AR cables

POLKHT

I have read that the AR pro series 2 are good cables. How are the lower performance series campared to others? I can't find a place in town that sells them. The only place that sells AR, according to the website is Bestbuy and they don't carry the pro series 2. Thanks

Frank Z

Been using the less expensive (cheap) AR cables for many years and they work just fine.

John K.

PHT, connecting cables are items which are trivial from the standpoint of technological complexity, despite the mythologies about them which continue to float around the audio world. Those ARs are as good as anything you can get(not "lower performance") and are available on sale here for a reasonable price.

bcsmith

I have to agree. I recently recabled everything in my HT system since my old cables were generics that I had been meaning to retire for a long time anyhow.

The cables look and feel like solid, good quality cables, and looks are not deceiving. The connections are nice and tight My system sounds phenomenal with unbelievable realism and the imaging is absolutely beautiful!

I have every type of cable in the series including speaker wire and I have yet to find a flaw other than the fact that they apparently do not make an HDMI - DVI-D conversion cable in that series. You have to either buy the HDMI cable and the HDMI - DMI-D conversion adapter or they do also offer the one piece cable in the other lines. Oh, and one other thing. I even used their speaker pins and banana clips, since the pins come with the speaker wire bundles anyhow. However, if you go with these two items, I would suggest going with at least the Pro series of those two items regardless. They use small set screws in thin shell gold-plated terminals and I stripped a couple out way too easily, which tells me they will probably not hold up in the long run. I plan to change those out with a better quality item very soon myself.

Bottom line is the ARs handle the signals without any distortion that I can perceive whatsoever! One thing I should let you know though, if you're considering buying the performer series, I would definitely suggest looking into the site John suggested above, because I perused their selection the other day and the Pro/Pro II series are on closeout right now for about the same price as the Performer series or less in some cases. The Pro II series composite video cable, for example, is retail $29.99 for a 12' cable. They have it marked down to $9.99! Here is the link again if you want to check it out. Well, sorry for the lengthy post but I was truly impressed with the quality of this product and wanted to make sure to pass along what I learned. Hope it helps you with the decision and good luck with the system!

Emlyn

It depends on what associated equipment is used with AR's cables. If I'm just using an A/V receiver and a DVD player with a 27" non-progressive scan compatible CRT TV, the inexpensive blue AR cables Best Buys sells work fine. If I'm using a higher resolution big screen TV with a progressive scan DVD or high definition TV receiver, the cheap AR cables are much inferior to DIY component video cables like Blue Jeans or Signal Cable which are not "expensive" but use professional grade Belden, Canare, or similar cable and connectors. The cheap AR will pass a signal fine, but the color saturation, image sharpness, and clarity using "better" component video cables is not subtle. I've dissected some cheap AR and Monster cables to see how they were made. The cheap AR cables use very thin stranded copper wire wrapped inside the blue plastic jacket with plastic tape and mylar (aluminum foil used to make balloons). Better constructed cables, including the AR Pro or Master series, use better conductors and better shields, or braid the conductors in such a way to avoid interference from external signals. Cheaply constructed cables do not have the capability to cleanly pass high resolution video signals without signal degradation, but they are definitely a good starting point.

Willow

I have all AR pro II series on my system cept for a couple cables. I used to have the reg cables by AR but I found them a bit to flimsy, now they are used on my bedroom system. There are some shops in Canada that still carry them (the Brick) this may not help if you are in the US. I found the pro II alot thicker and better constructed and better insulated. As for sonic or visual diff. I never tried testing them( couldn't be bothered). As mentioned I too purchased mine dirt cheap 9.99$ for a dig coax and 12.99$ for component (which I don't use yet) bought 2 sets of them one I broke up and use as video and left and right stereo cables.