Have your say & ask the experts

An installation team is currently upgrading my speaker package from B&W 684 to MA RX6.  During the installation, we noticed that the previous installer used a standard coaxial cable for sound and a van den hul hdmi cable for picture.  I had previously supplied the hdmi cable and thought that it would be used for both sound and picture.  I complained to the owner because, had I known that a separate coaxial cable was necessary, I would have purchased a better quality cable.  My question is this:

Is it better to use a separate coaxial cable for sound?  The owner has offered to upgrade the coaxial cable to better Audioquest cable (not rated by WHFSV).  The question is urgent because the installers want to complete the installation in the next 1 hour.

I'm confused.  If you are upgrading your speakers, why does that involve changing hdmi cables or digital or audio interconnects?

I suppose it depends on the scope of your installation and I can imagine it may involve changing speaker cables, but can't see how a speaker upgrade involves changing the interconnects between sources and amplifiers.

Am I just being thick here? 

My mate with his Sky HD set up does Pic. via HDMI and sound by another route due to the output of the box to his set up.

Just get as good a coaxial cable as the installer can offer its its so say bettr than whats there and see if you happy.

I'm sure they'll swap it out at a later date if you are unhappy with it, is it just to difficult to replace later on?

Eddy41:

My mate with his Sky HD set up does Pic. via HDMI and sound by another route due to the output of the box to his set up.

Yes but you have to with SkyHD, it doesn't output Dolby Digital over the HDMI, only stereo, to get DD you need the seperate digital connection.

Just get as good a coaxial cable as the installer can offer its its so say bettr than whats there and see if you happy.

I'm sure they'll swap it out at a later date if you are unhappy with it, is it just to difficult to replace later on?

If it's for DVD or Blu-ray you don't need the coax at all, just the HDMI, unless the amp is not HDMI equipped, but without the OP actually telling us what it is he's got connected there's no way of knowing.

the_lhc:

Eddy41:

My mate with his Sky HD set up does Pic. via HDMI and sound by another route due to the output of the box to his set up.

Yes but you have to with SkyHD, it doesn't output Dolby Digital over the HDMI, only stereo, to get DD you need the seperate digital connection.

Just get as good a coaxial cable as the installer can offer its its so say bettr than whats there and see if you happy.

I'm sure they'll swap it out at a later date if you are unhappy with it, is it just to difficult to replace later on?

If it's for DVD or Blu-ray you don't need the coax at all, just the HDMI, unless the amp is not HDMI equipped, but without the OP actually telling us what it is he's got connected there's no way of knowing.

Thanks for your response.  The amp is a SONY 5400 and the Blu Ray SONY 5000.  I assume that they are both HDMI equipped and therefore I don't need a separate coaxial cable?

correct HDMI should bring sound and picture from that BD player to that amp.

you will need a HDMI to the screen (assuming it's a HD screen) and a HDMI and Optical from a sky+HD box (assuming you have one of those too).

BJB:

Thanks for your response.  The amp is a SONY 5400 and the Blu Ray SONY 5000.  I assume that they are both HDMI equipped and therefore I don't need a separate coaxial cable?

If the connection you are referring to is between the BD and your amp then only the HDMI is necessary.  Like others have said, the additional digital audio cable is only needed for hooking up a Sky HD box (or other esoteric pieces of kit that don't send audio bitstreams over their HDMI but these are getting to be few and far between).