Cheap Audio Cables
SPEAKER CABLES: Gotham GAC SPK 2x4.0 mm. (11awg). $2.13 a linear foot from Gotham. I only see rolls of 100 feet listed so maybe you can find a retailer by the foot. This OFC cable is excellent. Buy a roll and sell the left overs to your friends. Terminating is easy using screw on banana plugs from Amazon. I do not recommend the GAC 2x2.5 cable. http://www.gothamaudiousa.com/index.html
Acutek 14x4. This is an OFC cable. You pair two 14 gauge wires together for 11 awg. Maybe you can find it by the linear foot but at $.65 a foot, a 100 foot roll will only cost $65.00. (Amazon) Buy and sell or share.
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Mogami W2921 is another OFC quad 14 awg cable. Pair two for 11 awg. Available from Redco.com for $4.35 a linear foot. https://www.redco.com
DIGITAL COAX CABLES: Gotham GAC-1, Canare L-5CFB, Mogami 2964. All of these are available on Amazon and Ebay assembled for about $40 or less. All are very good digital coax cables. Mogami the most flexibe, then Gotham, and lastly Canare which is quite stiff. If you want to spend more, Kimber's model 30 for $95.00 is excellent.
INTERCONECTS: I found two very good interconnect cables available by the linear foot. You can terminate yourself with some quality RCA connectors from Amazon and be sure to use a quality solder like Wonder Solder (Ebay) or WBT 4% silver solder. (Ebay and Amazon) it makes a difference. By soldering your own, you can save enough to buy yourself a nice soldering station on Amazon for about $40. Gotham GAC 4/1 is an OFC Quad microphone cable for about $1.25 a linear foot. Mogami 2497, another OFC quad cable for about $3.65 a linear foot from Redco.
If you want to go cheap on a decent RCA try Canare F10 connector ($3.50 ea). You can also find a similar locking RCA connectors that World’s Best Cables uses on Amazon for about $20.00 for four, and Cardas SLVR connectors on Music Direct for $20.00 a pair.
If you don’t want to solder. You can buy either these interconnect cables on Amazon assembled by World’s Best Cables with 4% silver solder and nice locking RCAS.
I didn't include Canare cables other than digital because they are not OFC copper and I don't like them.
All of these are better than Blue Jeans in my opinion. Yes, I compared them.
Gotham USA has a lot of sale items. http://www.gothamaudiousa.com/textpattern/index.php?s=sale Chance to buy only the lengths you want, buy for cost per foot, cut the connectors off, put your own on. i.e. Cut 20' into four 5' add your connectors .... |
There might be some of the PC-OCC Belkin stuff still on eBay. Never know. they dumped it all, when the economy tanked in 2008. It was all over the place for the longest time. https://positive-feedback.com/Issue20/belkin.htm I think I've still got 10x 50 ft rolls of the 16 gauge stuff. |
Good catch Tony. You are only the second person in years to comment on Bogarts character in TSM. I posted something on cables I tried and rejected. You never know what rolling the dice will get you. I personally am done looking. It was a fun project but now building a pair of CSS Chriton speakers from a kit. First time with the new router I set it down on the power cord and cut it in half. Oops. All in a day of projects. Now I need to master adding wood veneer. Plenty of videos on that subject. Peter Rawlings gives some lengthy but thorough videos on making and finishing cabinets. |
I searched all over hell today, finally went with these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/122028614401 Component Cable = 3 RCA two = 3 pairs interconnects: 6 lf; six 9's copper; locking rca connectors $50. total I'll peel them and make 3 pairs, each pair different colored locking connectors. Then add red electrical tape at the ends of the positive cable of each pair. Find one end, at least you know what connector color you are looking for at the other end. let's hope they sound good! |
You can get Gotham cables by the foot and decent Amphenol RCAS at ProAudioLA. Also completed Gotham digital cables. For some reason they don't handle the SPK 2x4.0 speaker cable. https://www.proaudiola.com |
12 TC My goof. Mostly those were digital cables, Blue Jeans silver and regular. Momoptice, Audioquest carbon, Nordost. Pangea. I also tried a couple custom makers and didn't like their cables either. I have a pair of Kimber Heroes. It is not as good as the Audience Ohnos. Mogami 3082 is a coax speaker cable and not quite there. The Gotham 2.5 was too weak in the bass a little light weight. The 4.0 was killer. Didn't think a lot of Blue Jeans interconnects or gray speaker cable. Their cables do not use OFC copper I believe and I can tell the difference. I needed a 10 foot extension for my headphones so I hooked up some Gotaham GAC 4/1 cable to Gotham male and female stereo 1/4" connectors and it worked well. Also 2534 Mogami sounded good. As a general rule for me, I avoid any silver plated copper cables except for digital cables where it seems to work out fine. |
