Good cheap interconnects

Vladimir

the Impaler
These are for all of you who don't believe in paying a boatload of money for a cable (more than a couple bucks a foot), but would like the next step up from the factory-molded thin-wired non-shielded junk that lays in most living rooms.

I got these [summitsource.com] cables and was quite impressed. Gold plated connectors, the cables are fairly thick yet flexible. All came in quality. The solder connections are done well and covered in a glob of hot glue to prevent bending of the cable from wearing on the solder joints. Can't beat the price either...

Impressed with that and doing a parts-express order, I decided to get a few more from there. I expected them to be about the same thing but they weren't. These [partsexpress.com] are the ones I got from Parts Express. DO NOT get them!!! Please! Of the 4 I ordered, 2 arrived with solder joints broken and I had to fix them. After that, one of the remaining ones broke later. Quality of construction is horrible, after inspecting the solder joints I see that they MISSED half the time and the blob of solder barely even touches the wire. The cable is normal coax, and therefore extremely shielded, but also extremely stiff. By stiff I mean if you don't bend it down it could almost hold itself straight out. Overall not very impressed with this cable, but I fixed them up and still chose to use them because the use of actual coax cable makes for good shielding.

-Sean
 
Yep the PE sez it's made from RG-59. Would not be my choice for an audio signal. RG-59 coax is intended for radio-tv frequencies and usually means it has a solid center conductor. Braided is better for audio. ;)
 
kimber toniks

quite impressed with the toniks, kimbers lowest line. there is a guy on audiogon, hellomusic, that sells them cheap! chec'em out
tyler
 
Yep the PE sez it's made from RG-59. Would not be my choice for an audio signal. RG-59 coax is intended for radio-tv frequencies and usually means it has a solid center conductor. Braided is better for audio. ;)

I'm inclined to think braided is better for audio myself. If nothing else, the cable can withstand more flexing. I notice that Audioquest claims that solid is better, on the grounds that stranded cable can create noise and distortion.

Many years ago, as a technician, I had to do some work with picoammeters. We had to tape the cables down to keep them from moving, as any movement would create noise in the signal. But that is in the picoamp range! Audio line-level signals are not in that range!

So I'm disinclined to buy Audioquest. Their claims seem like snake oil to me. In fact, They name their cables after snakes: Copperhead, etc. Might be a private joke at our expense?
 
On a low budget, I have yet to find a cable better than Mogami 2549s for SE and 2534s for balanced. Use a good connector like WBT or Oyaide.

There are better commercial cables but they will cost over 500 bucks for half meter in my experience.
 
My 2¢....

Hit up the local store and get the composite video cables used to connect VCR's, DVD players, etc. to the 480i TV's. The better one's tend to have better shielding, and they are dirt cheap.
 
So I'm disinclined to buy Audioquest. Their claims seem like snake oil to me. In fact, They name their cables after snakes: Copperhead, etc. Might be a private joke at our expense?

No, it's not. AFAIC and in my experience, they're absolutely correct about the superiority of solid core wire for interconnects and speaker wire. Although I personally feel that braided and un-shielded is the way to go, and that's how I make my own cables. I've yet to encounter a situation where un-shielded line level interconnects have noise issues, it's really only necessary if you're using them between a turntable and phono preamp. I've owned a few models by Audioquest in the past (up to the Colorado model) and they are very nice cables, deserving of their reputation.

If anything, they probably named them after snakes to mock people who use the tired term "snake oil."
 
No, it's not. AFAIC and in my experience, they're absolutely correct about the superiority of solid core wire for interconnects and speaker wire. Although I personally feel that braided and un-shielded is the way to go, and that's how I make my own cables. I've yet to encounter a situation where un-shielded line level interconnects have noise issues, it's really only necessary if you're using them between a turntable and phono preamp. I've owned a few models by Audioquest in the past (up to the Colorado model) and they are very nice cables, deserving of their reputation.

If anything, they probably named them after snakes to mock people who use the tired term "snake oil."

So, do you make your braided cables with solid wire?
 
Yep, Blue Jeans Cable for me too. The quality is high enough, and the price low enough, that I don't feel the need to roll my own on these.

They use wire from Belden or Canare . . . about as good as it gets IMHO.

The speaker wire I purchased is Belden, terminated with bananas that are ultra-sonically welded on. The interconnects are heavy, with substantial plugs; feels like quality stuff. :yes:
 
Yep, Blue Jeans Cable for me too. The quality is high enough, and the price low enough, that I don't feel the need to roll my own on these.

They use wire from Belden or Canare . . . about as good as it gets IMHO.

The speaker wire I purchased is Belden, terminated with bananas that are ultra-sonically welded on. The interconnects are heavy, with substantial plugs; feels like quality stuff. :yes:

Yea it's just fine for me, especially being one who doesn't believe in the audio pseudoscience about wires effecting sound.

[Cable rant deleted by Moderator]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This thread is about the pros and cons of inexpensive interconnects and speaker wire. Keep your comments on topic.
 
I'm sure bluejean makes some nice cables and they are much cheaper than most "audiophile" cables but I really don't consider 31-36 dollars a set (at 3 feet) that affordable.
 
I have used Belden 9259, now numbered 89259 (RG-59U) for years. It has a braided shield and 7 strands for the center conductor. Good velocity of propagation, low capacitance (17pF/Ft.). Maybe I should just say high everything good, low everything bad. Blue Jeans Cable sells it (no affiliation).
 
I've seen several threads asking [more or less] the same question, and at least to me, cheap falls in the $2.20 for 3' range. In that price range Monoprice comes up a lot, and I've never seen anything negative said about them; I'm buying the next ones I need from them, FWIW.
 
So, do you make your braided cables with solid wire?

Yes sir, always.

My experimentation with stranded was mostly with major name brand stuff, beginning with Kimber's 4TC.

As has already been said, "affordable" is relative. I think it's critical to have "solid" (not the same as solid core :) ) cables throughout your system once you start aiming at better sound, but that doesn't mean you have to spend a lot. I can't see why the oft-recommended monoprice cables wouldn't be just fine, as well as Petra, Blue Jean, and so on.

When you begin to really step up the performance of your system, it might be worthwhile to look into cables which, IMO, are still affordable, but considerably more expensive than the ones listed above. For example, the famous Kimber 4TC, Anti Cable (especially for speaker wire!), Zebra Cable, and the lower priced Audioquest stuff. And honestly, if I were in the market for performance cables in that price range, I'd be looking at entry-level models by Harmonic Technology, which I believe start as low as about $60 a meter for interconnects. HT uses their own patented type of copper which is basically ohno-continuous-cast (OCC), which I've found to be highly beneficial in my own experience.
 
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