newbie needs help with digital interconnections

waxman
waxman Posts: 124
edited October 2002 in Basic Hookup/Wiring Questions
Hello everyone. Thanks for the help some of you over at the speaker forum having been giving me, but now I have some general interconnection questions.

1. I have a sony CDP-CX300 cd changer which has a 'digital out (optical)' port. I assume that I need a TOSLINK cable for this.

Is this right? What the heck does TOSLINK stand for? Any recommendations on type of cable?

2. I have an Apex 660A (a piece of crap, but a region free piece of crap) that has a "PCM/Dolby digital audio out" connection that looks strikingly similar to an RCA connection. Within the setup, I can set this port to be SPDIF/PCM or SPDIF/RAW.

Which one should I use? Is there a difference? Does this connection really use just a plain old RCA cable? Recommendations on the cable?

I'm going to be ordering my new receiver in the next few days- either a Pioneer Elite VSX-41 or VSX-43TX, so I know the receiver has the digital ins. Any help you could provide would be appreciated!

Chris
Post edited by waxman on
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Comments

  • HBombToo
    HBombToo Posts: 5,256
    edited October 2002
    http://www.midsouthcable.com/videotoslink.htm

    I use the most inexpensive TOSLinks I was able to find and that was over a year ago. Why spend 60 when 20 will get you there.

    Good Luck.
    ***WAREMTAE***
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  • Frank Z
    Frank Z Posts: 5,860
    edited October 2002
    [
    2. I have an Apex 660A (a piece of crap, but a region free piece of crap) that has a "PCM/Dolby digital audio out" connection that looks strikingly similar to an RCA connection. Within the setup, I can set this port to be SPDIF/PCM or SPDIF/RAW.

    Which one should I use? Is there a difference? Does this connection really use just a plain old RCA cable? Recommendations on the cable?

    Yes the connection is a plain old RCA jack, just color coded for convenience. PCM (Pulse Code Modulation ) vs RAW? I am clueless on that one. Does your manual give any info on the RAW option? Possibly an unprocessed signal?
    9/11 - WE WILL NEVER FORGET!! (<---<<click)
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  • burdette
    burdette Posts: 1,194
    edited October 2002
    TOSlink stands for Toshiba Link, an optical digital connection system developed by Toshiba.

    Yes, the PCM/DD out on the Apex looks like a standard RCA jack, but a standard RCA patch cord won't work for the connection. You need to get a coaxial digital cable.. it has RCA connections, but the cable is thicker.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,199
    edited October 2002
    and the correct bandwith to pass the complete signal .
    Dan
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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