options for standard RCA cables

mrbofus

Greetings,
I am about to hook up my new CD changer (RCA cable) and I thought I read somewhere that you should toss the RCA cables that come with the unit and upgrade them. Opinions on this? What would be a budget friendly RCA "upgrade".
I have always used the stock ones but as I read more maybe there are better cables available?
Any suggestions appreciated.
-Greg

thsmith

Signal cables are great cables for the money. The more revealing your system is the more you notice an improvement.

If I were you I would go with the stock cables for now and watch for a pair of signals come up here for cheap or borrow someone's and see if you can tell a difference.

squeeb

Monoprice (www.monoprice.com) has some nice cable for a good price. Not going to be the "best" stuff out there but definitely "budget priced".

zingo

You could also try Cobalt Cables, Blue Jeans Cables, or Esoteric Cables. They all offer budget ends of the cables market, but still with good sound quality.

Conradicles

These cheap Dayton's at Parts Express have some good reviews.
Here is a link:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=181-652
They offer a few different lengths and that may be a good start.
SignalCable's would be my choice if they are in your budget.

Face

SignalCable. Tell them you're a member of Club Polk for a 5% discount.

Amherst

squeeb wrote: »

Monoprice (www.monoprice.com) has some nice cable for a good price. Not going to be the "best" stuff out there but definitely "budget priced".

Just picked up some audio cables from mono about a month ago, they were junk. The connectors were loose on every jack I tried them on with different pieces of equipment.

First time in years I got a bad product from them.

louhamilton

I've used Monoprice, BlueJeansCable (BJC), and Emotiva unbalanced RCA cables.

Monoprice was junk. The ends were loose when connected. I still have one I'm using as a sub cable. I had to put some Heat Shrink Tubing (HST) on the end because it kept unscrewing and falling apart.

BJC were good. I had an issue with them. Maybe it was a bad batch, but I felt they were inconsistent in their sound. I would feel that one channel would sound "off", then it would move to another channel. At first, I thought it was the amp but I got new cables (non-BJC) and the problem went away.

Emotiva cables are also nice. They are fancier looking than BJC, but I think the BJC cables appear to have an edge on construction. I'm currently using these and have had great results. The problem I had where I thought it may have been my amp went away. I still have the BJC cables and have since swapped them out and the issue has returned.

I'm considering getting some Valab King Cables later this year to go along with some monoblocks I will be upgrading to. They seem to be very well made and have received some nice mini-reviews by users. I have not seen anything from a professional reviewer.

You don't put a budget, but mine have ranged from about $30 - $110 with my next upgrade probably pushing the $300-400 range.

concealer404

Signal cables, or Audioquest Sidewinders.

I haven't personally heard the Signals, but in the past i ran Sidewinders religiously, and for the prices they can be had, they sound amazing.

Krazyz1

I swear by Acoustic Research performance or master series. Gold plated , twisted conductor ( stranded ) Mylar wrapped foil, nitrogen injected PE sheath. 3' at ABC warehouse approx 13.00 for performance series. Esoteric offers 3 different grades. The E-2 is a grasshopper **** better than what came in the box. E-5 or E-7 totally different scenario. Hey! Is the spell check working???

Face

I found AR interconnects to be worse than Monoprice.