Cheap but good quality interconnects

cgrpr

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I'm currently looking at upgrading my interconnect cables from the ones supplied with my separates. Like anyone, I want good quality cables but I don't want to pay an excessive amount for them. Is there anywhere online that has good deals on cables? Or maybe some that haven't had the price pumped up by having an expensive brand name printed on them!
 
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Anonymous

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Do to the oldphrt what you've always wanted to do and tell him to get back in his buggy. Let's hope the brakes fail! Ok, if you want a top quality set of analogue interconnects take a look at the ones Mark Grant hand makes for a bargain. 6 interconnects for 5.1 surround @ £65 delivered. Unbelievable. I just bought 3 Y connectors (2 phono from 1 for bi-amping), 1m each, handmade for £90 delivered. This is fantastic value on a world class interconnect. Now tell me about big brand rip offs oldphrt. Why don't you start telling people useful things that will help them?
 

cgrpr

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Thank you for your sarcastic comment about painting my current cables, it was most helpful! I will just point you to the last section of your post "Bottom line on interconnects". It says use home made cables, or buy ones that are well made and reasonably priced. Now, I wouldn't mind making some myself, but I wouldn't know where to buy the cable or the connectors, so this leaves me with the second option, which I believe is what my original post was about. I just want some well made good quality cables for a reasonable price, because although the OE cables were free (which is as reasonable as a price can get) I'm fairly certain that they're not very well made. So, if anyone can help me, please reply, if you just want a debate about whether or not interconnects are worth it, I'm not interested. Thanks.
 
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Anonymous

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Maybe you could make a good deal on ebay....

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/__Cables-Connectors_interconnect_W0QQ_nkwZinterconnectQQ_fxdZ1QQ_ptasZ8Q2cUKQ5fAudioTVElectronicsQ5fHomeAudioHiFiQ5fAmplifiersQ5e3Q2cUKQ5fAudioVisualElectronicsQ5fHomeAudioHiFiQ5fHeadphonesQ5e3Q2cUKQ5fCEQ5fMP3AccessQ5fRLQ5e1
 
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Anonymous

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I would repeat that you should look at Mark Grant's offerings. Oldphrt please be a bit more positive.
 

cgrpr

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Yeah thanks Will. I had a look at his website, I guess it's the Canare LV61S cables that I'd want. They're still £24 a shot though which I know is at the budget end of cables but I've found QED Qunex's for £15 online and the mags rave about them, and those Cambridge Audio Atlantics are £10, which is much more appealing to me if they're going to work just as well.
 

cgrpr

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[quote user="oldphrt"]
Recommending one overpriced interconnect over another is an ultimately pointless exercise when there is nothing to choose between any of them.

[/quote]

Listen up oldphrt, I've already told you I'm not interested in a debate
about the worthiness of interconnect cables in terms of sound quality
etc, I'm interested in build quality and also I'd like them to look
good too. I know that all the interconnects do is take the signal from
the source to the amp and as such all they can do is degrade the signal
rather than improve it, especially at the connection points I would
think. With this in mind, I'm sure some well made cables with gold
coating on the plugs would degrade the signal less than my current
cables which have a coating of corrosion on the plugs, I'm sure that
improves the connection!
 
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Anonymous

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Marks cables are the equal of many much much more expensive models. The ones I have are certainly well made and sound fantastic. Or put differently for oldphrts benefit, my kit sounds fantastic and my cables are not in any way inhibiting the sound. I'd say they're good value and better than the QED or Atlantic. I really would consider them.
 

Thaiman

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I had a interesting day with many cables and CD players abx tests....great fun and manage to save an old friend some cash with his cables upgrade (or down grade...depending on who is reading this test). Oh to answer your original question try type in Gotham in serch engine and spend a tenner on them, I known many people who prefer them than VDH 102 mk3!!!
 
