Surround Sound Setup.......

[Jiberjaber]

So the run of your cable is so long that you need to keep the resistance per metre super low?

If you have a surround sound system, you dont need the base at the rears.... hence no requirement for super low frequency responce.... that's why they have a sub-woofer seperate.

It's moving the coil on low freq which saps the majority of power and hence makes voltage drop across the cable an issue.

You can run rears of platted Cat5 cable, or even better just use twin and earth...

10 quid a meter cable is defo more money than sense.....

As for using banana plugs and >10 quid a metre cable.... madness... each connection you make will degrade the signal.... so what is the logic behind creating an additional connection point at the interface between the banana plug and the cable when you could just take the cable into the speaker terminals directly (and with possible more cross sectional area in contact with the speaker....!)

I sometimes wish I was in the "HiFi" game as there must be some money around to be made from some people :)

At the end of the day, if your happy with your setup that's all that maters...

If you actualy measured the frequency responce / performance between the crazy priced cables and a piece of twin and earth, you would not find much difference over the length of cable runs your using in your average house installation.

YMMV

[Brettster]

My first DTS expeirence was Jurassic Park at the cinema. ahhh memories.

and my best DTS dvd to date is Saving Private Ryan on Region 1 Such awesome sound.

[Brettster]

have definately had a few cd's on that were in Digital format, have my cd and playstation and dvd linking to my amp via fibre optic cable for truely great sound.

nothing quite like the beginning of GT4 when it all kicks in! shame the rest of the game isnt in that too!

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you should get yourself an Xbox, around 95% of the games are in pure Dolby Digital, Halo just sounds awesome in DD 5.1

[Adie]

DTS - Blade 2. Wicked gun fire and explosion effects and a pumping sound track

[aido]

Jase, one of the lads at work wired all his house up with cat 5 including all his speaker setup, it was quite cool, the speaker sockets were on the wall - made it so much easier for cable runs it was incredible!

Is there any truth in directional cables being better? Mine are all directional cables but just wondered if it was a marketing gimmick?

I did see a big improvement by biwiring the speaker connections though, that was good.

To be honest for my sub I use a cheap phono - phono cable, that works fine so never upgraded it!!

[TheDon]

i do have a xbox, just havent got around to connecting it to the amp with fibreoptics yet (if you can do)

must admit the xbox never makes my amp go into DTS mode, only does it on fibre optic, but i use my ps2 less and less so may just swap it that way!

[Jiberjaber]

But why would you want to spend 10 pm on speaker cable to feed rear speakers???

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well if it was a bog standard dolby surround sound pro logic setup then, not much point, but now DVD's use DTS and Dolby Digital you find that the right amp also pumps out equal amount of power to each channel. my Yamaha amp pumps out 100 watts per channel, so i have 4 matched KEF speakers for the front and rear effects, and huge Center channel speaker and a coffee table sized KEF powered Sub. all certified by Mr George Lucas himself.

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Indeed Mr B... I too have Yamaha kit and similar power outputs, but I also have a magnificent sub ( http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=977 ) so there is no need to drive the rears with anything more than MID upwards.

The point I was making is that it is a great miss-conception regarding speaker cables which deprives people of their hard earnt cash by making them believe they are super dooper cables whilst in reality, the performance from them is no better than a decent quality budget cable or even twin and earth. In fact sometimes, the quality which may have been gained is then lost by installation methods.

How may people on here with very expensive cables take the time to release and rotate/clean every connection every month or so to prevent oxidiation from decreasing the performance of their significant investment???

/end of public service announcement

[Jiberjaber]

Jase, one of the lads at work wired all his house up with cat 5 including all his speaker setup, it was quite cool, the speaker sockets were on the wall - made it so much easier for cable runs it was incredible!

Is there any truth in directional cables being better? Mine are all directional cables but just wondered if it was a marketing gimmick?

I did see a big improvement by biwiring the speaker connections though, that was good.

To be honest for my sub I use a cheap phono - phono cable, that works fine so never upgraded it!!

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The only directional cables you will get which are directional cables are shielded ones, these generally only have the shield connected at one end to prevent things like ground loops etc.

Chris... the xbox wont go into DTS mode unless you ...

a. Use a video lead with an optical out into the amp

b. Turn on the dolby in the dashboard.

:)

[aido]

Have to admit I run my XBox on a cheap fibre optical cable I got off eBay for a tenner - not bad for a 10m optical cable - it's flimsy as you like but works a treat - only really use it for XBMC and my dodgy films

Have to admit, these HDTV AVI files kicking about look the part on a projector!

Have to admit I leave my XBox in NTSC mode and just use the MS HDTV component cable - awesome :)

Watching Prison Break in that format at the moment and it is awesome! By the way - that is a good little show, they're only up to ep 3 but I reckon it's next years Lost for the UK guys - of which season two starts soon :D

[TheDon]

might go and get the optic out xbox lead tomorrow and make the PS2 go back to normal cable imput. as i love the xbox far much more than the ps2

[Brettster]

Watching Prison Break in that format at the moment and it is awesome! By the way - that is a good little show, they're only up to ep 3 but I reckon it's next years Lost for the UK guys - of which season two starts soon :D

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Ok Aido, Im now grabbing the first 3 eps of Prison Break, hmm last time I took your advice and watched LOST I became soooo addicted I almost died from lack of sleep due to too much telle watching. lol

Im sooo looking forward to season 2 of Lost, but concerned that they might keep us hanging and not continue where season 1 left off for a few episodes.... hope not tho :)

any other really great TV shows I should know about?

