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Questions about Toslink's

I'm going to install a new rack at my Dad's house some time this week. As such, i'm going to re-wire his system, which is a 2 channel / HT combo. Due to the large quantity of components involved, i would like to keep things as orderly as possible. As such, i'm trying to keep all the cables just long enough to do point to point wiring. I'll be building most of the interconnects and power cords, so that isn't a problem. What is a problem are the Toslink's that i need.

With that in mind, does anyone know if there is a drawback to running very short Toslink's ? I need one cable in specific that would be about 20" long. This is equivalent to a half meter ( give or take ). Since i can't find any commercial Toslink's at this length, i was wondering if it just isn't a common length or if there is a problem with going this short ? I've found a company that will build me Toslink's of whatever length i want, but before doing so, i just want to verify that this is okay. Obviously, i'd rather do my homework now than spend my money and find out later.

Since i've got your attention, is there anything such as a Toslink switchbox ? If so, does anybody know of one that works well and doesn't cost a fortune ? I would only need two inputs and one output.

Thanks for any and all help. When it comes to this stuff, i'm clueless : ) Sean
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sean
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
I consulted with our fiber optics guy, and as I suspected there are "switches": in fact there are multiplexers. The switch is implemented with a solid state variable opacity material, and is controlled by 0/+5 vdc. Just a guess but the cost would be about $100.

Why not just use a splitter?
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
This may be more than your Dad needs, but it could be something you or someone else need in the future. It will switch Video and audio source and has auto-detect and many more features. http://www.copperbox.com/lite/popinfo.php?lc_code=1154&PHPSESSID=fc9d8e777dfe68a0a1d201a6daffb662

Dave
pmkalby
130 posts
 
I heard some unsubstantiated mumbo-jumbo once about Toslinks shorter than 0.5 meter being no good. This was audio shop water cooler banter basically.

From whom I heard this, and for what reason this is allegedly the case totally escapes me.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Sean - if you are doing Toslink, you should consider the glass cable from The Sound Prefessionals:
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?category=220&item=SP-TOC-99HQ&type=store

This one is almost as good as my best coax.
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