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July 23, 2011 - 7:08pm
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Need help picking out some analog interconnects, speaker cables, USB cable
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It's not what I use but I suggest Blue Jeans cable. It's inexpensive but not cheap. Several people I know use it. They are quite happy with it.
seems to meet the criteria I go by, flexible and made of quality materials. If you want to spend more, Blue Jeans cables also meet that criteria. I settled on Steren Python RCA cables which I found no difference between them and cables which cost 20 times as much. Steren 254-215BL 6' 2-RCA cable description:
High-Definition Home Theater RCA Interconnects
* Bare Copper Center Conductor
* 99.99% Pure Oxygen-Free Copper Wire
* Low-Density Foam Dielectric
* Spiral-Wound Bare Copper Shield, 95% Coverage
* Ultra-Flexible Rubberized PVC Jacket, 6.0mm OD
* 24K Gold-Plated Heavy-Duty RCA Connectors
* Color-Coded
* Fully Molded Construction
Excellent quality, inexpensive. I have one of their digital cables connecting my MacBook Pro to my DAC via the Optical port using their optical-to-standard adapter. Works well.
For speaker wire, I'm currently running contractor grade 12AWG basic copper, unterminated. It was .12/ft. Your Lowes/Home Depot/local Home Theatre store will probably have a spool at a similar price. If you're handy, make your own fancy cable:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=94203
Blue jeans cable is a good economy grade cable. If you are interested in a high grade (but not crazy expensive) cable, I've had great experience with Neustadt Research cables. Here is how I sum up the comparison:
Blue Jeans cable = Chevrolet
Neustadt Research = Porsche
Both valid choices, really comes down to personal preference and budget.
Cheers!
http://www.usedcable.com/
You might find better cables at a lower cost. I have used this company before and they are very reliable.
Radio Shack.
I use DH Labs Q-10 Signature speaker cable and Revelation IC's. They are more expensive than BJC or Monoprice and look it. They also IMO sound better. They are however bargain basement compared to many high end wires and cables.
usedcable.com is local to me. I recommend them. They also sell new wires and cables as the Cable Company.
I have recently purchased AntiCable speaker cables. Check out their website you might find it interesting. I am very impressed with their speaker cables and they have replaced a pair of Audioquest Slates.
The spammer above gave me a chance to reply to this thread haha,
I consider Blue Jeans Cable a high quality cable, but not fancy cable. They are semi-custom made, and use a lot of Beldon and Canare wire, including at least one that is built to their specs. They use a variety of connectors, including generic Taiwan, Canare, Neutrik, Caversoe, etc... Besides length, the ordering options often include cable type, color, and terminations.
I recently communicated by email to have them build me a set of 6 ft balanced 1/4 TRS to Unbalanced RCA cables. They were very helpful, here is one reply from them; "We can certainly make that cable. However, the LC-1 would not be the best cable choice, as the small (solid) center conductor of the LC-1 makes it too small and brittle to be used with solder-type assemblies. Since these are fairly short, I would suggest using the Belden 1505F, which has a larger stranded center conductor and is much more durable for this type of assembly. Let me know if there are any other items you want to add into this order before I proceed with a custom payment request through PayPal to collect the balance for this order."
The cost for the above was $56, and I received the cables two days after my initial inquiry. I have bought the majority of my cables from Blue Jeans Cable, and they usually arrive within one or two days of ordering. It doesn't hurt that they are located about 25 mi. from me.
I've heard good things about Morrow Audio cables. Anyone have first hand knowledge of their products?