Cables can be divided as follows:
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according to the design (optical, electrical),
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after this Signalthat they transmit (analogue, digital),
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according to the function they fulfill (S-Video, iLink, measuring cable...),
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etc.
Below I attempt a practical subdivision in relation to HiFi. A comment on digital cables right here: Although all cables only transmit analog signals, these are often interpreted digitally and this is how the term "digital cable" or "digital connection" came about.
Cable types overview:
Analog Low Frequency Cables:
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Speaker Cables
Analog high-frequency cables:
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TV picture signal cable, e.g. B. S-Video cable, YUV-Cable
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HF cable, e.g. B. Antenna cable
Cables for the transmission of digital signals:
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Optical cables for the Connection of devices with SPDIF interfaces
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Coax cable: e.g. B. Cinch cable for connecting devices with SPDIF interfaces
data cable:
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Cable for IEE1394 connections, e.g. B. Firewire or iLink
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Cable for RS232 connections, e.g. B. serial port on the PC
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Cable for Ethernet connections
To further understand the frequencies involved here:
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audible tones: 20 Hz to 20.000 Hz
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HDMI 5 GHz
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Antenna signals terrestrial 47 MHz to 860 MHz, satellite over 10 GHz
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I can't find any reliable sources for the digital signals. You can't just go there bitrate = set frequency, I use factor 2:
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SPDIF (approx. 3 MBit/second) 6 MHz
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Firewire IEE1394 (400 MBit/second) 800 MHz
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100 MBit/s network with RJ45 and Cat5 cable: 200 MHz
What problems can be expected with cables?
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Cables swallow part of the signal, so that what you put in at the beginning doesn't come out at the end, keyword attenuation, frequency drop
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In addition, cables can falsify the signal (reflections and superimpositions), keyword characteristic impedance
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Outside effects are more or less shielded
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Effects from within: several signal lines influence each other. These effects are both frequency-dependent (usually: higher frequency means more loss) and length-dependent (the longer the greater the cable losses) as well as material-dependent (design and materials used)
This is all very general, so I would now like to go into a few concrete examples of how these cable problems affect you.
Frequency drop:
This describes the fact that a cable weakens a signal.
frequency range of a cable:
An analog cinch cable transmits a frequency range from DC voltage (0 Hz) to cutoff frequency f. The cut-off frequency f is the frequency at which the output signal falls to half level is attenuated, ie 3 dB. At even higher frequencies, the output signal is even smaller.