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Audio cables - do you go for gold plated shielded etc?Audio Visual equipment support forum, from the latest Plasma screens to the best home cinema or surround sound systems. From VHS to DVD+R, from WebTV to HDTV. | |
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27-11-2007
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| Super Minty Mod  Join Date: 31-12-1999 Location: Fife, Scotland
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My System: 1200cc with 100,000,000,000 neurons and 100,000,000,000,000 connections |
I just bought a cable to connect my mp3 player to my (new) amp and speakers. It's becoming harder and harder to buy a normal, non gold plated or heavily shielded cable nowadays, which can cost a small fortune. I must admit that I went for one of these gold plated and shielded ones - a Phillips one from Ebay Anyway I unscrewed one end and the inner cables look very like those inside the plain black cables that everyone seemed to use until a few years ago, except this one is covered in wire mesh and thick plastic (making it look even thicker) and has a splash of gold on the ends. I'm not disappointed, had I carried on using an old one I would always have wondered if a more expensive one would sound better, and I know this is a controversial topic on AV forums. As for the sound - well it sounds good, but so too might an ordinary one... I can't help thinking this is just a trend that people are getting carried away with, with things like gold plated USB cables helping confirm my suspicion that it's all marketing hype - or am I being over sceptictal? | ||
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27-11-2007
| #2 | ||
| Super Moderator  Join Date: 08-03-2005 Location: J6 M5
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Blog Entries: 1 My System: DM7020S ~ DM500s ~ sg2100 ~ Gemini  If he were not a wizard, from head down to the root, you would have got to worry-your DB only boots | I may be wrong, isn't the plating to both prevent tarnishing to the connector (which will reduce signal quality) as well as for conductivity? Before I made my last set of interconnects (satellite cable and silver wire) I read lots of "info" on various hifi websites and I'm sure I read that shielding isn't always a good thing (and also makes the cable stiffer). But as gold plated connectors cost only a little bit more than unplated I always by plated. But hearing a difference between cables? Not in my price range...  | ||
| Last edited by mhku; 27-11-2007 at 11:34 PM. | |||
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27-11-2007
| #3 | |||
| Regular Member  Join Date: 09-01-2005 Location: Bournemouth
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My System: Andrews 1.2 dish. Inverto LNB. Matched feedhorn. Technomate 6800 |  I bought 2 digital optical cables unbranded on Ebay
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28-11-2007
| #4 | ||
| Super Minty Mod Join Date: 31-12-1999 Location: Fife, Scotland
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My System: 1200cc with 100,000,000,000 neurons and 100,000,000,000,000 connections | Yes mhku I think the gold plating is for that too. I'm still sceptical, but as you say it isn't much more expensive, I have a feeling a lot of people will buy them 'just in case'. Another thing I'm going to try is bi-wiring my speakers, this seems even more controversial, but I needed to order some more cable anyway and when it arrives I should have enough to try it out. | ||
| 'All you need is duck tape and WD40; if it moves and it shouldn't, use duck tape - if it should move and it doesn't, use WD40' | |||
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28-11-2007
| #5 | |||
| Regular Member Join Date: 09-01-2005 Location: Bournemouth
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My System: Andrews 1.2 dish. Inverto LNB. Matched feedhorn. Technomate 6800 | Just what is bi wiring spakers. Not that i can have more cables as there is enough moans about wires going to the rear speakers. Wish i had run some speaker wire under the floor when i converted the garage into a TV room.
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28-11-2007
| #6 | ||
| Super Moderator Join Date: 08-03-2005 Location: J6 M5
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Blog Entries: 1 My System: DM7020S ~ DM500s ~ sg2100 ~ Gemini If he were not a wizard, from head down to the root, you would have got to worry-your DB only boots | Biwiring is when you run separate cable to the woofer and tweeter terminals on the back of the speakers. Ideally you'll need an amp(s) that can be used for biwiring although you can use a normal amp. I heard no difference when I tried it although it's supposed to be more obvious if you bi-amp. _http://www.davidmannaudio.com/faq/faq3.html _http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize031998.htm _http://www.cobaltcable.com/which/speaker_connections.htm And then there's different speaker cable and how "bright" it is....  | ||
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Audio cables - do you go for gold plated shielded etc? 
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