What cables do you use in your systems?

[snowsurfer]

Amazon for interconnects (RCA), Amazon basics with ferrite cores for USB, old Supra speaker cable which for some reason I have like 50 meters of (probably from when I set my old home cinema setup like 12 years ago) and for XLR I get custom made cables made from Mogami cable and Neutrik gold connectors. And I don't reply to the power cable part.

 

[VintageFlanker]

for XLR I get custom made cables made from Mogami cable and Neutrik gold connectors.

Everybody should.

Neutrik is one of the standard of the standard regarding Pro connector, as is Mogami for cables.

Like @MC_RME, I recommend Mogami 2964 + Neutrik ProFi RCA for RCA cables:

And Mogami 2549 (or 2534) + Neutrik XLR for XLR cables:

I don't think anyone needs to look further that these for interconnects.

 

[typericey]

In my 2nd system I use 5m Nordost Blue Heavens that are at least a decade old. They are hand-me-downs (not sure if that’s considered fortunate around here). I have to give credit to Nordost as they show no signs of oxidation: strands are as silvery as the day I got them and they’re now practically “teenagers.” The sleeves are still bluish clear with no cracks nor brittleness. They successfully withstood time, as well as harsh hot climate and high humidity.

While I know that they do nothing to improve the sound, I am not sure if they DEGRADE it. They are too long for what I need, 2m would suffice. I am tempted to replace them with Blue Jeans Canare star quads, just so that I can say that my systems are 100% snake oil free. But then again, the Nordosts seems not broken, so why fix it?

 

[syn08]

- For speakers, I use pieces from a roll of 100ft. #12 very fine stranded cable I got for free from a friend. The flexibility is much appreciated. Thick copper spade connectors, gold flashed, chinese stuff from EBay.
- For line level I use self made cables, out of a stock of pro audio cable I got long time ago from a surplus store.
- For the TT I use a self made balanced to single ended cable.
- For digital, if required, I use coax recovered (including the connectors) from component video cables I no longer use (since HDMI).
- I have a few optical cables (no name) that I haven't used in ages now.

Every piece of connector (except the speaker spades) is Neutrik (balanced) or Rean/Switchcraft/Pomona (single ended RCA). Everything is soldered/crimped by myself. I did not spend a penny of brand name cables for as long as I can remember. I know, I'm cheap .

 

[Burning Sounds]

Canare 4S11 for my 4-way active speakers. Although it is quite a thick cable it is very flexible even as a bundle of 4 tied together with velcro straps. Its star-quad geometry means I can run it around the periphery of my room close to the mains cabling which is in trunking at floor level. Connectors are Neutrik Speakons and locking banana plugs.

My Mytek 8 channel Dac uses D-sub analogue outputs so interconnects are Klotz D-sub to XLR and Van Damme D-sub to XLR for the analogue inputs (as used by Abbey Road Studios apparently).

 

[geek101]

Mostly blue jeans cable, benchmark cables and amazon basics!!.

 

[Bigman80]

Interconnects: Spotfire IC's (I make them so i am completely biased)


Speaker cable: Spotfire Reference speaker cable (I make them so i am completely biased)

Power cable: Belden with IEGO plug and Tough plug

The Spotfire cables are made from OCC Copper.

 

[cjf]

I use Mogami XLR's for everything but Power Cables & Speaker Cables

Mogami has proven itself to be an excellent XLR cable for any system configuration I've used to date. No need for anything else!

For speaker cable I use an esoteric brand because I've found them to be the best I've encountered which are Kubala•Sosna Elation. Yes they are very expensive but they are an impressive sounding piece of wire..IMO

For power cables I use a combination of Shunyata, Waveform Fidelity and also Bog standard whatever comes in the box. Only my power conditioner and Amps use the fancy cables. Everything else uses the basic power cable included with the component itself.

 

[Wombat]

IMO. The often used weasel word used by those confidently putting forward subjective views on ASR. IMRUO(in my rationally unverified opinion) would be more accurate.

