Zebra Cables

VR3

This company has caught my eye ever since the 05 football pool and the power cable they sent me.

Their price is well below Signal Cables and looks to be similar products....

Just looking for opinions....

www.zebracables.com

heiney9

Those prices actually look reasonable. I can't remember were any Zebra Cables involved in the cable swap program?

H9

VR3

they werent involved in it...

But they gave away a beastly power cable for free to one of the winners of the football pool...

Im looking at a host of their stuff...

10 awg double run speaker cables, XLR, subwoofer cable, ICs, and the 10 awg power cable...

Lsi9

I just replaced some "hi-end" monster speaker cables with the Zebra 10awg.
and believe me I heard a significant improvement and clarity. Plus the cables looks so sweet in the carbon colored nylon tubes, I'd buy 'em again

heiney9

I book marked the page for future use. Those jumpers look like the ticket to replace the brass jumpers that come standard on bi-wireable/ampable speakers.

marvda1

check out audio art cables, i had zebra cable speaker cables, interconnects, and power cables. i found that the audio art were much better. i replaced the speaker cables with straley reality cables. i am still using their power cables as i am not sure that spending megabucks on power cords will bring that much of a return.

MikeC78

For the price that audio art wants for those wires, they BETTER SOUND GOOD! That is ridiculous, hell if bought those wires for my setup it would cost more than I payed for my 2 pairs of LSi15's combined along with the LSiC. Snake oil.

The Zebra cables look nice and are better priced, but the use the same Belden line that Blue Jeans uses and they are cheaper. Might not look as good, but they will sound as good for a better price.

Mike

edit: I recently bought some speaker wire through Bestdealcables.com. Not exactly the greatest prices on the site, but AVSforum had a "BOGO" powerbuy that I took advantage of. Bought these stricktly for looks alone, have to keep the wife happy after I bought the new LSi's. Don't know how these wires compare, has anyone heard or have used them before?

MikeC78

heiney9 wrote:

I book marked the page for future use. Those jumpers look like the ticket to replace the brass jumpers that come standard on bi-wireable/ampable speakers.

Those look like nice jumpers! I recently bought a set from Cobaltcable, same 10awg.

Mike

marvda1

you get the best you can afford for your mains. just because you have ht the rest is on you.

VR3

Yawn.

Must draw the line somewhere....

Cables make a difference - but mnot that much.

marvda1

if you want to save money go to home depot for the orange and black extention cord for speaker cables and you can get acoustic research interconnects at best buy and be done with it you won't have to spend another dime since cables don't make a difference.
good night all.

VR3

you sir need to remove your mahagony pipe and get off your high horse.

Not to many people want to drop major coin on cables. Ill drop the extra dime on sources, speakers, subs, preamps - FAR* before cables.

MikeC78

LOL!!! I agree Sid!

I love how people will spend $600 on speakers and $500 on cables! WTF!??!?!?

That goes to the average joe who goes to Best Buy and will purchase a $100 dvd player and then a $100 Monster cable to go along with it! LOL!!

Mike

marvda1

there are people that believe lamp cord and interconnects that come with the equipment is all you need. to them you have the mahogany pipe and reside on the high horse just as someone who spends $500 on interconnects and $1000 on speaker cables appear this way to me. all i am saying is that the audio art cables are worth a listen because they do out perform cables that cost 2x plus and if believe some of the testimonials they bested cables in the $6-$700 range. i spent a lot of time and money buying zebra cable, element cables, signal cables and others that were all in the same price range and basicly sounded the same as most of them are based on the same cable recipes, but i was making lateral moves. i purchased the audio arts before the last price increase and sold off all the other cables that i had been buying.
to me and i bet a lot of others $99 for a meter pair of good interconnects is not a lot to pay. i can understand that to some this may be a lot of money to spend but don't put others down because they spend a little more. if i could afford it i wold probaly be listening to $500+ cables to see if they sound better but being cheap i try to look for affordable, to me, cables that give great value (sound) for the money.

p.s. i was not being funny when i suggested the home depot cord and acoustic research interconnects as they both get good reviews from users.

MikeC78

There are cables that cost more than Audio Arts?? WOW!! WTF are they made out of platinum? Explain to me the extra cost of these cables for what? Are your speaker lengths over 100'? Maybe you should take your speakers apart and replace the 16awg wire that runs from the binding post to the speaker itself?

For digital interconnects is doesn't matter which cable you get, as long as it works it's the same as the one that cost 5X as much. Monoprice is the best price.

Marvda1, as long as you are happy with your milllion dollar cables that all that matters. But, don't try to say that the cables are going to make a big or huge noticeable difference. Like Sid said, spend your money on a good pre-pro, amp, speakers, cd player, that's where you get your sound and WILL hear the difference in price.

Mike

marvda1

mike i took a look at your bestdeal cables and you paid those prices just for LOOKS, i guess if i have million dollar cables you saved a bundle with $750,000.00 :rolleyes:

univera

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

you sir need to remove your mahagony pipe and get off your high horse.

Not to many people want to drop major coin on cables. Ill drop the extra dime on sources, speakers, subs, preamps - FAR* before cables.

