Help & Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better: Digital coax or Toslink (Optical)? |
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Digital coax cables deliver a digital audio signal via electricity travelling
down a copper wire over a shielded 75-Ohm coaxial cable with 75 Ohm
RCA connectors used on both ends. Toslink (Optical) delivers a digital
audio signal via a red light beam over a fibre optic cable comprised of
many small strands of polished plastic specifically designed to transfer light.
In our opinion the performance difference between Digital coax and Toslink connections is negligible. The major difference will come from the quality
of your electronics, not the cable. For instance, if your CD player uses
superior quality components for its Coax digital audioconnection and
inferior components for its Toslink connection, then it only stands to reason
that the Digital coax would have better sound quality than the Toslink. The
difference in the cables physical characteristics is also something to look at.
A Digital coax cable is much sturdier; however, since it carries the digital signal
via electricity running down a conductor, it can transfer grounding
problems from one component to another, if they already exist. The Toslink cable is more fragile, if stepped on a Toslink cable can be crushed
and possibly destroyed. However, an optical connection is immune from
possible ground earth loops. |
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What sort of connectors are used for digital optical connections? |
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Optical digital (Toslink)
The most common type of digital audio connections are on DVD players, AV receivers and PC soundcards with surround sound capability. Sometimes labelled SPDIF these connectors utilize fibre optics to deliver the digital audio signal. Mini-optical/Mini-Toslink Used on portable audio devices, especially MiniDisc recorders, for digital audio, including surround sound in some cases. See Optical digital. This type of jack is commonly used for the digital audio input and output of portable audio devices. A mini-optical jack is the same shape and size as a standard analog audio mini-jack. This allows portable MiniDisc recorders to use a single input jack that accepts both mini-optical connectors and standard analog audio mini-jacks. The MD portable detects whether you're making a digital or an analog connection based on the type of cable you're using, and automatically selects the appropriate recording mode. |
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Why does Van Damme speaker cable seem so inexpensive? |
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Van Damme cables differ slightly from some of the other makes we stock in that they do not come in retail packaging, they don't have any added gimmicks or 'go faster stripes' and they do not spend money on retail advertising campaigns. When you purchase Van Damme cable all you are paying for is a quality, high performance product! |
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Do the cables you sell come in different colours? |
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Most of the cables we sell do not have a choice of colour options. Please see the individual product pages for details of item. |
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What speaker cable should I use ? |
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A good speaker cable provides the electrical connection between the amplifier and the speaker with minimal resistance and should allow the signal to be transmitted without degradation or colouration. That said, speaker cables tend to vary in the follow ways; Conductor size As a general rule most people find that cables of 1.5 or 2.5 square mm are good for home cinema systems where you have purchased an AV receiver and a speaker package. If you have a cable run of over 20m we would recommend that you use 2.5mm cable. There is no problem using larger cable for home cinema but you may find that apart from it becoming rather expensive, the larger cable can be a bit cumbersome when used with smaller speakers. 6 square mm cable is usually used for stereo systems, critical monitoring or very high specification home cinema. Conductor type There are several cables on the market that use silver plated strands of copper. The silver plating is designed to make use of the skin effect and improve the high frequency transmission where as having a larger solid conductor improves bass response. Many cables use a combination of these factors or alternative ways of arranging the strands to create hybrid speaker cables. Cable construction All things considered
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The main factor that affects the quality of the cable is the amount of conductor that is used in the cable construction. The more conductor that is used, the lower the resistance of the cable and therefore the more transparent and accurate the signal transmission. The amount of conductor used in the cable construction is usually displayed as the cross sectional area of the conductor and is measured in square millimetres. There is also another system for measuring the amount of conductor and that is the American Wire Gauge. The size of the conductor is expressed as a number e.g. 16 AWG. For conversion of AWG to metric please see our 
Speaker cables generally have conductors made of copper because copper is the best electrical conductor. Of course not all copper conductors are the same so there is usually some indication as to the purity of the copper, often quoted as a percentage of the purity of the oxygen free copper or other details that describe the manufacturing process of the copper such as ultra pure, linear crystal oxygen free copper.
