Please help. I am in the final stages of completing a 7.1 home theater/audio system and need some help selecting cables to complete the system.

Equipment includes:
+ Sony 70” TV (KDS-R70XBR2)
+ Oppo Digital (DV-981HD)
+ Outlaw Audio (990/7125)
+ Motorola DCH6416 HD cable box
+ AV123 Rocket speakers 850, 300, 450, 200
+ Elemental Designs A7-450 – 18” ported sub

In the short-term, I would like to use the Oppo Digital for CD’s (audio), DVD’s (video) and SACD’s (audio).

To date, I have purchased:
+ (7)Outlaw PCA interconnects
+ (1) Outlaw sub cable
+ (2) HDMI cables (Monoprice)
+ (6) RCA CL2 Rated Cable - RG6/U 75ohm S/PDIF (Monoprice)
+ (all speaker wires are terminated)

I used the HDMI cables to connect the cable box and Oppo to the TV prior to the purchase of the amp and processor. If possible, I would like to keep these cables and go with DVI/HDMI adapters.

Sorry about all the details, but I have never used DVI and digital audio cables before.

Thanks,
Steve

The PCA's will handle the 990-to-7125 connection, and the Outlaw sub cable will of course handle the sub. The six-pack of Monoprice cables will handle the multichannel analog connection from the 981HD to the 990's 7.1 Direct input (connect the left/right, center, sub, and left/right side surrounds, but not the rear surrounds). It's a good start.

Here's what it appears that you still need:

• (2) HDMI-to-DVI adapters for connecting the two HDMI cables from the 981HD and Motorola box to the 990's DVI inputs
• (1) DVI-to-HDMI cable for connecting the 990's DVI output to the Sony TV (an alternative is to get a third HDMI-to-DVI adapter and a third HDMI cable)
• (2) coaxial or optical digital audio cables for connecting the 981HD and Motorola box to the 990, needed for digital audio
• (1) analog video cable for connecting the 990's monitor output to the Sony TV. This is needed to provide access to the 990's setup menu, which is not available at the DVI output. You can use a composite, s-video, or component video cable for this.

Does that help?

Thanks Gonk. Yes, it helps. The only question I still have is the audio connection from the Sony TV to the 990.


Pages 23-24 of the user manual (see link) gets me a little confused. Should I use a Toslink, two digital coax and from what port on the TV?

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=KDSR70XBR2&LOC=3

Thanks again,
Steve

Are you using the Sony's internal tuner for audio? The Motorola box indicates that you aren't using a CableCARD, and there's no built in HD tuner for over-the-air HD broadcasts. Unless I'm mistaken, you won't really need to get audio out of the Sony - it can potentially spend almost its entire life set to the HDMI input (except for occasional trips to whatever input is connected to the 990's monitor output for access to the 990's setup menu) and serve solely as a video display.

I have a 60" Sony KDS XBR1 and LOVE it!

When watching local channels (for HD) I use the Sonys built in tuner for OTA programming. I have an optical out for the sound for these local channels and have that running to my 990.

I prefer the signal quality over my HD DirecTv satellites tuner for locals. The picture is better, period.

My personal opinion is I would prefer coaxial over optical. The signal is the same, but the optical plugs on equipment seems cheaper. The optical plug is cheap plastic and the cable has to be connected exactly right for it to connect correctly. Coaxial is much easier to plug in and more secure.

I have a Scientific Atlanta 4250HD cable box. I connect it's Digital Audio out using an Illuminati D60 to a coaxial input of the 1070. For my PS2, I use an Outlaw PDO cable to connect it to an optical input on the 1070.

For HDMI, I could not resist the low price I got on two Bettercables.com Silver serpent Reference HDMI cables.


I am using Outlaw PCA's for multichannel SACDs/DVD Audio and even movies at times.

All other interconnects are Signal cables with Bullet Plugs. I find these to be a sheer joy and for their price, nothing comes close. The Bullet plugs are superior to normal RCA phono plugs!

Of course I have 4 shielded , high end power cords to keep the nasties out of the system.

My TV is a Sony KDS55A2020 and I am digging it!