When it comes to audio cables, there are several brands and types available, with the choice depending on what you are trying to hook up and how concerned you are with the quality of the sound. In general 5-7% of total cost is adequate for investing in the cables for the system. If you are not terribly concerned with sound quality and are just listening to things like news and music in the background then you can use pretty much any cable, even the cheap one packaged with your system.

People who are more keenly interested in higher sound quality have more options. Cable specialists have products designed for increased quality and durability. Some of these cables can cost as much as five hundred dollars or more. While many people have trouble telling the difference between sound coming through the most expensive cables and through ordinary cables, there is an elite that believes that no price is too high when it comes to owning the very best equipment for the ultimate audio experience.

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.

RCA connections are utilized for passing analog line-level audio signals that go between components. RCA audio cables come grouped in stereo pairs, one connection is for the right channel and one for the left audio channel. A good idea for line level analog interconnects is the use of a cable with the following qualities: well shielded to eliminate interference and external noise sources, and low in capacitance.

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 are normally quite thick and have two wires: they may be tipped using spade lugs, banana plug or simply bare wires. It is required to be sure that the connections are really tight to the amplifier and the loudspeakers to reduce contact resistance to a minimum. You should never forget to keep the speaker cables as short as possible and avoid looping cables too much since this may augment cable inductance slightly.

Digital audio cables are a special group of their own. Of these there are two types: coaxial and optical. Coaxial digitals look just like standard analogs, but transfer digital audio rather than analog, while optical cables use light as a transmission method for audio signals. These types are also usually a single cable, where analog types are generally double plugs to stereo sound.

Investment on cables for audio equipment depends on one's sound quality requirement, which depends on background music/news etc. For improved/better sound quality sturdy costlier specialized cables are to be bought. The four different cables available in the market are analog audio cables, audio video cables, audio speaker cable and digital cables. They move signals from point to point with minimum signal loss by controlling resistance/Inductance/capacitance. RCA connections used for analog audio signals use low capacitance cables eliminating interference/noise. Video Cables pass high frequency signals that require adequate shielding/solid terminations/proper impedance. Speaker cables are short/thick and require low inductance. Digital cables transmit digital audio signals.