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what's the most vital cable in a system?

I was wondering what IS the most important cable in a system if one was to rank them (#1 being the most important and so on)...A local dealer said that to him, a digital cable is the most important cable if your system calls for it....Well, my set up is a Classe CAP80 integrated, Epos ES14 on dedicated stands, a Toshiba SD1200 DVD/CD player, an MSB Link III DAC, and a Monarchy DIP jitter box. I use 2 digital cables with this set up - Canare digiflex and a Monster Video 2. I am thinking of upgrading the Monster digital cable...As for the rest of my cables, I'm using a Synergistic Research Mark II interconnect and Audioquest Indigo + speaker cables?...comments???
gemini
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
I would normally say the most important cable in my experience is the Pre-amp to Power Amp Link, but you have an integrated amp. Second for me and first for you in my opinion is the link between the MSB DAC and you amplifier. Then the speaker cables.
ehider
286 posts
 
There's an old audiophile saying; "The best a system can sound is related to its weakest link". With this in mind, there may not be a valid answer to your question. Try not to skimp on any one given connection, this will probably give you the most bang for the buck. A final point, trust YOUR OWN ears, when you make those cable comparisons. There are quite a few "recommended" cables, that are real stinkers (especially, if you factor in their cost). I have making my own cables (based on a design involving 18 audiophiles and 3 electronic designers), which sound better than cables 10x their cost, i.e. IT DOES NOT TAKE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS, TO PRODUCE AN EXCELLENT SOUNDING CABLE!!
madnut
7 posts
 
I agree with Ehider that the system is only as good as the weakest link. However, with all the components in a system being comparable, I would say that the cables closest to the source is the most important, then from preamp to amp, then the speaker cables. If you think about it, if you use crappy cables between the source and the preamp, no matter how wonderful the cable you use between the preamp and the amp, the sound is already degraded or colored. You will just be producing accurate sounds of what your cheapy cables produced. Work from the source-preamp to preamp-amp to speaker cables.
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