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Anonymous

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The Gothams do look nice and I notice they also offer a 7 day money back guarantee if you don't notice an improvement in sound (especially after they're burnt in, they reckon).

And they have the kudos of not being a main stream manufacturer too!

Might sneak a set in, under the radar, for a tenner - have d102mkIII, so would be interesting to try!
 
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Anonymous

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Burnt in, indeed! I agree with you on the is one Oldphrt! I would be interested to hear the same cable type, but one fresh one and one burnt in one for comparison!

Isn't it odd though that, as far as I'm aware, the burn in period will always bring improvements!

But, as I've said before, just 'cos I don't understand it, doesn't mean I think it's impossible (I mean - how can the moon be made of cheese?! But it is.).
 

hifikrazy

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[quote user="oldphrt"]
How about these? They come complete with snakeoil. Not that expensive either.

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=oil+injected

[/quote]

Yaaawwwnnnnn.... Snake oil, placebo effect.... Man, you're just like a broken record. Same old dribble from you. Why don't you give up on your one man crusade to convert all the forummers here who do believe in cables ...it ain't gonna work. Perhaps you could move your attention to some church to tell the congregation there about how having their prayers answered is a placebo effect, so they may as well give up their faith.

Now I'm not a religious person myself, but my point is that you'll never convince us to share your opinion, just like we'll never convince you to share ours. So quit being a negative force in here and go start your own anti hi-fi forum where members in there can cling to every word that comes out of your mouth.
 

hifikrazy

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[quote user="bloney"]
Burnt in, indeed! I agree with you on the is one Oldphrt! I would be interested to hear the same cable type, but one fresh one and one burnt in one for comparison!

Isn't it odd though that, as far as I'm aware, the burn in period will always bring improvements!

But, as I've said before, just 'cos I don't understand it, doesn't mean I think it's impossible (I mean - how can the moon be made of cheese?! But it is.).

[/quote]

Now I can't comment about cables, but I almost returned my new CD player in the first few days that I brought it home, thinking it was faulty because it sounded so different from what I heard in the store. However, now that it's been properly run-in, I couldn't be happier. Frankly, I wouldn't have believed it myself that running-in has that much of a difference, but I believe it now that I've heard it with my own ears.

For example, you've now experienced for yourself how different every interconnect sounds, so do you think that oldphrt can convince you otherwise with some technical theory of why interconnects cannot sound different? The thing is to keep your mind open until your own experience proves/disproves the theory.
 

hifikrazy

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Are you really that cynical to think that all the adults in here are totally incapable of forming their own opinions based on their own listening experiences, or do you think that they are all like your primary school students?
 

hifikrazy

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In that case, billions of people in this world must be out of their mind to believe in God, since there is no scientific proof of his existence.
 

hifikrazy

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[quote user="oldphrt"]
I'm certainly cynical about those that are profiteering from the lack of knowledge of some hi-fi punters but in your case I'm more than happy to let you waste your money.

BTW it's my wife that's the teacher.

[/quote]

I would certainly agree that I'm no scientist in this matter, but I trust my ears most of all, and I'm certainly not gullible enough to let those ears be fooled into hearing what I've read in hi-fi mags. And I think that I'm not the only adult audiophile with such "sensibility".

For the record, many a time I have auditioned an equipment that has received rave reviews in a mag, but could not hear what the fuss is all about.
 

hifikrazy

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[quote user="oldphrt"]
Were the Greeks right to believe in their gods?

[/quote]

Will history prove that Christians were any more right or wrong in believing in theirs?
 

hifikrazy

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At least you're consistent with your "No scientific proof = No truth" way of thinking.

By the way, there are a lot of people in this other forum that you need to devote your time to convince that they're misguided by believing what they've read in the bible. Goodbye and it was nice having ya here, and don't forget to bring along your snake oil and placebo effect comments.

http://forums.christianity.com/
 
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Anonymous

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Oldphrt, that's enough mate. Please stick to hi-fi and stay off subjects that have nothing to do with this forum. There is no point offending people and you'll only end up getting kicked out of here.

