What's new

Mix and Match brand of cables (1 Viewer)

JamesGL

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 17, 2003
Messages
147
Do most of you stick with ONE brand of wires and cables or mix and match?

Looking at the back of my rack, it's like a rainbow of sorts. Just wondering if I am the only or if this is a bad idea.
Should I be consistent? ex. brand of component cables going in to the receiver and out, is it best that they are the same?
 

Garrett Lundy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2002
Messages
3,763
I dunno. I have a nice assortment of old Monster cables (Back before I knew any better), Radio Shack Gold Series, and "came in the box" freebies. Certainly looks like a tangle of wires, but I don't personally feel that my system suffers because of it.
 

Bob McElfresh

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 22, 1999
Messages
5,182
Mix and match.

Keep in mind that many brands have different grades/prices. You DONT need to match these.

Companies like Monster would LOVE it if you pony'ed up the $$$ for ZX300 series cables for all your interconnects ($220 for a component cable)

My ranking would be:

Subwoofer Cable - any good interconnect with snug RCA plugs work for this

Analog Interconnect - Use basic quality cables for low-grade sources like VCR, CATV or Game systems. If you have a SACD or a Pre/Pro system you might want to upgrade to a more 'name' brand for higher-quality analog signals. Use a more 'name' brand if you like music and use a analog connection from a CD player to reciever.

Coaxial-digital - Use a basic quality VIDEO cable for these connections. The signals are fairly cable-insensitive.

Video - Use a basic quality cable for low-grade sources like CATV, VCR, Game system. Use a 'better' quality cable for higher quality sources like a DVD player.

If you have a HDTV and a HD source (Sat, or Cable) be sure to buy a HD-Rated component cable. A good $50-$80 cable from a custom site would be fine.

Speaker Wire - If you mainly use all your speakers for movies, a good quality 12 ga wire works fine.

If you are into music, you might start with good 12 ga, but later audition more audiophile-grade wires for your L/R speakers (or all the speakers you use for music reproduction).

And always, always follow this guideline:

This will help prevent you from over-spending on wires.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,726
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top