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How much would you spend on cables?

post #1 of 14
5/9/03 at 5:15am
Thread Starter 
Just seen a system where the electronics (CD,Pre & power amps and power supplies) cost roughly £4000 but the cables were Kimber Select.The interconnects were over £2000 and the speaker calbe was about £6600,add to this mains cables etc (which came to over £2000).IMO he would have been better off spending more on the electronics,what do you think?
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post #2 of 14
5/9/03 at 5:47am
Even if you get the best electronics in the world you still need good cables to connect them. I think cables are very important. I spent about $700 on my set up which cost me $4500 which I find reasonable. When I moved from the DH Labs Silversonics to my current Cardas Neutral Referrence the difference in quality was astounding. Do not underestimate the power of quality cables.
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post #3 of 14
5/9/03 at 8:13am
Spend as much as you're comfortable with. Only you can determine the right value.

Some people buy and sell cables all the time similar to the way they change up their equipment to get different sound. Generally I like to find cables I can keep so I would spend more on it although this may not be the best way to go about things since they really should match your equipment. But if I'm not picky I will probably live with it. There really isn't a particular "sound" that I like anyways at least I can't identify it yet.
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post #4 of 14
5/9/03 at 8:24am
Cables are important, but the thing to trust is you ear. I have heard speaker cables that cost about $10 a meter ( forty buck a six foot set) trounce cables costing 3 - 4 times as much. It is worth auditioning all you can as there may be some giant killers in the mix at real affordable prices.

But shop around and listen. Cables are like a tweak, not all cables may match your system. In your system a $50 cable could sound better than a $200 cable!

Duane
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post #5 of 14
5/9/03 at 8:38am
I've stuck with the same cables through my last two major upgrades in my home system. My source, amplifier, and speaker upgrades all stayed in the same companies so I knew the cables would not be a difference in my sound. I've got 19 thousand in my home system 2000.00 of it is cables. My two headphone setups are 3366.00 and 3250.00. Both of them have 500.00 worth of cables. 160 each system for 1 pr. IC's and 340 each system for 2 PC's.
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post #6 of 14
5/9/03 at 12:18pm
Follow your ears; you'll have to decide what sounds best to you and where to put the money in your system. For what its worth, my fiancee (a staunch cable skeptic at first) felt that changing the interconnects and speaker cables (from $80 IC to $200 IC, from $150 Speaker Cable to $290 Speaker Cable) made a greater and more noticeable improvement than either adding my REL Strata III or switching from a 12 year-old Kenwood CD Player to my current Sony 222ES SACD player.

Obviously, the REL cost a lot more than the new cables, whereas the SACD player cost a bit less than the new cables.

Although it may seem odd, I guess I am trying to say that, even if your system isn't all that expensive, if buying Nordost Valhalla ICs makes a greater improvement than spending the same money on a high-end source or other component, why not go for it? You should spend your money on what works for your system, even if it doesn't seem logical.
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post #7 of 14
5/9/03 at 1:16pm
They're the greatest rip-off in all of audio. I solder my own cables, none of which cost more than $50.

NGF
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post #8 of 14
5/9/03 at 1:27pm
I don't have a dollar limit but a percentage of total system cost limit. In general, I try to stay within 20% of total system cost for cables. IMO any more than that would be better spent on equipment upgrades - of course if you have the best equipment available then I suppose this doesn't apply .
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post #9 of 14
5/9/03 at 3:02pm
I'll spend as much as it takes. If a more expensive cable will give me a better performance, then I will buy it and when I can´t hear any difference in sound then I'll stop upgrading.
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post #10 of 14
5/9/03 at 3:12pm
what would ya'll recomend i use to connect the left and right outs on the back of my t.v. set to the rca ins on my all out meta 42 and music series 2 headphones? (rca's are the left and right audio's aren't they?) i'm thinking of just buying the ones on signalcable.com for $35 (i think they're the right type of cables)... i'm already spending $600 on my meta and ms-2's combined... and i'm kinda broke.. but i really nead just flat clarity... i need to have nothing that would impair the detail qualities of my setup (or soon to be setup)... and this will be my first setup by the way.
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post #11 of 14
5/9/03 at 8:10pm
I wouldn't spend much on the cables in this case since tv audio is crap. Any decent cable is fine. I would actually recommend cheap Acoustic Research Cables.
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post #12 of 14
5/9/03 at 9:29pm
Would it be better to run it through the audio out on your dvd player than the one on the TV?
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post #13 of 14
5/10/03 at 2:40am
Always run it from the source if possible.

So if you're watching a DVD of course you want to run it through the DVD player's audio outs. But I was assuming Merton is using it for TV purposes which would mean he will most likely have to run it from his TV audio outs (provided his cable box or whatever can't send audio to the amp).
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post #14 of 14
5/11/03 at 9:57pm
Quote:
Originally posted by MERTON
what would ya'll recomend i use to connect the left and right outs on the back of my t.v. set ...
Whatever you do, make sure it's shielded.
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