Hi im dean and currently thinking about setting up my own home theatre system im not concerned about speakers and such i would just like to know how many different types of connections there are eg(coaxial, optical, AV) and which ones are the best.
Also i need to know which ones are the best for 5.1 or above
If you don't care about speakers and such you can use composite connections. If you want to use decent equiptment use HDMI connection between your devices and 14 gauge speaker wire for you speakers. Better connection will not help crappy devices, crap in crap out.
In general, you want to use a digital connection (optical, coax or HDMI) with your DVD player or cable/satellite box in order to take advantage of 5.1 digital sound.
For multichannel high resolution music, in most cases you will need 6 analog cables. You can also use this approach in cases where your DVD player is more capable than your receiver, or your receiver lacks Dolby Digital/dts processing.