How much have you spent between...

[bturk667]

the interconnects and the speaker cables you use in your system? Was what they brought to the table worth it?

I have spent @ $500. And they are worth every penny!!!

[Bill L]

I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR THE FLAMES! Because as soon as the scientists here finally figure out how to post they won't be able to resist that one!

[bturk667]

This is a dicussion forum is it not? If what you wrote about the scientists is true, well then, how smart could they be if they can't figure how to post here?

[FLZapped]

the interconnects and the speaker cables you use in your system? Was what they brought to the table worth it?

I have spent @ $500. And they are worth every penny!!!

I've built most of mine, so the material cost is pretty low.....now if you factor in labor at $20/hour.....

As for the second question. Of course, my system didn't work without them......

-Bruce

[pctower]

This is a dicussion forum is it not? If what you wrote about the scientists is true, well then, how smart could they be if they can't figure how to post here?

Wouldn't it be ironic if the scientists couldn't figure out how to post here and this board became a haven for the subjectivists (not that in actual practice the two terms are necessarily mutually exclusive).

[Bobby Blacklight]

the interconnects and the speaker cables you use in your system? Was what they brought to the table worth it?

I have spent @ $500. And they are worth every penny!!!

Never did a comparison. I have spent a decent amount mainly because of the complexity. I use a mix of Monsters old Diskwasher Goldens some Rat Shack goldens ect. I don't use any of the original garbage you get with the gear for free. I have actually have had the original OEM stuff fail. One went intermitenet the other open. I won't buy the "expensive" stuff but I am happy with the lower tier cables which are considerably better, construction wise than the freebees. I run balanced and unbalanced in a triamped system so I have a good amount of what would be considered Pro interconnects.Well built XLR'S are not cheap by any means. So when you add the cables for my HT set-up and then the cabling in the Triamped set-up it's a lot of cables. Has to be close to your $500 mark. I would go broke trying to use the more expensive audiophile cables. Not sure of the benefit. I just looked for good quality and reasonable prices. Too many other variables in my system to worry about besides cables. When I set-up my vinly rig with just a couple of interconnects I might give the cable question a try but for now I am not worried.

[Beckman]

Heres what I think:

Speaker cables- 12 or 14 gage zip works fine, other designs affect the sound by attenuating the signal for certain frequency ranges creating the illusion of a brighter or warmer sounding cable when all they are really doing is turning down the bass or the treble. 12 or 14 gage zip produces the flatest frequency response in the audible range of frequencies (if you don't believe me hook up your $500 cables to a network analyzer and see for yourself).

Power Cables- All stereo components have DC power supplies in them so clean power is not really neccessary, in fact many electronic devices will work with a square wave AC power source.

Interconnects- Video cables can affect picture qulity do to the fact that RF noise is on the same magnitude as a video signal (10-100MHz) and video cables that are poorly shielded show. As for component interconnects, I use a $30 pair of interconnects for my CD player and they don't seem to do much more than provide a strong connection.

These are "my" opinions and reflect my somewhat limited knowledge of electronics.

[poneal]

I use the cheap RCA plugs that came with the equipment. Been using them for 20+ years. Yeah, I bought one of them $100 interconnects and didn't notice any difference. Lesson learned ---> don't be fooled by marketing tactics.

[bturk667]

It would be side splitting funny! Long live SUBJECTIVITY!!!

[F1]

Well, let's see,
$20 for speaker cable
$20 for DVD component
$20 for digital coax
$20 for multiple power outlet
Perform as good as cabling costing 10x more.... off-course this is my claim.

[Norm Strong]

I just went and counted them. I have 11 stereo interconnects, both 3 and 6 feet. The most expensive pair was $3.

Over in the video area, I have 16 audio-video interconnects, 3, 6 or 12 feet. Each cost less than $4.

For the speakers I use cut-to-length "speaker cable" One pair is AWG12 and the other pair is AWG18. They all cost about $3.

In addition I have 6 RF coax cables to connect my cable input to the various VCRs. I got all of them from the cable company--free.

[Rockwell]

the interconnects and the speaker cables you use in your system? Was what they brought to the table worth it?

I have spent @ $500. And they are worth every penny!!!

Many that I have were freebies. I bought several Monster cables IC's before I knew better, but they are very thick and well made. The salesman threw in all the Monster speaker cable for free. Price is an arbitrary value unrelated to the actual performance of a cable.

How much did you spend on the wire inside your components, speakers or in your walls? Don't know? I'll bet they cost way less than $500.

[jneutron]

This is a dicussion forum is it not? If what you wrote about the scientists is true, well then, how smart could they be if they can't figure how to post here?

