to the Sub Out connection on the back of your reciever. I am sure you will get many more opinions of how this should be done but in my opinion this would be the best way for you to get quality DTS sound out of your system.

DigIt

In response to one of your other questions, "LFE" is an acronym for Low Frequency Effects. This is the lowest of the bass in a movie soundtrack, and usually isn't "bass notes" but sound effects such as explosions, etc.--you know, the kind of rumbling that hits you in the chest. These frequencies are best handled by a dedicated subwoofer. In DD and DTS, these frequencies can be sent directly to the subwoofer, and thus "Subwoofer" and "LFE" are sometimes used interchangeably.

In reference to the "separation" question: if you have your DVD player connected to the receiver using R and L analog connections, then you are hearing the Dolby Pro-Logic sound, which offers no separation between rear speakers and often exhibits bleeding among all channels. Once you have connected your DVD player using the digital output (coaxial or optical) to your receiver's digital input, you can then get 5.1 sound, which provides a separate and distinct channel for each speaker.

Sorry, a little long winded... and I would agree that in your case, the receiver is the limiting factor, so less expensive (but quality) cables would be an acceptable choice.

electronix_kid

For the digital connnection between the DVD and the Reciever for Digital 5.1 sound, just get a Regular Video cable, that will be just as good as $50 bitstream "Digital" Coaxial cable...

For optical, at sears, they have it for $12.99 for a 1m cable i think.

Dont get all that fancy "monster cable" stuff... they dont do much better.

Trigger

thanks for the advice everyone...

DNMonty

The digital signals going over the coax or optical connections are not subject to the same rules as analog cables. An analog signal goes over the wire as differing voltages @ various frequencies and the cable quality can have a huge impact. It's more than just getting a voltage from point A to point B. Now digital on the other hand, is ones & zeros. a digital bitstream is a sequence of a signal identifying on or off 96,000 times a second. When the decoder is reading the signal, a little on is more than off, no siganl @ all is off. So the signal doesn't degrade unless the connection totally isn't there.

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Main system
Sony 32" Trinitron, Onkyo TX-DS575x, Pioneer DV-525, JBL Music1 mains, Phase Technology 1C center, Advent Baby II surrounds, Infinity BU-120 sub
Auxiliary system
LXI 46" Rear Projection TV (old), PC-DVD DXR3, Onkyo 3130Pro, Acoustic Research AR3a, JBL Center, KLH surrounds

Stats

I agree with everything ZenDog said and would add that RS has awesome and inexpensive gold banana plugs, so be sure to pick those up with your speaker wire. And also a free CueCat. RS rules!

exm

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Stats:
I agree with everything ZenDog said and would add that RS has awesome and inexpensive gold banana plugs, so be sure to pick those up with your speaker wire. And also a free CueCat. RS rules!<HR>

The debate which cables are better starts to make me a bit tired. It's like saying that you don't feel the difference between a Intel Celeron 300 and a Pentium III 866. Some people do, some people don't but there IS a difference.

When you play ONLY DD or DTS sources the difference might be (a lot) less than PCM (=normal stereo) because PCM is more sensitive for jitter.

To give you a rule of thumb: spend 10% of your budget on cables (digital, analogue, speaker and video). So if your set is $1500, spend $150 on cables and you're fine.

I'm not saying that Radio Shack makes poor cables but I do say and stress that BETTER quality cables CAN make a difference.