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Pro Cables vs. Audio Cables....Are We Being Duped?

Like probably most of you audiophiles out there, I have a few friends who are musicians. I told one of these friends that I was looking for a long (25+ ft.) pair of balanced interconnect cables. He suggested that I consider looking into some nice studio/mike cables, as all studio cables are of balanced design.

He further stated that most audio interconnects are a ripoff when compared to similar studio cables. To illustrate his point, we looked at comprable lengths of balanced cables from Monster Cable and the Studio versions were a couple of hundred dollars less. While it was hard to tell if the cables were truly apples vs. apples; the construction and description of each cable appeared to be extraordinarly similar.

While the thought of using "mike cables" in my home audio system makes me shudder, I certainly would not be opposed to saving a few hundred bucks either.

Do any of you have any experience comparing studio vs. balanced audio cables? Is there anything in the construction or design of home cables that makes them superior to studio cables in a home system (and therefore worth paying more for)? If any of you can shed some light on this, I would truly appreciate it.
daddyo
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Sometimes (not a helpful answer I know). And it is not just between Pro and Audio/HT products. A friend of mine and I took apart and compared a video cable and a digital cable made by the same company. We could see no difference in the cable construction, only the RCA plugs were a different color (same kind of plugs). The Digital cable was 40% less than the video cable. We also did a listening test and they sounded the same. One of their brands of interconnects also looked and sounded the same (again different color RCAs); and a pair sold for the same price as one of the video cables. It is all he wanted as far as quality, so he bought two pairs of the interconnects and use one pair for video and digital in his HT setup.

As a side note: I use regular black 75 ohm RG6 satellite coax cable for all my video applications, whether using F plugs or RCAs. It is very cheap and I have found none better. Never have tried the cables that cost 10 times as much. I do use expensive audio cables in critical places like between the preamp and power amp.

blues_man
133 posts
 
I have been using RC Audio cables for years. They are as good as (or better than) most high-end cables. They cost much less. I've got top of the line 1 meter interconnects for about $200 a pair. Compare that with the $$$Thousand+ interconnects. I have a friend who spent more on his speaker cables than on his speakers, amp, and preamp combined. Old P.T. was right.
phild
603 posts
 
There are differences...plenty in some cases. Do the differences make them sound better?? In some cases yes...in some cases, probably not. We all know that cables are ridiculously overpriced, but regular balanced mic cables could use some improvement too.

I suppose there's no way to know until someone compares a 6ft length of ProCo balanced mic cable with a pair of $2000 balanced interconnects.
kirk930's avatar
kirk930
285 posts
 
the pro cables compared to monster are probaly better. they are made to run very long distances without problems. until you get into very good cables i would think the pro would be better.
psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
That's why I love Phoenix Gold by Carver Pro interconnects. High quality pro audio cabling and mil-spec connectors at reasonable prices.
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