What is meant by AWG and cross sectional area ? |
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Both terms are a method of measuring or notating the size of the electrical conductor in cable, AWG stands for American Wire Gauge, which is mostly used by American companies such as Belkin. Cross sectional area is a metric measurement in mm2 and refers to the total cross sectional area of the cables conductor. Also AWG is used to measure the width of speaker cable.
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How do you operate the spring-operated screen? |
| Simply pull the screen down using the cord or handle, and stop once it is in the right place. To roll the screen away, first pull it down reasonably quickly, then allow it to roll back in without stopping it. It will stop at its locking position. |
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Is it advisable to join two separate pieces of speaker cable together? |
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It is possible to join speaker cable lengths together, however care should be taken to ensure that a good electrical contact is made and that the conductors are adequately insulated. If you need to do this we would recommend that the conductors are soldered together and insulated with electrical insulation tape. |
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Which cable is suitable for my speakers? |
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Why chose Clearly-AV for speaker cable? Clearly AV stock a wide range of speakers cables, ranging from ultra thin 0.75mm² or 18AWG low profile cables for your satellite or surround sound speakers to professional studio grade 6mm² or 10 AWG speaker cable for reference quality sound from your reference quality speakers. We will not try to sell you someting you don't need, all the cables we stock are suited to both professional and home use, we believe that you don't have to spend a fortune to achieve reference quality sound. For the uninitiated, chosing the right speaker cable can be a daunting task, with so many questions to ask - Do I need bi-wire cable? Which width of cable do I need? Which cable will suit my speakers? How much is too much to spend on speaker cable? Let's start with the basics: How much should I spend? As a general rule you should spend approximately 10% of the value of your system on speaker cables. So if you have a £1000 system you should put aside £100 for some decent speaker cable. Which speaker cable do I need? Satellite and surround sound speaker applications: The cable's cross sectional area or thickness is measured in mm² or AWG (American Wire Gauge). A very thin cable suitable for small speakers like surround sound or satellite speakers would normally measure between 0.5mm² to 1.0mm² or 20AWG - 17AWG (the thinner the cable the greater the AWG number). Examples below would be suitable for a home cinema set-up running small surround sound or satellite speakers: Van Damme 2x0.75mm UPOFC Studio Grade Blue Series Speaker Cable - V575060 QED Classic 42 Strand Speaker Cable - 2 x 1.25mm - White - C42100W Larger bookshelf and cabinet speakers: The next type of speaker cable is perhaps the most common, measuring between 1.5mm² to 2.5mm² or 16AWG to 14AWG this cable will be suitable for most applications. Ideally suited to larger bookshelf or floorstanding speakers these cables will provide excellent sound quality whatever standard of equipment you're using. Examples below would suit both the professional install and home cinema set-up with bookshelf, floor standing or surround sound speakers: Geftix Professional 2 x 1.5mm 15A Studio Grade Silver Series Speaker Cable - GF-CLR15MM Van Damme 2x1.5mm UPOFC Studio Grade Blue Series Speaker Cable - V515060 Geftix Professional 2 x 2.5mm 25A Studio Grade Black Series Speaker Cable - GF-BLK25MM PROFIGOLD Bassflex 2x1.5mm Speaker Cable White - PGC7159 QED Classic 79 Strand Speaker Cable - 2 x 2.5mm - White - C79100W Van Damme 2x2.5mm UPOFC Studio Grade Blue Series Speaker Cable - V525060 Van Damme 2x2.5mm UP LCOFC Hi-Fi Speaker Cable - V502000 Large floor standing speakers: For larger floor standing speakers we suggest using 4.0mm² to 6.0mm² or 12 AWG to 10 AWG. These very thick cables will give you unparalleled performance, they are suitable for even the most high end system. Exmples below of our best selling cables: Van Damme 2x4mm UPOFC Studio Grade Blue Series Speaker Cable - v545060 What is bi-wiring? Bi-wiring is the process of running two lengths of cable from your amp or receiver to the speaker's mid range and bass cones seperately. This is only achievable if your speakers have non-bridged binding posts and is only really necessary on high end speakers. This is not to be confused with bi-amping which powers the speakers mid range and bass cones by individual amps. Below are some examples of our most popular selling bi-wire cable: Van Damme 4x2.5mm Bi-Wire Tour Grade Black Series Speaker Cable - V542000
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