Mind-Blowin' Rat Shack interconnects :)

[stuwee]

With all the shiftin' of equipment in casa stuwee there has been a revelation, a cheap pair $6.99 patch cords have raised the bar in the 'puter room, from the Lux to the Yammie to the Kennie, system #2 below, the AR's are transformed, part # 42-2351.

I've have not a clue as to why, except they are only 3 footer's and I had 10 footer's of much higher quality before. I'll have to try them in the main rig next but, I've got alot of taping to do, soo I'll just try them between the Marantz and the Nak first. Who woulda thunk??

[stuwee]

Big diff in the main rig, I really don't know why, it's just between the pre and the deck, maybe something wrong with the other's, they are older, I clean all the connections every couple of months, ???

[Des-Lab]

I dunno. My system is entirely connected with Rat Shack and generic RCA's. Sounds great to me.

I personally think that so-called Audiophile cables (such as Audioquest) are geared more towards satisfying the ego than providing better sound. I've seen and read elaborate arguments touting the benefits of higher gauge wire (think Monster, never mind the chokepoints of the actual ports and fuses), gold or platinum coating, and so on and how it enhances impedence, ohms, etc. But those arguments (along with some system auditions I've been to) fail to actually provide proof of "better" sound-itself a subjective term.

I mean try and get a Stereophile disciple to concede to a blind test with his system (equipped with the fancy cables) against a more 'modest' one (such as mine, equipped with generic cables) and all you'll get is a dog-and-pony act about how he can already 'prove' on paper that his system sounds better.

-Everything he can do to avoid an actual side-by-side A/B comparison listening test.

Think about it. If you had shelled out twenty grand for a turntable and cables, wouldn't you too be mortified to discover that the 'lowly' five hundred dollar setup sounded just as good or better?

[niklasthedolphin]

The solution is multicabling.

"dolph"

[vinyldavid]

All I have are generic IC's, and I thought that everything sounded wonderful until I was given a pair of decent (not high end, just decent) ones with ym Pro-Ject Xpression III TT. Came in the box.

I used them for a couple of days, and there was a slight buzz in the signal.

So I switch out the cabls to some generics.

*eyepop* DAMN

Completely closed, different, BAD sound.

Immediately, I switched back, and am working on the power problem.

After I get an RCM, next purchase is decent cables. Not insane, just decent.

[stuwee]

All I can say is I hear something here. I was part of the cable loan thing on AK back in '06 and I heard a difference. I'm afraid of tryin' good stuff, I can't afford them,

maybe Rat Shack just got lucky in these, *dunno* I trust my ears, I'll take some pics of the RCA parts of both old and new later, maybe ya'll will see something?? They are short at 3 feet, I use a 20 footer between the Marantz and the Yamaha because I like the speaker wires as short as possible. They came with the 'Logans no markings, Tiffany spades though. Mr. Lin likes to play with cables and so does danger boy, I just picked these up because I needed some cheap ones with all the swaping in and out lately. Now I have to get more, for a more thorough shake down.

[Fast Forward]

I try to use cable a little on the upscale side and keep them as short as possible,,same with speaker wire,,,,when I was a big time drag racer I had my battery mounted in the trunk and started off with regular Gauge wire but had some problem starting the car,,it was suggested that I go to a thicker cable and that seem to solve the problem ,,If that carrys over to audio so be it

[gamve]

I used to think cables made very little difference and that spending large amounts of money on cables was a total toss.
I have been working on the sound quality of my system intensively for the last 5 or so years and to my ears cables can have a significant effect on the sonics. Getting the right ones is a minefield as some work beautifully in some positions and dreadfully in other positions. I was fortunate enough to have a friend that has spent way way too much money on these types of things and I was able to borrow some items for home auditioning. I tested these against what I was using which was mainly home made items. In some cases my home brew cables were superior and in other cases they were easily surpassed. I have steered away from the high priced shit such as 1.0m interconnect cables made from unobtanium by gay pixies on a moon just off Jupiter that cost as much as a decent small car. I have ended up with a mix of home made, 3 sets of some mid priced $75.00 AUD generic (made in china probably) jobbies and some reasonably expensive bits including a superb tonearm cable. Getting the sonics balance correct to my taste takes heaps of experimentation and lots of honest objectivity.

Another thing to remember is that if you drive an expensive sports car or ride an RC51 do you fit it with $50.00 dollar tires? I bloody hope not. If you have a $10000.00 dollar stereo I hope to god you can hear the difference different cables make.

A good example of what can be achieved cheaply and easily is as follows.
If you are using fig8 (stranded) speaker cable, humor me and try using some 10 or 15 amp solid core house type wiring. Will cost you $5.00 if you are unlucky and 10 minutes of your time. If this does not yield you a decent sonic improvement, let me know and I will eat my large ugly old hat
cheers
graham