RCA cables and Speakers cables

[Anthonyfd3s]

ant recommedations for RCAs and speaker cables... currently using Earthquake RCA, using canare speaker cables..

[Mnphosis]

at the rate some shops are pricing their cables both rca and speakers, plus the fact that they are al;most unknown simply makes me very tempted to recommend you brands like

 

1. QED

 

2. SUPRA

 

3. IXOS

 

4. Canare

 

5. Chord

 

6. Audioquest

 

7. Cable Talk

 

etc

 

I'd avoid monster cos its not bang for the buck imho

 

and the brands above are neither exhaustive nor in any order of merit.

 

Dollar for dollar, the above brands have cables priced similarly to those sold in audio shops and they can almost certainly fair better in every way.

 

just in case u are asking,

 

i am using QED's silver anniverssary as my speaker cables and chord cobra rca interconnects from the stereo amp to the head unit.

 

powers my infinity coaxials very very well.

 

and if u happen to be feeling rich, brands like nordost comes to mind amongst others.

 

have a great yr ahead.

[Ivan0507]

bro, try supra cable for yr sub ,great bass,try cable talk for yr component or speaker

[Darkness]

u guys seem really good at these stuff...just OT a bit...do cables really make a big diff for normal setups? Is it audible to the normal ear?

 

All this talk about gold / silver / platinium plated connectors etc do they really mean anything?

 

Thanks for sharing

[Firespitter]

I'm a firm believer in cables. Cables do make a huge difference (Of course if you use a good competant cable vs your stock cable) to everybody from noobies to housewives to the full fledged, hardcore audiophile.

 

Here are some speaker cables I have had good experience with (Not in order of merit):-

 

Van Den Hul, Nordost, Ecosse, QED.

 

 

For interconnects, I used to play around with several brands till I started DIY and have stuck there till one fine day, I was deeply poisoned by my friend's setup. "No Cable" (Brand name) pure silver RCA interconnects. Have bought one pair to start off at my home setup, now have 3 pairs and considering spending some more to get at least one pair for my ICE setup. (Psssst... Is the Govt giving $400 again this year for GST or anything at all?)

 

Everything makes a difference in hifi, right down to the connectors. Try silver or rhodhium connectors, they are expensive but they do make a difference. (Then again concentrate on other areas first and tackle the connectors last).

Edited December 24, 2005 by Firespitter

[Bosebani]

Nordost Rulz!

[Mnphosis]

i have not experimented with subs in the car and their respective cables so i really can't comment here but silver for subs in the home theatre arena does certainly produce a tighter and faster bass vs the typical copper ones.

 

anyway, for other bros who wanna try some cables, I'd say give the QED originals at abt $7-$10 per metre a try. Its dirt cheap at that price for great cables and will make a difference enough for you to detect if necessary.

 

About those plugs like platinum, gold etc, my opinion is that they are still gimmicks since some cheaper cables can come with so called platinum plugs but even premiere ones costing thousands do not even utilize this weird mindset.

 

tell me, did they think they were selling jewellery where platinum is better than silver and gold?

 

If in doubt, stick with the hometheatre and stereo lovers brands as outlined above. Can't go wrong.

 

Try not to be led to buy those funny brands at equally funny prices.

[Mnphosis]

oh yes, affordable interconnects i'd recommend are the QED qunex 3. At just slightly over a hundred for a 3-4m pair, it makes very good sense. btw, in my case, termination was included.

[Darkness]

thanks all for the reply

[Wolfy3769]

Hi,

 

I had visit some cable shop in SLS, was told that there are different between RCA cable for Home theatre and ICE.. is that truth?

 

They mention due to noise/temperature, ICE RCA are special and we should not get those RCA for Home theater. Also we cant simply DIY our RCA cable..

Also they mention that for speaker wire, no once go for the thick gauage cable, is that true?

 

Another matter is that I had just add an AMP to my car, but start to notice those interference noise from HP (like the sound we heard from TV speaker or Radio speaker when there is a near by HP sending/receiving call or SMS).

 

Could this due to the wire/connector or due to the AMP? Any other solution u can suggest to shield the noise... Can grounding help? The shop recommend me to use grapite RCA cable to solve this probelm, they said grapite RCA can with stand noisy envirnment. Is this truth?

 

Thanks in advise

[Siaoice]

hi,

i dun think the problem come from the cable.

btw do you install any preamp for your ICE ?

if so, might be that problem.

coz i got this problem before.

 

cheers.

[Mnphosis]

somehow everything the guy told u almost seems to be snakeoil, nonsense, crap.

 

i cannot comprehend how graphite cables could help or if u meant graphite wrapped cables. Graphite providing excellent shielding? something so new he's talking about the future!

 

and what is it about home audio and car that the rcas, terminations and materials have to be different? my goodness, they sure like to complicate things as much as they can dun they?

 

the use of decent rca's will solve your problem.

 

thick gauge cables like 12 gauge is still very fine. why not? less resistance. thinner gauges are usually used for aesthetic purposes imho.

 

somehow let me guess, they seem to sell all the items to solve your problems right?

 

go to a decent audio shop like say seng heng (just an e.g.) at katong shopping centre or even KEC at adelhi etc and u will find great cables right for use in your car.

 

BTW, many of them there have got excellent set ups in their car too.

[Wolfy3769]

Hi,

 

No, I did not get the pre-amp... just use the pre-amp output to connect to my AMP.

 

BTW, how/what you do to solve your problem?

That will be informative.

 

Thanks

[Wolfy3769]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the feedback... lucky did not buy anything from them yet... will try to look around, see around and ask around before committing to those cable and connector..

 

Thanks.

[Siaoice]

i solve this problem by removing the pre-amp.

btw is your amp below your seat ?

 

got a frd having his amp below his seat which cause this problem also. maybe his amp is sensitive or maybe connection to the amp is not properly done.

 

cheers.

[Siaoice]

hi,

dun need to buy expensive cable + connector.

 

go to SLT, get canare or belden cable is good enough for our ICE.

cheap and good.

 

cheers.

[Wolfy3769]

yap.. the amp is below the front seat... usually I will put my hp on the front seat...( just above the amp).. so could explain the problem...

 

so far the problem was intermittent.... so maybe just bear with it and hope it will go away by itself....

[Jeffteng]

  Quote

ant recommedations for RCAs and speaker cables... currently using Earthquake RCA, using canare speaker cables..

 

I am not sure about anyone else here, i only know one thing about cables, copper is the best conductor, simple as that.