Quote Originally Posted by SlumpBuster
Nope. You should only need two cables connecting your cable box to the receiver. The digital 5.1 (and any digital 2.0 for that matter) will travel via a coaxial digital cable (I'm not aware of any cable boxes that have an optical digital output). Then just a regular RCA left/right cable for the analog signals. You won't need 5.1 analog since that will go through the digital coaxial. Then on the cable input on the back of the receiver you will hook up the analog. The digital coaxials are off the the right side of the panel. The reciever will automatically detect digital 5.1 signal if it is present and favor that signal. If you switch to pure direct, it will then favor the analog signal.

Of course, the 2500 has very good DACs. Mine has better DACs than my CD player or (presumably) my cable box. So you may want that digital signal going in rather than the analog.

In any event, getting new speakers is a good occasion to break out the owners manual and re-acquaint yourself with an old friend.
I just checked. Yup, no 5.1 analog conections. But I am hooked up to optical out. Digital coax is another option.

Another thought/question. Why does my CD player have no trouble coming in through optical and still be able to use pure direct?