what cables are everyone using? (1 Viewer)

[Tankmalone]

right now just have cheap speaker wire and rca cables for everything, looking to upgrade all of them but not looking to spend hundreds of dollars on cables, what should i look for when buying new cables, speaker should be oxygen free? and what about all the shielding for component video, and such?

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Tank.

I like good oxygen free 12ga wire for all my speakers. Buy a spool and use it everywhere from someplace like www.partsexpress.com

Component Video: the custom cables from places like www.bluejeanscables.com are the smart place to buy. They use industrial-grade stuff that has the specs to handle HD video and is normally sold only to the broadcast/production studios. Good HD rated cables starting about $50.

Dont trust the hype-over-information marketing materials. Go for cables that have 90-100 Mhz bandwidth, and ignore exotic gas in the dialectric, BS about shielding or claiming that the number of groves in the RCA plugs make a "level 3" cable superior to a "level 2" cable.

(If you need a hint: my HD system has Canare-based cables like those sold at BlueJeans - but the Belden cables work equally as well).

Good Luck and let us know what you buy/how you like them.

 

[Richard_Fuentes]

i always use blue jeans cables.

 

[DougR]

Most of my Cables are "A/R" Brand.[ http://www.accessories4less.com/cgi-bin/item/PR190 ]

and Speaker wire [ http://www.accessories4less.com/cgi-bin/item/PR261 ]

 

[Philip Hamm]

Lots of my cables are from www.cablesforless.com and www.trianglecables.com. They're great and dirt cheap.

 

[Marty M]

You can't go wrong using one of the advertisers on this forum, Blue Jean Cables. I bought an HDMI cable for less than a third of the cost of Monster and I am convinced the Blue Jean is just as good. BJ has great service, too. I was able to place and order and get my merchandise in 3 days from Washington to Illlinois. The mail delivery might be a little slower with the Christmas rush, but I highly recommend Blue Jeans.

 

[Chu Gai]

Most wire sold today is oxygen free even if they don't say it is. Even if it wasn't, considering your application(s), which don't involve elevated temperatures, it's irrelevent.

If one of your concerns is that the appearance of your wire and cables just don't have the pizzazz you think they ought to have (kind of like pimping out the wires underneath your car), then give the following some thought.

For speaker wires, 12 gauge is more than adequate for all the runs in a home theater setup. If you don't like the clear appearance, then you can spend a few more bucks and get something like KnuKconceptz. If you still don't like that, you can spend a few bucks and buy something called techflex from places like PartsExpress along with some shrink tubing and give your wires a very nice appearance. Finish off the project with banana plugs (available from a number of sources in bulk packs) and not only will your wires look sharp but you won't run the risk of strands from a bare wire connection shorting out your receiver or amp.

For interconnects, there are many brands, some of which have been mentioned, that do the job. You can also consider something like Belkin's line of interconnects where you'll find all the buzz words like zero crystal and so forth for a fairly reasonable price and a very nice appearance.

 

[Kevin. W]

For speaker wire I use AR Master Series 10AWG. Bought it on the cheap when AR went tits up. Interconnects as HDMI(Audioquest, Monoprice and Tributaries)

 

[Gerard Martin]

Blue Jeans works for me.

 

[Adam Stoltz]

heartland cables are nice as well. Many options with different price points. Happy searching.