How to Connect Home Theater Audio Cables

Connecting that mass of audio cables to your home theater system on the back of your television set is easier than it looks. The key is knowing which cable goes where and what types of cable deliver the best audio.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Check the back of your receiver or amplifier to determine the types of audio cables it can accommodate.

2. Look at the back of your DVD player, set top box or other device to determine what types of audio cables it can use. At minimum, there should be a red and a white RCA connector labeled "audio output" or "to receiver." There may be another labeled "optical," and a third that says "digital."

3. Connect the appropriate cable to the matching input on your receiver. Of the standard cables, optical cable delivers the highest audio quality, with digital second and composite (red and white) third. There may also be an input for HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface), which delivers the highest quality audio and video to your system.

4. Add a subwoofer using a digital audio cable running from the digital output on the back of the speaker to the spot marked "subwoofer" on the receiver or amplifier.

5. Attach your speakers to the amplifier by connecting the copper-colored wires to the red connectors on the speakers and receiver and the silver-colored wires to the black connectors. The inputs on the receiver should be labeled "left," "right," "center," "rear left" and "rear right." There may be others for more sophisticated systems. Label each set of wires with the speaker's location so you know where to connect them.