You make some valid and interesting scientific points. I enjoy reading your non-offensive posts but keep them non-offensive please. It'd be a shame to lose a contributor like you due to straying into a subject matter that belongs elsewhere and may cause offense. I'm sure that's not your game.
 

hifikrazy

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I confess... I dragged it in only to make a point that many people believe in something that has no scientific proof, be it religion or hi-fi cables... and there really isn't anything wrong with that.
 

hifikrazy

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oldphrt, I really don't understand why you try to make music listening a science rather than an art. Call me daft for hearing differences between cables, but I really do hear those differences, and I'm as certain about that as you are certain that you can scientifically explain why there shouldn't be any differences.

Our knowledge of science today has certainly not reached its pinnacle, so what makes you so sure that there isn't another measurement that differs between cables, that science has still not found a way to measure yet?

If the way an equipment sounds can be measured, then all those hi-fi manufacturers would be able to do away with human ears when designing a product. They would just have to design a product that meets certain optimum measurements.
 
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Anonymous

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Most of the time I actually agree with you Oldphrt. But on one or two occasions you've been down right rude. I don't intend to hit the report abuse button but I am telling you my view.

I'm not your mother, or your boss, or the site administrator. I'm just another Joe and you've upset me. That's all. You can choose to be rude in reply or you can recognise that someone here is potentially seeing eye to eye with you, just put off by some of the things you've said that go beyond the realms of hi-fi.

Religion is a dangerous topic to get onto, whether in the form of an analogy or otherwise. It's clear that these debates can get heated, just realise that it is not ok to offend with impunity.

I came this close to not replying, but as you've asked me directly, I'm letting you know. All the best.
 
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Anonymous

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Morning oldphrt, "why pay more" - that is clearly the question and to me the answer is extraordinarily simple - "'cos I went into the dealer, listened to two and chose the one that, to me, clearly sounded the best".

This is where we differ - you say I could not have heard a difference and if I did I imagined it, or fooled myself into believing there's a difference (hey - I just love spending money - 3young kids and one wage!).

On a slight tangent, I was trying to see the difference between biwired and linked at speakers last night. One speaker bi-wired,the other linked (with speaker cable). Here, I could probably fool myself into thinking one was better than the other, but kept changing my mind! So, I think if there is a difference, it's so small it won't matter to me. Or it's the stereo making my testing method useless!

So, I can see what you mean when you think people can convince themsolves of a difference - I was at that point last night.

But the interconnects made a huge difference to me - there is no doubt in my mind.

Anyway - must stop waffling...
 

cgrpr

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Just came back to see if anyone else had posted any replies to my question to find a lot of rambling off the subject, but a couple of useful messages in there too. Anyway, I tried Thaiman's suggestion of searching for Gotham and I found a Swiss company (gotham.ch) making cables. However, am I missing something with respect to the pricing? Both Thaiman and bloney mention spending a tenner on the cables (which unless I'm very much mistaken means £10), but I don't see where they're getting these prices from? According to the website an 'unbalanced analogue audio (single ended)' cable of 1 metre would cost 39.55CHF (£16.70) by my reckoning. I e-mailed Gotham to ask for a quote and they have said 32CHF (£13.52) per cable. I need 5 stereo interconnects so that's 10 single cables at 320CHF (£135.29), plus shipping of 85CHF (£35.93!) and a 3% paypal fee and it all comes to 417.15CHF (£176.36!). That calculates out to around £35 per stereo pair, which to me is a lot of money.

Oh yeah, does anyone know anything about Fisual av interconnects, are
they any good? Have found Fisual SuperPearl Reference stereo pairs for
£14.99.
 
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Anonymous

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Yes, lots of rambling sorry. I did post earlier that I found some on Ebay - can't remember the details off hand, but might be worth checking it out. The prices still seem very reasonable though.
 

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