How to choose the right home theater cables

When it comes time to hook up your entertainment center, there are pretty much two lines of thought about which type of cable to choose.

On the one hand, you have the "cheap is fine" argument. They're just wires. They take a signal from one thing and allow it to travel a few feet to something else. They hook your TV to your receiver to your speakers (or whatever else). What's the big deal?

On the other hand, dip a toe into "serious" home theater or audiophile circles, and you'll get quite another story. Gold-plated interconnects, specially shielded jacks and wires, and mysterious alloys are all purported to deliver that last, ultimate bit of fidelity to the audiovisual experience.

On the third hand, you're going to need to buy more gloves.

When is a cable just a cable?
We could get into a tedious yet scary discussion of how a wire's cross-section affects its resistance at a particular power level, but really... it's just a cable. Thicker ones offer less resistance than thinner ones, so they won't get as warm during heavy use. (Also, they're less likely to be severed by a household accident.)

In short, the cheap cable folks are right. Unless you've got an incredibly discerning ear and extremely high-end audio equipment (the stuff that costs as much as a new car, not the $800 "Runs Good" handyman special from Craigslist), any $5 or $10 HDMI or TOSlink cable will suit your needs, as will that $8 spool of plain copper speaker wire.

The fact that a $2,200 HDMI cable even exists may prove that the end is nigh, but it also provides fodder for some exceedingly funny customer comments.

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