Cable confusion

Try Signal Cable. They offer a 30 day money back guarrantee also.

i have been listening to shunyata lately and im impressed.the rule of thumb is to spend about 10% or more of your systems value on cables.i have about $2,300 in cables and just under $24,000 in my system and i think i need better cables so im selling some of my old monster cables for $5.00 each if your interested.

I believe the cables are as important as the components.If you are unable to maintain the quality/purity of the transmitted signal,the baby is out with the bath water.Having said that,start cheap and work your way up,until satisfied and expense outweighs performance increase.Detting there can be half the fun and an education too.IMHO :}

i agree with tpsonic,your components are going to sound as good as your life lines,i have gone the cheap way only to upgrade.look at forums with people with like components.watt puppys sim,bat.dont cheapskate these products youllbe selling your self short in the end,imho,good luck.

Houndog1, I don’t think you are confused at all. You have stayed away from the crazy audio world so you still have your sanity and common sense intact. Thus the nasty shock when suddenly exposed to the insanity for the first time. Few doubt that cables make audible differences in your system. But, in my mind anyway, the cost of many cables are out of proportion with the relatively small sonic difference that they make on the sound system.

When selecting speaker cables, keep in mind that their sound are specific to the cable/amp/speakers combination. At different frequencies, your speakers present to the amp different impedances, which in turn affect the frequency response of the amp. The speaker cables mediate these interactions. I am not familiar with the Sim Audio W-3 amp but in my system, Watts/Puppies 5 with BAT VK-60s or Analog Research-Technology Vellute (digital switching amp), a relatively inexpensive triple run of OCOS clearly trounce the recommended MIT CVT Hose, the Straight Wire Maestro, and the Cardas Golden Reference. I don’t know why. So try some inexpensive speaker cables first, but try to go with those that work well with amp/speakers similar to yours. And do try those outfits that let you audition the cables at home. You’ll avoid the really bad buys and save yourself a lot of headache and money.

With a balanced system, your choice of XLR interconnect is not as critical as with RCA interconnect in my experience. In my balanced system, which is pretty revealing, I have compared several inexpensive homemade XLR cables with expensive ones, all 4-meter runs ranging from $500 to $1500. And the differences are very small, smaller than with RCA interconnects for reasons that I fear I don’t know. In my homemade cables I use excellent Nutric connectors and several high-quality microphone wires for less than $100 per 4-meter pair cables. They all sound very open, clean, and dynamic. I hear slightly more pleasing warmth or a tad more depth with some expensive XLR interconnects, but not necessarily better accuracy.

Overall, if I had to do it all again, I would not have bought the expensive XLR interconnects for the small improvement they offer. But I still use TaraLabs, Cardas, and Goetz for RCA interconnects in my audio/video system because they make a larger difference. That has been my experience.