[aido]

To be honest mate they're still going thru premiere season up until the end of this month...

Lots of shows coming out but not sure what's going to be good.. Supernatural sounds like it may be good?

An older show that was missed by many people was John Doe - one of the best first season's I've ever seen then they cancelled it. Dominic Purcell who played John is also one of the leads in Prison Break...

Basically the synopsis is that he got locked up for murdering a senator - a crime he did not commit, and his brother gets locked up with the sole idea of setting him free before he gets the chair in thirtyish days - it's a well shot show mate, seems good so far, will probably be the best new show this year?

The only other stand out I've seen this year was The 4400 season 2 - now that was fricking awesome, and the best season finale I've ever seen on any show ever!

The only show I watch from TV is Rock Star:INXS on VH1 - really like that show, they're looking for the new lead singer for INXS

[Jiberjaber]

Dont forget to get the ones with AC3 soundtracks else you'll not benifit from the surround sound :P :D ;)

I can only see 3 eps atm, that what there up to Aido??

[Jiberjaber]

might go and get the optic out xbox lead tomorrow and make the PS2 go back to normal cable imput. as i love the xbox far much more than the ps2

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Defo worth it... also make sure you get one with the svideo as well as scart, then use the svideo as the feed, much better :)

(or component out if you have a plasma... but you'll need the lead Aido - unless you have a chipped box you wont reap much benifit from that though as the PAL HDTV only goes upto 720i I think (maybe less!) )

[Brettster]

ah yes I also watched all of the 4400 season 2, really liked it but the end was a bit crazy for me..

Right im off to go watch prison break :)

[aido]

(or component out if you have a plasma... but you'll need the lead Aido - unless you have a chipped box you wont reap much benifit from that though as the PAL HDTV only goes upto 720i I think (maybe less!) )

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It's chipped and forced into NTSC using the Enigmah video tool, don't think they've clarified any PAL HDTV outputs yet so I just use NTSC, I've always tended to stick to NTSC format stuff to be honest across the board!

I bought one of the component cables off eBay, works a treat and has optical out :) I think all games run in 480P, higher resolutions are optional..

For some reason the initial XBox video only works in 480i though?!

As for Ep 4, it should be on the net within the next six hours, airs anytime in the USA!

[Jiberjaber]

(or component out if you have a plasma... but you'll need the lead Aido - unless you have a chipped box you wont reap much benifit from that though as the PAL HDTV only goes upto 720i I think (maybe less!) )

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It's chipped and forced into NTSC using the Enigmah video tool, don't think they've clarified any PAL HDTV outputs yet so I just use NTSC, I've always tended to stick to NTSC format stuff to be honest across the board!

I bought one of the component cables off eBay, works a treat and has optical out :) I think all games run in 480P, higher resolutions are optional..

For some reason the initial XBox video only works in 480i though?!

As for Ep 4, it should be on the net within the next six hours, airs anytime in the USA!

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Ace :) (You can tell Amhet is on hols over a dial-up... off-topic rocks! )

[Geoffers]

Without trying to annoy people here, the whole issue is of current and resistance at the audible frequency range. This has been argued many times between the electronics engineers and the Hi-Fi trade.

I agree with Jiberjaber on this. I too should move into the Hi-Fi area myself. Loads of money to be made.

I remember at the Las Vegas CES 3 or 4 years ago there were quite a few companies using mains cables for their speaker runs. They needed the extra power and what better? So many respected HIfi buffs commented on their systems and there was a big who-har when it got revealed. (By UK's New Scientist actually)

As for gold plated connectors, there's another issue, Yes, each connection must be as perfect as possible, but do you know that your connectors have more than 5 microns over palladium? If not, you will still experience the electrolytic effect although you won't see it as tarnishing doesn't become visible until it is quite bad [to the naked eye]. The majoriy of connectors are plated over nickle, and at varying thicknesses too. These can have an overall negative effect on the electron flow.

Also, you have copper soldered onto these. The solder itself contains tin, lead if slightly older, silver, etc. which also cause the electrolytic effect and with the gold.

I'm not saying anyone is wrong here, just to bear in mind that you could be wasting your money. Providing your cable can handle the current and has good solid connections, the electron flow will be the same. If not, there are major jointing or incorrect cabling used, especially if it is at a level you can actually hear.

There have been many controlled experiments mixing and matching, and most results have been inconclusive.

Ultimately, it's what you think sounds the best. That's worth hundreds of pounds.

[Fargo]

Ace :) (You can tell Amhet is on hols over a dial-up... off-topic rocks! )

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and i dont even mind my thread got jacked....lol.... carry on :D

[Adie]

I'm also getting the first 3 episodes of prison break :D

Episode 4 around yet??

Another series i've been watching is Rome which is on HBO just got episode 3

[aido]

Ep 4 was released in the late hours of yesterday :)

[Brettster]

Prison break = Awesome, another hit from Aido, who must be a telleaddict.

awesome tattoo btw :)