Optical audio

[touchingcloth]

Do I just buy any old cable to connect my telly to my amp, or is it more complicated and expensive than that? Do you need fibre optics that are doped with platinum for the best sound fidelity?

[steveh]

Some cheap cables may not have the plugs assembled well so you may find sound cutting out. Other than that it doesn't matter.

If the amp supports HDMI it's better to use that. Optical only has the bandwidth for the original Dolby Digital or stereo PCM. If your TV supports outputting Dolby Digital Plus or AAC over HDMI and your amp supports either of those formats then that will sound ever so slightly better.

[touchingcloth]

The amp doesn't support HDMI, just optical and standard aux cable. My old telly had an aux port, but if it was plugged in then the sound would only come through the amp, but the new telly supports splitting the sound between the inbuilt speakers and the optical port, so it means I can leave it plugged in and choose whether or not to play sound from the amp from the telly's menu without needing to faff about with cables.

I'll get a cheap thing and take it from there, thanks!