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Before buying audio cables you should determine whether you think sound quality is important to you. There are so many different cables available; you want to be sure to get the most suitable one that meets your specific needs. A certain amount of money, usually between 5 and 7 percent of the overall cost for the sound system, should be spent on good quality cables. If sound quality is not your priority, you might want to stick with the cables that were included with your sound system.

People who want improved sound quality for listening can find something in their price range from cable specialists. Specialized cables provide optimum sound quality and are very sturdy. These are a better alternative to generic speaker cables which offer lower sound quality and aren't as sturdy. Although the specialized cables may be affordable, the cost still could be several hundred dollars for the speaker cables or analog audio interconnects. Some people may find that the extra money spent is well worth the benefits of better sound and pride in owning the very best in audio equipment.

The four different types of cables are analog audio cables, audio video cables, audio speaker cable and digital cables. Their job is to move a signal from one point to another without unchanged. This is accomplished along with minimizeing losses, through control of the amount of Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance at audio frequencies.

For passing analog line-level audio signals between components, RCA connections are used. RCA audio cables are grouped in stereo pairs, with one connection for the left audio channel and one for the right. For line level analog interconnects it's a good idea to use cables that are low in capacitance and are well shielded to eliminate interference and external noise sources from mitigating into the signal

Video Cables are possibly the most critical cables since the signals that pass through them are at very high frequencies. The higher it is, the more critical to have a proper impedance, proper shielding and good teminations that audio-video cables should provide. So, a video cable must be well shielded and must keep the proper typical impedances.

Audio Speaker cables can be ended with spade lugs, metal pins, banana plugs, or bare wire and are normally fairly thick with two conductors. To minimize contact resistance there needs to be the tightest connection of the cable to the loudspeaker and amplifier. Do not loop excessive cables and keep speaker cable runs as short as possible so that cable inductance is not increased.

There are two basic types of digital audio cables, optical and coaxial. Digital audio signals are transmitted as pulses of light by optical cables, while coaxial digital cables transfer digital audio signals. Coaxial digital cables look like standard analog RCA cables, and are usually a single cable, but analog RCA cables have normally double plugs, providing stereo audio. These both, optical and coaxial are a special group of cables.

Depending on your choice of audio requirements for sound quality, there are a host of cables available in the market. Most general purpose users do not need to look at the brands and quality of cables and the cheapest ones that come packages with the equipment work fine. Choosier customers may have to spend several hundred dollars to satiate their high quality desires. The main objective of these specialized cables is to transmit audio signals from one point to another unchanged. This involves minimizing losses by controlling Resistance, Inductance and Capacities at audio frequencies. Various specialized audio cables include audio video cables, audio speaker cable, analog ones and digital cables.