Connecting DVD player outputs to TV/receiver

[viveks]

Hi all,

I just bought Onkyo HT-S670 home theater system, have a few newbie questions will appreciate if someone can answer these:

For connecting DVD player receiver gives you choice of using optical or coaxial cable. Is one gives the better output as compared to other. On this message board I have seen a few posts where people preferring coaxial over optical is there any particular reason for that ?

Right now I'll be connecting only the DVD player, is it okay if I leave the video output of DVD player directly connected to TV using component cable or for some reason it has to go through the receiver which only has S-Video for both input as well as ouput.

Another question I have is about the quality of speaker wires. If I replace these with some 16 gauge cables would it improve the quality.

Last but not least how is the quality of products from acoustic research as compared to Monster cables ( which are considerably expensive).

Thanks!
--viveks

[hershon]

In regards to the speaker wires, I'd recommend you get Monster 16 gauge wire- it does make a difference but be smart and get this off Ebay for half of what you'd pay at Best Buy. Make sure you know how much wire you need, I used up about 175 feet of this stuff and it wasn't cheap. if I had waited and bought it on Ebay I would have saved alot of bread.

I've had mixed reactions to Monster stuff particularly the highend line as there lower priced "THX" line actually produced better sound on my system. If you need a subwoofer or coaxial or optical cable, I'd get the Monster THX series. Again, if you have a little patience you can get a good price on this on Ebay. The monster Ultra series is a rippoff and actually produced lousier sound!

[Smokey]

For connecting DVD player receiver gives you choice of using optical or coaxial cable. Is one gives the better output as compared to other. On this message board I have seen a few posts where people preferring coaxial over optical is there any particular reason for that?

Last but not least how is the quality of products from acoustic research as compared to Monster cables ( which are considerably expensive).

Although there are no differences between coax and optical connections, I prefer coax just because it is more convenient. And the coax is cheaper than optical cable :)

AcousticResearch is very much comparable to monster, and cheaper. Some of money one would pay for Monster is for their over-the-top advertisement department. So now the question is do you want to pay for their advertisement, or get a good quality cable. For Monster Cables, one will pay for both :)

[Eric Z]

viveks- don't go crazy and spend a lot of money on speaker wire. i agree, get at least 16 or 14 gauge, but you don't need to get any fancy brand. run to your local large hardware store (home depot, menards, lowes) and get some there- you will save a bunch of cash!! there may be differences with better speaker wire, but i'm sure they will be slight!!

as far as brand of cables, i recommend acoustic research instead of monster. smokey hit it right on the head, you're paying mostly for advertisement- similar to how bose and aol are so expensive- look how much darn advertising they do.

my brother bought the 760 htib by onkyo and i'm pretty surprised it sounds that good for a few hundred bucks. you can of course get set-ups that sound much better, but for pocket change, it's challenging to find one better.

good luck and enjoy!

[viveks]

Thank you all for replying back with so many good recommendations. Based on your suggestions and many earlier posts about Acoustic Research vs. Monster cables I have decided to go with AR cables. I realized that the price difference between optical and coaxial cable wasn't much for a 6' cable so going with optical. About speaker wires I haven't decided if I should get those from Home Depot or go for AR for those too but will replace then ones came with system with 16 gauge wires.

Eric Z,

I looked at both 670 and 760. The speakers for 670 looked smaller and a little nicer aesthetically :). Both sounded pretty much same in Fry's and finally the difference was $ 150.00, which gave enough reasons to go with 670.

Thanks again!!

[hershon]

Again, if you're smart and want to save money and can wait about 10 days, you're better off buying whatever speaker wire and cable you want from Ebay. If you don't want to wait, check Ebay's Buy it Now. I made the mistake of buying retail which is plain retarded when you can get whatever you want for 40-50% cheaper on Ebay in regards to wires and cables.


Thank you all for replying back with so many good recommendations. Based on your suggestions and many earlier posts about Acoustic Research vs. Monster cables I have decided to go with AR cables. I realized that the price difference between optical and coaxial cable wasn't much for a 6' cable so going with optical. About speaker wires I haven't decided if I should get those from Home Depot or go for AR for those too but will replace then ones came with system with 16 gauge wires.

Eric Z,

I looked at both 670 and 760. The speakers for 670 looked smaller and a little nicer aesthetically :). Both sounded pretty much same in Fry's and finally the difference was $ 150.00, which gave enough reasons to go with 670.

Thanks again!!

[xxticy007]

I also just purchased the ONKYO HT-S670 and will go about installing the system over the next day or so. I went with an optical cable for the audio and will probably hit up Ebay for the other cables that I will need. For the DVD player I ended up getting a DVD/VHS unit from Sony. It is the SonyC-SLVD350P-DVD/VCR combo. Not too sure what to expect from the DVD unit as it only came in at $129. The Onkyo system was priced at $360, curious what you paid for yours. I would also have to agree that the 6.1 system sounded almost identical to the S670 in the store good reviews and the price difference is what ultimately led me to picking the smaller of the two.

[bignerd100]

With home theater in a box it is much more important to place your speakers correctly than to spend $$ on new wires.

True; better cables can make a small difference in a system of high enough resolution to display their differences ($1,000 pair of speakers, $800 amplifier, $900 preamp).

Monster Cable is hype. Wire industry is hype (check out some well respected brands that sell multi thousand dollar per pair speaker cables such as Kimber, Tara Labs, Audio Quest, etc.).

With moderately priced stereos as well as the very high end stereos speaker placement is paramount. Go to the local library and check out Master Handbook of Acustics for painfuly detailed info on all of the technical aspects.

For wire you can go to your local high-end shop that does installations and ask their installer for CL3 rated installation wire (16/4 retails for around 50 cents/ft) and the interconnects that he uses in installations which usualy retail for a little less than the RadioShack equivalent but are more durrably constructed. If you look confused enough the installer may even give you free advice (they are geeks; they live for this stuff).

With this formula you will get the best possible sound from your system without spending (wasting) money on fancy wires which only change the psycho-acustics of the stereo.

By the way the reason that people say coax is better than optical is that the optical signal starts out as RF the same as the coaxial but then undergoes a transition (signal loss-theoreticaly) to the optical (light).