Anyone have any experience with signalcable.com interconnects? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin_Breeze]

Need to get new interconnects and power cord for new Cambridge D500SE CD player. I don't subscribe to the high dollar nonsense, but I do want quality cables that will fully transmit signal, protect from interference and last a long time and I stumbled across this place which seems to have quality stuff at very good prices. The power cable is just a little more than it costs to do a quality DIY cord.

this power cord:

http://signalcable.com/digitalpowerHC.html

these interconnects:

http://signalcable.com/analogtwo.html

 

[Robert Cowan]

i have a couple of their power cords because of that reason, it would cost me almost that much to do it myself... they are very very nice quality, and are as good as anyone could do.

if you dont buy into expensive cables, you cant go wrong with these cables. they meet your requirements, well built, great quality, and awesome value. cant go wrong with them. and their customer service is good too.

 

[SimiA]

Ya know, $50 including shipping, is just way toooooo much for cables.
You can buy good shielded cables at Amazon for under $20 bucks.
This marketing of expensive cables is just not worth the $$$, unless you know that they will shield your signal from extreme EM interference.
I use the cables from Amazon on 3 HT systems, and they work great! Save your money!
Vb

 

[Robert Cowan]

sigh. some people man...

 

[Kevin_Breeze]

Everyone has their own beliefs when it comes to this, but I know first hand that cables DO make a difference from when I switched my Radio shack zip cord speaker wire to Monster Z1 speaker cables. In A/B tests even my girlfriend could tell the difference, the most obvious difference being in the bass. That tells me right there that cables can affect sound, period.

With that said, I think past a certain price & cable material's point theres a lot of BS and ridiculousness, no doubt.

As far as power cables, it was very hard for me to grasp this one, but after reading 100 reviews of my cambridge D500SE on audioreview.com and about half stating to upgrade the power cable for a sigfnificant difference b/c apparently the one it comes with is poor, i have to think there is something to it. Now some power cables are OUTRAGEOUSLY priced. For example on Audio advisor.com they sell a power cable that was recommended to go with the cambridge cd players which they also sell and the freagin power cable was $750 which is more than the CD player itself! I know other power cables out there that go for like $2g! For a friggin power cable! I am NOT looking to go there, but I can do $60 and feel confident I am getting a quality signal through to the player.

 

[RobWil]

Like you said....$60 ain't going to make or break you. At that price why not try it. You could always sell it and make most of your money back anyway.

 

[Robert Cowan]

i just hate how the people that dont agree with cable talk about them. like only an idiot would buy pricey cables. not only that, but most have only done "research" but simply havent really tried it.

and in these forums, people have great influence over someone's decision. and when someone says "12ga zip cord is great, everything else is overkill" it just bugs me. at least be open to things. in my posts, i at least almost always suggest doing your own testing.

on the topic of outrageous prices, most of these power cables are one-offs, and are mostly hand-done. think of it this way... (assuming 5ft cable) $10 IEC connector, $20 hospital plug, $5 poly braid, $2.50/ft shielded belden cable, $5 heatshrinking and extras.

thats $52.50. manufacturers usually do 100% increase for profit. now we are at $105.00. Now, a retailer sells the cable at 100% markup as well, now we have a $210 power cable.

keep in mind, if a person builds this cable by hand, with terminating by hand, cutting, splicing, etc... it would take a few hours at least. so, in just assembling (assuming 3 hours), its only $17.50/hr. thats not considering the time to market the product, order parts, not to mention R&D costs. SO, its not like anyone would be getting rich, and i dont see any ungodly profit margins. its just standard business.

 

[Chu Gai]

and still no UL Listing of the cable after all that markup!

 

[Kevin_Breeze]

Robert, good points.

Whether or not it really makes a difference compared to the cord that came with the Cambridge, I can't say for sure as I have never personally tested it, but again, I just have to think there is something to what about 50 people on audioreview.com have said in their review of the player...

If I notice no difference like someone mentioned I will just resell it.

 

[Shane Martin]

All 3 of their cords are UL listed.

FWIW, I've never heard anything remotely negative regarding their products or service(except from the usual threadcrappers).

 

[John S]

The price seems more than reasonable for a true good quality cable / cord. And $20 sounds resonable for a decent cable / cord as well. It is the hundred's of dollar cords/cables that I would never personally subscribe to. I did live sound engineering for a few decades, and never under estimate the value of a true good quality, cord, cable, connector, ect..ect... Just from a durability stand point, not even going there, on any video or sound improvements that may or may not be possible from them.

 

[Kevin_Breeze]

For the record, for the interconnects, I think Heartland cables offers even better quality for the same price. I don't think they sell power cables though

 

[Chu Gai]

The individual parts are UL listed, the assembled product is not.

 

[John Garcia]

I just picked up a Coral CQ from HCM for ~$70 (NEW), and they got it to me within just a few days. This was a $150 cable originally. I've owned them before and I was happy with them, but got the opportunity to trade them in for Vipers, so I did. In my little 2ch setup, I swapped out Diamondbacks for the Corals and there was a small improvement in detail, which is good considering that Coral cost less than the DB. I wish I new about HCM before I bought my DBs.