Need 20 ft long cable -- will optical work?

[douglasbjordan]

I need to connect two devices that are 20 feet apart. The guys at Ultimate Electronics told me that it's better to use digital coax for that distance. Unfortunately, coax is not an option in this case. So I have two options:
1) Use 20' digital optical cable
or
2) Rearrange the room so I can use a shorter length.

I'd rather do option 1. Will this be okay or do you think it'll cause some trouble?

If optical is still good for that length, are there any recommendations on where to by a 20' long cable? None of the local vendors carry them. I want to spend no more than about $30 for it, if possible.

Thanks in advance.

[markw]

That ain't gonna happen unless you steal some. One of the main downfalls of optical isthat it doesn't lend itself well to being bent and routed as easily as coaxial cable does. Actually, it breaks.

Parts Express does sell coaxial/optical (and vice-versa) adapters but an overall cost of $30 is not a realistic goal here.

[woodman]

I need to connect two devices that are 20 feet apart. The guys at Ultimate Electronics told me that it's better to use digital coax for that distance. Unfortunately, coax is not an option in this case. So I have two options:
1) Use 20' digital optical cable
or
2) Rearrange the room so I can use a shorter length.

I'd rather do option 1. Will this be okay or do you think it'll cause some trouble?

If optical is still good for that length, are there any recommendations on where to by a 20' long cable? None of the local vendors carry them. I want to spend no more than about $30 for it, if possible.

Thanks in advance.

This brings up a question back at you. What are you trying to connect with this digital interconnect anyway? Does the source component not have an analog (stereo) output? Or, it does - but you think that the DACs in destination component are "better" and will thus give you "better sound"?

As Mark pointed out in his reply - Toslink optical cable does not take kindly to right-angle bends in its path. So, unless the path between your two devices is fairly straight, you'll be better off not pursuing this type of connection if possible.

If you CAN use the optical cable, there IS one on the market to fill your needs within your budget ($25 plus shipping) from NXG.

[douglasbjordan]

This brings up a question back at you. What are you trying to connect with this digital interconnect anyway? Does the source component not have an analog (stereo) output? Or, it does - but you think that the DACs in destination component are "better" and will thus give you "better sound"?
I'm chaining devices together across rooms. I have a receiver #1 connected to my computer digitally, and I'm connecting receiver #1 to receiver #2 in the living room. The input source is digital, so it'll go out the digital line from receiver #1 to receiver #2.

When you say right-angle bends, you mean bends over 2" of length or so, right? If I use 8" or so for a smooth curved right angle, that should be okay, right? Who sells the NXG cables? Also, would I be safer spending more and getting this: http://a2zcables.site.yahoo.com/avhd-20.html They're $50 but the site claims to have extra junk in the cables to protect against "bend radius issues."

Thanks for your help so far.

[woodman]

I'm chaining devices together across rooms. I have a receiver #1 connected to my computer digitally, and I'm connecting receiver #1 to receiver #2 in the living room. The input source is digital, so it'll go out the digital line from receiver #1 to receiver #2.

When you say right-angle bends, you mean bends over 2" of length or so, right? If I use 8" or so for a smooth curved right angle, that should be okay, right? Who sells the NXG cables? Also, would I be safer spending more and getting this: http://a2zcables.site.yahoo.com/avhd-20.html They're $50 but the site claims to have extra junk in the cables to protect against "bend radius issues."

Thanks for your help so far.

So if I understand you correctly, your "input source" is your computer? And the connection between the computer and your receiver #1 is a digital connection, so you think that you therefore must send those same signals on to receiver #2 (in another room) via a digital link also? Not so, frien'. No matter what your signal source(s) are, they can be output from receiver #1 as analog signals from the "tape output" jacks ... making them available to be sent elsewhere in the home with ordinary audio cables.

If your receiver #1 has a separate "record-out selector", you can then send any audio signal on to the other receiver - regardless of what's being played on receiver #1, if that's something you'd like to do. Or, did you just want to play the same source in both rooms all of the time?

Hope this helps you

[douglasbjordan]

So if I understand you correctly, your "input source" is your computer? And the connection between the computer and your receiver #1 is a digital connection, so you think that you therefore must send those same signals on to receiver #2 (in another room) via a digital link also? Not so, frien'. No matter what your signal source(s) are, they can be output from receiver #1 as analog signals from the "tape output" jacks ... making them available to be sent elsewhere in the home with ordinary audio cables.
Thanks for the response! While your idea would work, my hope is that I might be able to play a DVD-Audio disc in the living room and have it maintain its 5.1 surround in the office where the computer is. (My earlier post didn't really convey that aspect of things -- I just talked about sending my computer's sound to the living room.) That way I can move between the two rooms and be surrounded by sound. For this, I think I'll still need digital cables, and my receivers only have optical outputs so I'm still searching for an optical solution that'll work...