 

[RayDunzl]

For speaker cable I use an esoteric brand because I've found them to be the best I've encountered which are Kubala•Sosna Elation. Yes they are very expensive but they are an impressive sounding piece of wire..IMO

Wow...

 

[geek101]

https://www.lifewire.com/speaker-cables-make-a-difference-3134902

Not sure how legit is the analysis but clearly keeping the speaker cable length to less than 10ft and having a 12 gauge or better is sufficient.

Spending a lot of money on speaker wire is just for bragging rights or for your piece of mind, won’t make any audible difference.

I found this:
“At $6000 per meter for the Elation, its price is less than half Odin or Zero.”!!!

I would generally ask myself this: if really this wire does make a difference what wire do speaker manufactures put in the cabinets ?. And why the hell a great speaker costs the same as a speaker cable!!.

 

[RayDunzl]

clearly keeping the speaker cable length to less than 10ft and having a 12 gauge or better is sufficient.

My speaker cables cost me nothing except what was forgone by not scrapping that cable with the rest that got scrapped in 1992 (at about $0.93/lb).

I could get some new through the Home Depot for not too much, though.

19 strands of approximately 18AWG.

5 feet biwire = 40 feet = $55.20 plus tax...

 

[Sal1950]

For speaker cable I use an esoteric brand because I've found them to be the best I've encountered which are Kubala•Sosna Elation. Yes they are very expensive but they are an impressive sounding piece of wire..IMO

Impressive as in they sound different than any other good quality, properly designed cable?
If they really sound different then they are doing something wrong and introducing a frequency response variation, amplifier instability, some aberration that is very easily measured. In all likelihood, you are letting their price color your perception of their sound.
Quality, fully transparent speaker cables can be purchased for a couple bucks a foot.

 

[geek101]

I would love to see an ASR measurements section for audio cables and hopefully saving a lot of grief and helping budding audiophiles to be a bit less of audiophool!.

I swear this site will get more traffic with that section.

 

[Wombat]

I would love to see an ASR measurements section for audio cables and hopefully saving a lot of grief and helping budding audiophiles to be a bit less of audiophool!.

I swear this site will get more traffic with that section.

Cables and interconnects have been done-to-death on this forum. I was surprised that a member of over 3 years and many postings still believes the woo. Established false beliefs are impenetrable with some people.

 

[geek101]

Cables and interconnects have been done-to-death on this forum. I was surprised that a member of over 3 years and many postings still believes the woo. Established beliefs are impenetrable with some people.

You mean with measurements?.

 

[Wombat]

You mean with measurements?.

References to valid measurements, yes. ASR is not the only source of technical measurements in existence. Reading more widely for edification is recommended.

 

[Dogen]

I would love to see an ASR measurements section for audio cables and hopefully saving a lot of grief and helping budding audiophiles to be a bit less of audiophool!.

I swear this site will get more traffic with that section.

Really, with all the good science around audio cables and repeated demonstrations of its validity, if someone isn’t convinced by now they’ll likely never be convinced. If one believes things can be heard that can’t be measured, that’s the end of the discussion.

 

[Wombat]

Really, with all the good science around audio cables and repeated demonstrations of its validity, if someone isn’t convinced by now they’ll likely never be convinced. If one believes things can be heard that can’t be measured, that’s the end of the discussion.

Agree. But it seems endless, here, as elsewhere. What does one do?

Maybe put up a forum positional statement of facts , as a sticky, and refer dissenters to it with an invitation to rationally make a case for their different view. Not just for cables.

 

[geek101]

Really, with all the good science around audio cables and repeated demonstrations of its validity, if someone isn’t convinced by now they’ll likely never be convinced. If one believes things can be heard that can’t be measured, that’s the end of the discussion.

A simple chart similar to SINAD for DACs is something I cannot find online. It will look funny for sure, like the $10000/meter cable performing same as $1.99/meter cable etc. Will be a total waste of testers time but I think it can be a great resource for people who google about this. I wonder if some of those expensive cables do something stupid and perform worse?.

Not everyone understands the science a single metric representation for comparison can be very helpful.