Banana plugs

Used for speakers connections the banana plugs do not increase the quality of the sound. These connectors are convenient for quick connection/disconnection of speaker cables, are cheap, you could buy banana plugs for few dollars. Some of the brands are Nakamichi, Monster Cable, GLS Audio, Belkin and the list could continue onmany pages. You could find them on Amazon, RAdio Shack, Best Buy, eBay.

Balanced and unbalanced cable

All audio signal cables are screened, however, screening is not the perfect solution, that's why balancing was invented.

In an unbalanced cable, there's a single inner core that carries the signal while the outer screen also doubles as the signal return path. Any interference that results in induced currents flowing through the screen conductor will cause these currents to be added to the wanted signal, so some interference problems are still possible, especially with long cable lengths or where there are nearby sources of strong interference. Screened cable offers very little protection against induced hum, as the cable is actually acting like a single-turn transformer, coupling energy from other mains conductors and transformers in the vicinity.

In a balanced cable, there are two inner conductors, often known as hot and cold. The screen is grounded, as before, but this time the screen is not part of the signal path.

Balanced equipment is designed so that its hot and cold outputs carry the same signal but with the cold signal phase inverted with respect to the hot signal. At the receiving end, the balanced input stage re-inverts the cold signal and adds it to the hot signal, thus restoring the original signal.

Another type of cable known as Star Quad was developed to improve the immunity to interference, these kind of cables are used mainly in live sound applications where long cable runs are commonplace, but it is demonstrably more effective than conventional balanced cable.

So if you use unbalanced cables keep them short and if it's possible far from transformers and power cables.

Length of audio cables

Everyone loves a sound system that sound crystal clear. But there are many factors that go into achieving the most out of your sound system. You need to take into account the length of your speaker wire and the type of cables you are using. For a good sound quality you need to consider :

- the level of speakers you are using

- the receiver (output module) - The receiver limits the wattage and can help produce a clean audio stream. A cheap receiver may be fine and get the job done but it won't always give you the cleanest audio.

- the type of cable you will be using - An optical audio cable will give you some of the best audio you can ask for, but you need to research what type is best for you. You also need to take into account how long the cable needs to be because the length of a cable will affect your sound quality.

The longer your cable the more likely you will lose some level of quality in your sound. A cable that goes in a straight line will produce a higher quality audio than one that is wrapped up and tangle. If you sound stream has to go through turns it will eventually begin to lose some audio and create a rough sounding system.

It's important to know the difference between high-end and low-end cables in order to make your own informed purchasing decision.

High-end cables are expensive because of the materials used to craft them. A high-end cable is usually made of high purity copper, gold or silver. They can also be oxygen-free and also use high-end connectors. Also, the gauge, or thickness of the wire can contribute to the price as well, as thicker wire cables tend to last longer.

For normal people could be difficult to distinguish between high-end and low-end cable. This does not necessarily mean that there are no differences, only that even to a highly trained ear it may be difficult to detect which cable is able to provide the best sound quality. For all your cable needs go here

Audio connectors

Generally speaking cables have connectors (or plugs). Audio cables are not an exception and audio connectors are very important parts in the audio chain. There are many types of audio connectors but the most common are :

RCA connectors also known as phono connectors - used for analog and digital signal (here you cold find an audio cable with RCA connectors)

TRS connectors known as jack plug (6.35mm - quarter inch), mini-jack (3.5mm - miniature or 1/8 inch) and subminiature (2.5mm) for both versions, mono and stereo

XLR connectors also known as Cannon plugs used for analog or digital balanced audio

TOSLINK connectors for optical connections (also known as Toshiba link)

Why do I need cables ?

The basic function of audio cables is to carry an audio signal between two pieces of electronic equipment. Without cables you cannot connect your equipment, so the items you own would be essentially unusable. The sorts of equipment that you may want to link together include instruments, cd/dvd/mp3-players, turntables, tuners, microphones, pre-amps, amps, speakers..

For all this equipment we will need signal cables, speaker cables, mains cables.

There are many discussions on internet about cables and there are many maniacs that pretend they could hear the difference between different cables. Maybe they could but these are exceptions, for all of us a cable that cost 20$ will sound exactly the same as a cable that cost 200$. I'm not saying that quality of cables is not important, in fact is very important but you will never need a 200$ cable that connects your cd-player (even an expensive one) with your preamp.

Here you could find a good signal cable with gold plated connectors

With the speaker cables is another discussion, these cables can really affect what you hear.

A good speaker cable will have a low resistance, inductance and capacitance. Speaker cables must be selected according with their length and the power of amplifier and speakers.

For powers between 10-100w you will need 12 Gauge (3.3mm²) Wire.

For powers over 200w you will need 10 Gauge (5.2mm²) Wire

For more cables and connectors you could go here