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Best $100 interconnects

post #1 of 141
3/28/02 at 12:03am
Thread Starter 
Suggestions for the best sounding $100(around) interconnects.

Lextek
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post #2 of 141
3/28/02 at 12:24am
Certainly the ones made by your hands of course

Check out the kits from Diycable.com (http://www.diycable.com/interconnects.htm), especially the "Fat ones".
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post #3 of 141
3/28/02 at 12:57am
For the bux, I'm real impressed with the AudioQuest Corals.
I paid $80.00 for a one meter pair. The retail is $130 is believe.

I drool for a pair of the Cardas Neutral Reference. They are unfortunately $500.00 for the pair. In my humble estimation, the Corals are 90% of the performance for 20% of the price of the Cardas.

Yes, there is a point of diminishing returns and I'm willing to go there occasionally.
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post #4 of 141
3/28/02 at 1:34am
The "skinny ones" are pretty darn good too. You can buy a commercial version from www.boldercables.com, the Type 1. I think it is $70 or so for a half meter. If you make it yourself it will come in at $20-$30 a pair depending on how much you spend on the connectors. The "skinny ones" are so darn easy to make. It took me about 30 minutes. Amazing sound for $20 worth of materials and a half hour of work.
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post #5 of 141
3/28/02 at 2:40am
Hey, speaking of nicely priced interconnects, anybody familiar with OutLaw Audio interconnects? I have a pair on order, but they haven't arrived yet.

http://www.outlawaudio.com//products/cables.html

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/cgi-local...000&LastLogin=
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post #6 of 141
3/28/02 at 2:43am
Audioqust Corals are used for my MG Head right now.

I bought a dual stranded type 1 cable from Bolder and I can honestly say that it's awesome! This is a mini-mini, but I'm willing to pay $200 to try the type 2.
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post #7 of 141
3/28/02 at 3:30am
i'm using a new headroom little amp with the crossfeed on and the treble boost off.

for this application, i think the wireworld atlantis III is the ultimate IC under $100. the atlantis III is bright and thin sounding which makes it a perfect counterpoint to the fullness of the little.

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post #8 of 141
3/28/02 at 3:34am
Hey A&M, the Bolder type 2 seems like it would be right up your alley. It's smooth, with deep bass, a warm midrange, and laid-back highs. It wasn't for me, sadly, but your tastes seem like a perfect match.
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post #9 of 141
3/28/02 at 8:16am
Yah, I also want to try the Cardas Golden Cross even though it costs WAY more.
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post #10 of 141
3/28/02 at 7:48pm
You can make your own or if I buy interconnects, I stick to Van Den Hul. $100 get's you the D102 MKIII, very good for the money.
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post #11 of 141
3/30/02 at 6:07pm
The VDH's are very very good, but at this price range im partial to the the DHlabs Silversonic BL-1's, if memory serves they are about $98/1m pair
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post #12 of 141
3/30/02 at 6:26pm
I have a pair of Corals, and I like 'em alot. I also have a pair of Diamondbacks (one step down) and like them too. Very similar...
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post #13 of 141
3/30/02 at 6:38pm
Quote:
Originally posted by bearwise
The VDH's are very very good, but at this price range im partial to the the DHlabs Silversonic BL-1's, if memory serves they are about $98/1m pair
Similar price range, but aren't you moving from one sound extreme to another?
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post #14 of 141
3/30/02 at 9:17pm
Hey, speaking of nicely priced interconnects, anybody familiar with OutLaw Audio interconnects? The 1.8m pair I ordered arrived yesterday, and they sound pretty descent without any breakin.

http://www.outlawaudio.com//products/cables.html
http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/cgi-loca...1000&LastLogin=

They remind me of StraightWire MaestroII in looks, "feel," and sound, but are constructed like RhapsodyII's with WBT type locking connectors. Pretty great value for $50.00 for the pair, I'd say hard to beat. I'll tell more after they're burned in a while.

The "Pure Copper Analog" interconnects are designed in a "dual-symmetrical" configuration, with two separately jacketed conductor paths for each side of the cable. The PCA cables have a dual shield system to isolate them from RFI and EMI as well as the digital noise that permeates today's complex audio/video systems. A 100% coverage copper foil shield, as opposed to the less expensive aluminum shield used in competitive products, is the first line of defense, covered in turn by a high-coverage copper braided shield. This dual system gives the maximum possible defense against both high and low frequency intrusion into the audio signal path.

The PCA cables have an internal fabric braid and the outer covering is a tough, clear PVC jacket. The connections are made with silver content solder and high quality locking connectors are used.
Unlike many of the myriads of cable companies on the market today, there ain't no smoke and mirrors here! Our cables utilize real world technologies that just sound better. As you may have read in our FAQ, or in prior newsletters, our PCA cables list "OCC" as a main feature. So what does that mean? The OCC process for refining copper was developed and patented by Professor Ohno of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan and is licensed to our manufacturer for use in the production of wire and cable products for the audio/video industry. In conventional processing, hot molten copper is poured into a cooled mold for extrusion, resulting in multiple, fractionated crystal structure. While the copper may be "pure" in the sense of measuring gas impurities in the copper in comparison to standard copper refining techniques, Oxygen Free Copper (OFC) has undesirable effects that lead many to use more expensive materials such as silver for their conductive strands.


As developed for A/V cable use, the OCC process utilizes a heated mold for casting and extruding, with cooling taking place in a separate process. The result is a larger crystal size and increased purity that approaches the 6N, 99.9998%! Looking at it another way, traditional copper has oxygen impurities of 200 to 500 parts per million (PPM), while traditional OFC copper reduces that to less than 10 PPM. With the OCC process, the figure is cut in half to less than 5 PPM of oxygen, and less than 0.25 PPM of hydrogen (compared to 0.5 PPM for OFC). See figure 1.

With these results, the OCC process creates "ultra-pure" copper, and thus the acronym for the copper material is more properly known as "UP-OCC", for Ultra-Pure, Ohno Continuous Casting.

Now that you know what "OCC" is, it is important to understand what it does. Using UP-OCC material produces a truly unidirectional copper crystal that is as free from impurities as possible to prevent corrosion. It increases flexibility and fatigue resistance without impairing conductive characteristics. It offers extremely low electrical resistance and rapid signal transmission. In plain English, your signals get from point A to B without losing the detail, soundstage, and bass response of the original recording.
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post #15 of 141
3/30/02 at 10:22pm
VDH's line of cables are (IMO) are one of the best of not the best around, they are neutral (what you need in a cable) and natural sounding. They don't have the harshness of most of the metal cord cables that I have experienced, another bonus point for the fact that all of then (if memory serves me right), they can be be use as a Co-axial digital cable since they have a impendence of 75 ohm. And since you get a pair, you have 2.
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