How many different ways are there to wire a surround sound system? Answer, Video: Component (3 wires, blue green red), S-Video, Coaxial (orange) and HDMI/DVI, Audio: digital optical, digital coaxial, and analog RCA (2 wire, red white). Buying wiring for your sound system can be as expensive as the component itself. So ask yourself, is it really worth spending $100.00 on a Monster Cable HDMI cable when I only spent $100.00 on the DVD player?

          I only have one answer for people that ask if one cable or brand of cable is better than an other, or if using component cables is better than digital optical or whatever; it all depends on your equipment. Buying additional or upgraded sound equipment of any kind should be viewed as an experiment. It’s just like an eye exam that we’ve all had, when you are repeatedly asked – better or worse, better or worse. Buy all the different cables and test them for yourself, then return the ones that you don’t need. Or if you’re like me, you probably already have a bunch of extra cables in a box in the basement. Wire that DVD player to the receiver using the (3 wire) component cables and try it. You may find that contrary to what the guys on the audiophiles website are saying, in your case, component is better than digital. Blanket statements like these drive me crazy:

A DVD player with HDMI will work better than one without.

A $100 HDMI cable will work better than a $10 HDMI cable.

Digital is always better than analog.

Larger diameter, and/or a more exotic speaker wire is better than the stuff that came with the unit.

     You can also get onto various websites that have a area were customers can leave feed back or rate the various products that they have purchased. Listen to them all for construction or manufacturing quality issues, but do realize that every manufacturer has some level of rejects. The failure could be an isolated or rare case, if something doesn't seem right, try swapping it for another unit. Remember that any performance issues that they are commenting on, either good or bad, is dependent on their equipment, not yours. Things like: these speakers have little bass response or what a difference it made when I upgraded to HDMI or, I added a power filter (that cost me $300.00) and my TV picture is better.

          So, be the shopper that every retail outlet hates; the guy that buys a whole bunch of stuff, knowing that he’s going to return most of it the next day. Try hooking up the components with the different kinds of wiring and see for yourself which works best for your system. Get the cheapest kind of wire and one of the expensive ones and compare them. You can get a great quality HDMI cable for under $10.00 or you can spend $100.00 on the Monster HDMI cable. You would be wiser to buy both of and them because you will probably be returning the $100 one.

          Do you have to use a coaxial cable when an single RCA plug will fit? The specs for both are very close. Try using and RCA instead of the coaxial and see if it’s worth buying the coaxial version when you already have a box full of RCA plugs.

          Other concepts that I’ve tested:

Other concepts that I’ve tested: All DVD players work the same way and will give you the same sound/picture quality. I used to think that until I experimented with a couple of different brands. REVISED AFTER DISCOVERING A FLAW IN MY TEST PROCEDURE. I discovered a flaw in my test procedure. I assumed that a copy of a CD would sound the same as the original. Come to find out that the copy was recorded with less volume, so it didn't sound as good as the original. I decided to swap the two CDs just for the heck of it and sure enough the lesser volume followed the CD. Then I tried a pair of CDs of the same artist and the same songs. They seamed similar but low and behold, the same thing happened, the volume levels were different. I did notice that though the artwork was identical, the manufacturers were different. Do eliminate any potential difference between the the two CDs, I made a second copy of the CD, so now I had identical copies of the same original CD made using the same equipment. My new updated results; They sounded IDENTICAL. Switching the two DVD players back and forth via the amplifier, both DVD players sounded exactly the same ---- SO I'm back to saying that CD players all use the same technology to read the information on the disc, so they will all sound the same. Also, the same holds true for DVD players. Reading digital information is all done the same way.

    While I had two DVD players sounding identical, I decided that it would be a great time to test some various audio digital wires that I had. I did the same switching from on player to the other with first a Monster cable ($60.00) and a mid priced cable ($30.00) and finally a thin, cheap wire ($10.00) that came free with one unit that I had. I couldn't believe it; all three wires tested exactly the same.

Don't believe it if you hear that: you need a CD player separate from a DVD player. $150.00 will get you a fantastic DVD/CD/SACD/SVCD/DVD-A, etc. multi format player. All DVD players will also play standard CDs where as a CD played will not play DVDs.

Don't believe it if you hear that: Regular CDs will only play back in 2 channel. You can easily distinguish a minimum of a 5 channel separation if played on the right system and no, I’m not talking about SACDs, just the regular ones, even recordings from the 80s. Stairway to heaven is absolutely awesome when played on a multi channel system. Two channel stereos are a thing of the past and you don’t have to throw out your entire collection to upgrade to a better sound (like you did with all your vinyls, cassettes and 8tracks). It’s about time that computers started playing a major role in sound reproduction systems.

Take this away from what I have said:

    Don’t believe everything you hear, try it for yourself.

    Testing by others may could have been done incorrectly.

    My testing resulted in the three digital audio cables ranging in price from $10 to $60, sounded exactly the same.

    If someone convinces you that what they are selling should sound better, then to you, it will sound better.

    My $75 DVD player sounded the same as a $300 one did.

    Test your equipment with all the wiring combination, including cheap verses high priced, and return the ones that you don't use. Be methodical about your test procedure. Don't fall into the trap that I did. You will probably find that more expensive isn't necessary better.