Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Audio/Video Cables

Want opinions on Quality Audio/Video Cable(s) that don't break the bank. I purchased Monster cable for my current system 5 years ago mainly because in CT at the time that was about the only premium cables you could buy but the price was insane. Will need to purchase mostly new cables in the near future since existing 5.1 system will be in my recreation room and a new system will be set up in the family room. In most retail stores in CT i.e. Circuit City;Tweeter;Best Buy, most cables are still the "Monster" brand with a sprinkling of more affordable Acoustic Research cables. Any recommendations? Any good internet sites to buy cables with quick delivery time at a (I don't need a home equity loan) price?

Blue Jeans seems to be pretty popular around here.

Axiom also just got into the cable business recently... I know a number of people have been getting speaker wire from them, don't know about the other cables.

To put it all in perspective, there was a post going around reciently which may or may not have been legit, but was presented as though it were, whereas a guy spliced some RCA connectors onto some rusty barbed wire and ran some fairly sophisticated tests on them.

they passed... as did some similar coathanger cables of the same ilk.(My assesment of said posts may not be totally accurate, but that's sorta what it was all about)

I've had good luck-I guess, how can I tell?-But, I've been using Rat Shack and the before referenced AR cables with gold plated connectors cause they look cool and help with corossion.

The electrons seem to be doing their reciprocating dances just fine however, on the relative cheap.

Amen to that. I still have doubts about the coat hanger / barbed wire test but I'm definitely in the "show me" camp regarding premium cables.

I used to get everything from Radio Shack but their prices have gone up a lot recently and I don't feel like paying even semi-premium prices for "the cheapest thing China has to offer" cables. I'm getting tired of wiggling the cable to keep the sound playing

I'll second everyone else's idea that well built, low cost inter connects work just as well as well built, high cost inter connects. If it looks like the connectors are solid, then there's not problem. I use component cables from Radio Shack and that was only $30. I bought a Phoenix Gold fiber optic for 25$ and it works as well my friends' who paid $60.

I use Dayton cables from PartsExpress.com. Good quality, reasonable price. But BlueJeansCable.com is well respected.

Vette, connecting cables are a technologically trivial matter and adequate "quality" is available at quite low cost. "Premium" cables are premium pretty much in price alone. The Dayton cables Jack linked are about at the top end of a reasonable price range.

For your amusement you might like to read of the cable exploits of Mick Loney and Al Magnani which were referred to in previous replies.

Amen to all of this on the cables. All mine are just solidly built off the shelf cables from the local pro audio store (not "prosumer" - pro, ie: there are bins of XLR parts and a grab bag of random RF antennas hanging around), 3' analog w/RCAs, about $8CDN, that sort of thing...

In fact, I got so pee'd off trying to find a non-Monster "subwoofer" cable (75ohm terminated in RCAs) that I finally just used RG59 and some BNC-RCA adaptors. Thing won't lay flat on the floor, but it'll learn... *pats the iron*

Bren R.

I guess it's confession time for me now-what with all these Amens' goin' round and all.

The Rat Shack cables I purchased were back a number of years ago so may not be of the current quality. Some of the ARs are new, but...

My new set-up pushes the rear of the components out into the room a bit and in view of God and everybody. So while it's great to have easy access to all the cabling; the Looks of the mish-mash of various cables and connectors, while they seem to work OK, ain't the prettiest of sights.

So I'm almost to the point of having to consider some reasonably priced "Audio Jewlery" to string from component to component. Something that will work well, not cost a small fortune, and yet Loook Gooood!

Almost like "Upgraditus" innit?

Thanks, Ajax for the links, I will definately take a close look at them. Thanks to everyone else as well, I feel I really got ripped off when I purchased the Monster
Cable(s) a while back, not that the quality is bad but the price is excessive. I noticed many of you have commented on speaker wires at previous postings and I couldn't agree more that any 12-14 Awg copper wire is more than adequate for that application. Just to add my 2 cents worth regarding companies saying how great soldered connections are vs. crimp I totally disagree. Having worked in the Electronics Industry for over 28 years (18 of them in Military or Aerospace companies) in various capacities I can tell you crimp connections are more reliable due to a highly repeatable process (calibrated tooling) vs. a soldering process that has many variable(s) such as pre-cleaning of hardware before and after the solder connection and the expertise of the person soldering (a big variable). If the right person does it "Great" but I wouldn't promote it as being the best method. Getting ready to move in a week, really stressed out right now but at least I can order my Axiom's once I get settled in.