I use my children for all the technical aspects..

My 8 year old programs my cell phone for diff rings based on caller..my 10 year old set up the voice recognition calling.. both of them burn cd's and download their own music..

I'll rent them out to anyone needing help posting here..

Cheers, John

[Mwalsdor_cscc_edu]

I made my speaker "cables" from 99.999% 22awg solid silver, encased in a Teflon dielectric w/bare wire termination. About $75 bucks for two 10' runs. I'm about to replace my Silverline Audio [copper] interconnects with a DIY design by Steve Huffman that uses a coaxial design with very fine gauge silver ribbon conductor flowing through a Teflon air core with hollow plug vintage connectors. $75 bucks for 1m.

MikE

[bturk667]

Spend YOUR money as you see fit, and I will spend MINE as I see fit. As I wrote, their worth ever penny that I spent on them. You may think it was too much, but I don't.

[markw]

There's nothing like buyers remorse to ruin ones day. My friend feels good about his Rolex and, to him, it was worth every penny he spent on it. Of course, it's main purpose in life isn't to keep time. That's only an excuse to wear it. If timekeeping was his goal, he could accomplish that at a much lower price, and he readily admits that .

[Rockwell]

Spend YOUR money as you see fit, and I will spend MINE as I see fit. As I wrote, their worth ever penny that I spent on them. You may think it was too much, but I don't.

I didn't say otherwise, but what is it about these cables that is worth $500 to you?

[bturk667]

Thanks for being happy for me.

[bturk667]

The way they make my system sound. They add up to @ 10% of the total cost of my system. What they contribute to it's sound, is worth much more. I suggest you try to audition the Nordost Blue Heaven interconnects, they really are quite good. So are the Nordost Super Flatline speaker cable. Hear for yourself, don't take my word for it. Give them a try, whats the worst thing that can happen?

[Rockwell]

The way they make my system sound. They add up to @ 10% of the total cost of my system. What they contribute to it's sound, is worth much more. I suggest you try to audition the Nordost Blue Heaven interconnects, they really are quite good. So are the Nordost Super Flatline speaker cable. Hear for yourself, don't take my word for it. Give them a try, whats the worst thing that can happen?

The worst? My wife would string me up! What makes you think the wires are contributing to the sound? Wire, by its nature and intended purpose should do nothing to the sound. It certainly can't improve the sound, and can only degrade. Zip cord can pass a signal without audible degradation, so why spend more?

[F1]

...... I suggest you try to audition the Nordost Blue Heaven interconnects, they really are quite good. So are the Nordost Super Flatline speaker cable. Hear for yourself, don't take my word for it. Give them a try, whats the worst thing that can happen?

Those cables can make my wallet flat!!!

[mtrycrafts]

I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR THE FLAMES! Because as soon as the scientists here finally figure out how to post they won't be able to resist that one!

Now why would you say this? He made a simple statement, claimed nothing. Hope he enjoys his cables.

[mtrycrafts]

Those cables can make my wallet flat!!!

Ah, you want your wallet full and the FR flat
Now I got it

[mtrycrafts]

I made my speaker "cables" from 99.999% 22awg solid silver, encased in a Teflon dielectric w/bare wire termination. About $75 bucks for two 10' runs. I'm about to replace my Silverline Audio [copper] interconnects with a DIY design by Steve Huffman that uses a coaxial design with very fine gauge silver ribbon conductor flowing through a Teflon air core with hollow plug vintage connectors. $75 bucks for 1m.

MikE

Now that would be a good cable to DBt against a RS cheapo.

[maxg]

I was doing very well on my cables until the point I went for Synergistic silver speaker cables and then tried biwiring ending up with 4, 3 meter lengths.

Funnily enough I no longer use any of them - I switched to Van Den hul D-352 hybrid cables which gave a smoother sound to my ears.

(Actually that is really bizzare as I used a pair of the Synergistic cables inside the speakers I built. I was expecting that this would mean the Synergistic would be a better match but I still prefered the VDH's to connect speakers to amps - go figure!!)

As it happens I just ordered a couple more pairs of interconnects (Van Den Hul D - 102 III HYBRIDs with special connectors - cant remember the make now) of 1 meter and 2 meter lengths.

I'll use the 1 meter cables to replace the existing locally made cables from the phono stage to the pre-amp and the longer pair to go from the pre-amp to the power amps.

I dont know how much I have spent altogether on interconnects and speaker cables - I guess I have about $750 in the cupboard not being used and another $1000 in use (including the new ones which I will hopefully pick up in the next couple of days).