Thor AV Leads - Scart, S-Video, Phono, Digital Phono Coaxial and Fibre Optic (Optical) Leads

What's All This About?

Thor leads are more than just high quality Scart to Scart leads. People can spend thousands of pounds on a home cinema system - but then often spend just a few pounds on the AV leads they use to connect it all together. Not surprisingly often cheap AV leads can lead to poor performance from the home cinema system they've just spent a fortune on. Thor is an AV lead brand designed and made with the very latest Audio Visual technology. Thor are not the cheapest leads - but are designed to help you get the best from your home cinema setup.

Is It Any Good Though?

We think Thor leads are excellent, and so do What Hi-fi Magazine. They tested the Thor 1.5m Scart to Scart lead in their April 2002 issue and gave it a maximum five stars! What Video & TV tested the same lead in August 2002 and gave the lead a Best Buy award. Thor leads also had rave reviews from What Satellite magazine (May 2002) and Essential Home Cinema magazine (June 2002).

What Leads Can You Get?

The Thor range consists of Scart to Scart, Scart to 3 Phono, Scart to 2 Phono and 1 S-Video, S-Video to Scart, S-Video to S-Video, Digital Phono, 3.5mm jack to 2 phono, Universal Fibre Optical, 3 Phono Plugs to 3 Phono Plugs and special RGB leads optimized for use with Plasma TVs. All the above leads are available in two lengths 1.5m and 3m except the two Plasma TV RGB leads which currently only come in the 1.5m length.

What's This Ten Point Technology Stuff?

Really it's just a buzz word - but there is a serious point (if you'll pardon the pun). The ten points cover the manufacturing process of the Thor range of leads.

The Ten Points Are

Quality Conductors - Either Oxygen Free Copper or Pure Copper by Continuous Casting (PCOCC). These processes minimise any distortion and give optimum signal transmission.

Dielectric Core - Prevents distortion of high frequency audio signals.

Gold Plated Solid Brass Connectors - Gives maximum contact so you get good signal transfer.

Grounded Connectors - Stops signal contamination from external electronic sources.

Multiple Shielding - A mix of braided and solid shielding this keeps any electronic noise away from the interconnect.

Silver Solder - The best solder for signal conduction.

Hard-Finished Terminations - For a direct positive connection.

PVC Outer Jacket - Surrounds the complete length of each Thor cable to protect from abrasion, damaged and wearing.

Micro Wind Technology - This ensures consistent internal wire geometry for a precise signal transfer.

Hot Soldering Connections - Gives the strongest possible mechanical and electrical connect between the cable and the connector.

Burn In Time

Thor leads need about 100 hours of burn in time before they start to perform their best, and they will continue to improve for up to 200 hours. Initially the upper midrange and treble frequencies may sound slightly forward and harsh. After break in, the treble frequencies will relax to natural levels and the bass frequencies will become more controlled and extend into the lower octaves. Dynamics will also bloom more freely. (The Fibre Optic interconnects require a lower level of burn in time).

Performance?

THOR AV Interconnect will lower the noise floor of your system. This will allow you to hear a whole new level of soundstaging and ambiance from your favorite recordings, along with better resolution of rhythmic, dynamic and harmonic nuances. You will also notice a significant improvement in midrange and bass response.

Anything Else?

You want more! OK - The Thor Scart connectors are finished in mirrored gunmetal. There's a ball socket on each Thor Scart connector which adds further protection against wear and tear. All 21 pins on the Thor Scart plugs are connected. The Thor Scart leads come in two varieties of cable. The more conventional round cable and a flat ribbon cable version. The ribbon cable version is particularly good for tight spaces. The Thor Scart ribbon cable version also comes in the short 0.75m length. The connectors also have pure aluminium foil shielding The PVC outer jacket that we've already mentioned has moulded strain relief. Thor is ideal for use with amplifiers, DVDs, VCRs, TVs, satellite and cables boxes. The Thor Phono Plugs are self cleaning to prevent the sockets getting dirty. The Thor Fibre Optic lead comes with adapters so it can be used with both 6mm Toslink and 3.5mm Miniplug connections. The Thor 3.5mm jack to 2 phono plugs lead is designed for particular home cinema, hi-fi or MiniDisc applications. It can also be used for PC to hi-fi connections.

The Thor Digital Phono Lead (see diagram below) is a really special lead. Designed for carrying sound from a DVD Player to a surround sound system it has four layers of shielding. This particular lead has gained a strong cult following and next to the Scart leads is the best selling lead in the range.

Thor Digital Phono Lead Cutaway Diagram

Plasma and LCD TV Leads?

Thor have come up with some RGB leads designed for use with Plasma and LCD screen TVs. These Thor leads carry the video signal in separate RED GREEN and BLUE components for enhanced picture quality. The 6-cut self-cleaning Phono plug keeps the socket free from dirt - the contacts are plated in 24K hard gold. The RGB leads come with ultra high-grade multi-strand PCOCC copper conductors. They also have a conductive PVC inner jacket, this minimises signal loss.

There are two different RGB leads currently available. 3 Phono to 3 Phono and 3 Phono to 3 BNC plugs.

The 3 Phono to 3 Phono lead won Best Buy in What HI-FI Sound & Vision magazine and was awarded Product of the Year 2003.

The latest addition to the range is the new HDMI and DVI 5m Connection Set. this set allows both DVI and HDMI screens and sources to be connected to each other easily and quickly. The 5m lead itself is of outstanding quality as you would expect from a Thor lead. If you would like to know more about HDMI and DVI please see our AV Connection Guide page.

In Conclusion

We feel that the Thor range of leads are most often the best options in their price range. If you want higher specification leads than the Thor range you can find them - we have some on our Ultimate Leads Page. However, you will have to pay more money for them.

It's significant that apart from IXOS leads, the Thor brand is the only lead that we chose to give its own page in our web site.

Some people forget that any AV system is only as good as its weakest link. These people may spend many hundreds or thousands of pounds on the best equipment, only to connect it together cheap and inferior leads. Then they might wonder why their expensive equipment does not perform as well as they expect.

Over the years that we have been dealing with AV leads we have lost count of the number of people who have told us that our best leads have made a dramatic difference to their set ups.

There is also a dedicated Thor help line number so that you can get advice on using the Thor range of leads and AV connection in general. This is a local rate phone number: 08457 573479.