Trey and Mike, I couldn't give a crap less about high dollar wires as I don't plan on spending that kind of money. But you both put this guy down first. If he chooses to spend his money on that stuff and likes it, more power to him. He didn't say other stuff sucked, he just said that he liked those, and yea, for those prices, he better. It read to me like a recommendation. Last time I checked, Marvda didn't work for audioart.

Referring to his expensive cables as "snake oil" isn't going to make someone happy about their purchase. Why deflate his balloon? Who wants to be loving their sound only to have someone tell them their cables are ****? There are plenty of people on this forum with expensive cables and plenty of others with Signal Cable II's, etc. There are better ways to say you disagree, Mike, without slamming him. Had he been on his high horse, then that would be another story. And for the record, you all know a lot more than I about gear and cables. I'm just defending his right to advocate his cables. He wasn't jamming them down anyone's throat.

He went on the defensive after you both put him there. I think its sick money to spend on cables myself, but I'll bet that if all parties involved had sick money and were independently wealthy, we would all try big money cables if we thought it might make a difference. He isn't exactly running a Kenwood system, even if it isn't super high end, either...Yea, there is better gear to be had. So if his current cables made a huge improvement, imagine how they will do with even better gear. It's easy to knock something when you don't have the means to own it. And interconnects are as debatable as it gets. Peace and Love.

MikeC78

Obviously you didn't read my post! I got a BOGO deal, I paid a total of $150 for my mains and CC. One cable from AA costs twice that much! No need to be smart ****, please explain to me the justification for Audio Arts prices, I'm not backing any boutiqe cables.

Mike

MikeC78

univera-

I never put the guy down? Plese don't take me the wrong way.

I told him as long as he's happy with the cables, that's all that matters. Please reread my posts. To make the average guy come in here and think that those wires are going to make his sound system sound better is ridiculous. I guess if I was really rich and had a million dollar system, I might try them? Then it might be justifiable to purchase wires that cost that much, and even then it's really debatable is they made a difference over cables at a fraction of the cost.

Mike

univera

I hear you, Mike. All I'm saying is that referring to his cables as "snake oil" isn't going to give him the warm fuzzies. Snake oil is audio rocks or cable risers. Cables as a whole are regarded as making some improvement by most level headed people in this hobby. I'm mostly debating the use of that wording and I can see why he got T'd a bit. I just spent several hundred dollars on tubes when I could have gotten "decent" tubes for $25.00 a piece. I trusted the advice of the seller and a few others on this site and I wanted the best, so it was worth it in my mind. It's all in perspective. I think Joey V is nuts to spend 11 grand on speakers, but I've never heard them and I don't have that kind of jack, so it's easy to think he's nuts. Especially when he is in med school...

MikeC78

I was actually referring to boutique cables in general, snake oil INMO. I have no hopes in the cables I bought to make any difference, besides looks. The only thing in speaker cables that makes a difference to me is the size/gauge.

I don't mean to put anyone down, i'm just expressing my opinions. Sorry if I hurt feelings in the process, no pun intended.

Mike

marvda1

vr3m, zebra makes great cables, i enjoyed them when i had them.

boy univera i saw some of the prices on those nos siemen cca's. i just bought some nos tesla 6dj8's and am going to look into some 7308's. you can pm your response to keep the thread on track.

marvin

Midnite Mick

How did Joey get dragged into this?

And the great cable debate continues.:rolleyes:

Mike

heiney9

Way to stay on topic guys

madmax

univera wrote:

Snake oil is audio rocks or cable risers.

Excuse me, are you making fun of cable risers? :eek:
madmax

heiney9

I find if you coat the audio rocks with snake oil 24 hours prior to use the soundstage is a wee bit larger.

YMMV

H9

madmax

I would actually like to try the audio rocks some day. I have a magic brick which makes everything sound better. Can't explain it. I sit it on the amp and the amp sounds better, I can hear the difference. Take it back off and it still sounds better. Power up later and same scenerio. I've tried it a bunch of times and can always hear it get better but it never changes when I remove it.
madmax

VR3

To much misunderstanding. Comes with the whole idea behind reading words full of personality.

To me, your cables should be about 10%(if not less) of your entire system cost...

madmax

I would have to agree with some percentage applied somewhere. After all, cheap cables really cut down your performance once you get to some point in a mid to high level system but great cables wont make or break a low to mid level system. The thing is that I'm talking performance levels, not really price levels. Take the $20 T amp. It can make use of high quality cables, source, speakers AND cables. A lot of amplifiers in the $600 to $1K range sound only slightly different with cheap or expensive cables. Same for some sources no matter what their price.
madmax

univera

Midnite Mick wrote:

How did Joey get dragged into this?

And the great cable debate continues.:rolleyes:

Mike

Jealousy:p Wish I had that kind of money to spend...And to make a point that if he is happy, so be it. I am sure it is awesome stuff.

Madmax, try covering the cable risers with Dynamat. I hear that makes a 50% sonic improvement over stock cable risers....

VR3

I hear if you rap the cable in duct-taped-together-socks you get less resistence...