[woodman]

Thanks for the response! While your idea would work, my hope is that I might be able to play a DVD-Audio disc in the living room and have it maintain its 5.1 surround in the office where the computer is. (My earlier post didn't really convey that aspect of things -- I just talked about sending my computer's sound to the living room.) That way I can move between the two rooms and be surrounded by sound. For this, I think I'll still need digital cables, and my receivers only have optical outputs so I'm still searching for an optical solution that'll work...

Ahah! The plot thickens!

You started out with the computer as your main source component, and sending signals from it to both receivers. Now, you're talking about playing a DVD-A disc in the living room and sending that signal to the other receiver in your "office". In order to have such functionality and do all of it in the digital domain, you'd need two 20' long optical cables, not just one. The fly in this ointment is that you cannot get a digital output signal from a DVD player when it's playing a DVD-A or an SACD disc ... it's not allowed. Both of those formats require that conversion from digital to analog be done within the player itself, and the output must be in the form of 6 audio cables going to the amp or receiver. You can get a digital output signal from the player when it's playing movies or even musical concerts - provided that the encoding is standard DD or DTS. Seeing that the amount of music that qualifies for this type of interconnect is so limited, I think you should re-think just what you're trying to accomplish here. I think if I were you, I'd be interconnecting the two receivers with analog audio cables (from any record output on each receiver to any input on the other). This will give you just what you say you want to do - plus a lot more versatility than striving to interconnect the two receivers digitally would.

If you still want to pursue the digital connection (a mistake in my opinion) ... I'll get the optical cables for you if you want. But to do what you're now talking about will cost you around $60 - which is considerably more than what you said you wanted to spend.

I'm trying my best to help you here -

[douglasbjordan]

Thanks again for the response and your help so far!

Your fears concerning the terrible injustice (IMO ;-) forced upon us by the recording industry (ie, must convert to analog and run a zillion more wires between components for SACD and DVD-Audio) are noted. I think I should be okay, though, since I don't have a true DVD-Audio player. I play 'em on my normal DVD through standard 48 KHz (all the ones I have got extra data encoding or whatnot to support this), but I still get the surround even though I don't get the other improvements of the format. (I guess when I get a true universal player, I'll hafta either try playing the discs in 48 KHz when I want them in both rooms, or in their native format when I'm sticking in one room. But maybe by the time I get one (not soon) the audio industry will permit them to pass their signals over the digital lines.)

On the other hand, perhaps my desire for surround positioning in both rooms from one source at a time may just be more of a "wouldn't it be cool" instead of something I need... I do already have the receivers hooked up to each other with analog cables, because the analog sources I want to play in both rooms will not go over the digital lines. Unfortunately, I must confess I have been unable to get my digital sources to come out the Tape Out of either receiver. The analog sources work fine, but the digital ones just don't go over the lines. Any particular settings I need to enable on the receivers to get the digital sources sent? I have a Denon 2805 in the living room and an 1803 in the computer room.

If I can get the digital sources to go over the analog tape outputs (actually in this case it would be VCR-2 outputs), I might just stick with that and use Prologic II Music to create the sound field. I'll still get the discrete surround in one room, and the other should sound okay. I'll try it this way for a while, and if I despise what my ears hear, I'll go optical. So what cables can you recommend (at $60 ea.)...? Let me know, and if I need to get 'em in the future, I won't hafta post again. ;-)

[woodman]

Thanks again for the response and your help so far!

Unfortunately, I must confess I have been unable to get my digital sources to come out the Tape Out of either receiver. The analog sources work fine, but the digital ones just don't go over the lines. [b]Any particular settings I need to enable on the receivers to get the digital sources sent? I have a Denon 2805 in the living room and an 1803 in the computer room.

If I can get the digital sources to go over the analog tape outputs (actually in this case it would be VCR-2 outputs), I might just stick with that and use Prologic II Music to create the sound field. I'll still get the discrete surround in one room, and the other should sound okay. I'll try it this way for a while, and if I despise what my ears hear, I'll go optical. So what cables can you recommend (at $60 ea.)...? Let me know, and if I need to get 'em in the future, I won't hafta post again. ;-)

There's no way to get digital signal sources to come out of any analog output jacks such as VCR-2 or VCR-1 or Tape or? So, try it for a while in the manner you described, and if you still want to go the digital interconnect route, let me know via a "personal message". And you misunderstood me ... I was quoting $60 for [u]two[/i] optical cables - not $60 each.