Average Price Of Interconnects In Your Main System

Coming back to this topic, I'm actually "downgrading" my cables. Since I posted originally I bought some Mogami and BJC cables. I like and will keep the Mogamis, the BJC while excellent are just too big and heavy and the connectors are rough on vintage RCAs (they grip excellently but not too tightly, it's the sheer weight of them and the diameter is such that on some gear they are touching and putting some slight sideways pressure on the jacks) after buying some of the PX blowout Acoustic Research video cables and turning them into audio cables (with judicious use of paint pen) I can't tell the difference in performance so those are my go to going forward. So my average cost per cable is under $10 and yet I'm happy

 

I make my own interconnects. I use high quality, shielded co-axle cable and male-RCA adapters. While these may not be of the finest quality, or might not look the best, I think they do the job very well especially at their price point. The cable, I get for next to nothing, and I know a cable-TV guy who has cut cables for me to the lengths I need. So yes, I probably spend $2-3 per cable ($4-6 a pair).

 

I love my Monoprice Premium Shielded 6 Foot RCA cables at $3.30 apiece. I see no need to spend more.

 

For me I guess somewhere round the 10$ mark, although that's € for me. I'm just starting experimenting with interlinks and I soldered the set I'm using now myself so it was really cheap.
For those interested, I used gold-plated RCA plugs with microphone cable, using the red/blue as hot and ground and soldering the shielding to the ground on one side of the cable.
Not hearing much of a difference with my $5 RCA cables though.

 

What's the verdict on the Anticables?

 

I have owned cheap cables and I have owned some expensive ones. The priciest ones were the Audio Magic, darn product name escapes me at the moment. Just a tick over $1K a meter. But I broke a system down, decided to start over from scratch, and let everything go. I sometimes regret the decision of letting the Audio Magic interconnects go.

These days I use IC's from VH Audio, the Spectrum CU with WBT ends, and Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval for the ones on my phono stage and turntables. Not as spendy as the Audio Magic, but very nice examples of what a good copper interconnect can do.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

Luckily, I did not pay full price for my main rig or the ICs and Speaker Cables that came with it.

The ICs are Synergistic Research, that were $300/pr when new in the 90s, and the speaker cables are also Synergistic Research and are 14' long which cost the original owner about $1400.

 

Hosa Technology MCL-103 XLR (3 ft.) @ $12.58/each. They do a fine job of transferring the input signal from the preamp to the power amp and the overall sound is definitely satisfactory.

Source: HP dc7600 Small Form Factor PC
Player: Winamp 2.95 with 250+ band Equalizer v1.62 for Winamp by Nevi
DAC: Audioquest DragonFly v1.2
Preamplifier: B&K Components, Inc. PT5
Amplifier: B&K Components, Inc. ST125.2
Speakers: KLH 9250B

 

Bought some 1 meter DiMarzio interconnects from a SMAC member for 25 USD each - that is all I use now. DiMarzio makes professional cables so this is not a stretch for them at all.

 

The rest of my cables in other systems, ICs, would be an average of $50 / pair. I have several different Tara Labs ICs ranging from $40 to $90 /pr. Several sets of AudioQuest Sidewinder 3m ICs, and 1 set of Groneberg ICs (from Germany) I bought with my Stratos Amp which are awesome for toning down a bright system and stabilizing the bass nicely.

 

Wow, I fell right into the largest group. Guess it pays to be cheap.

 

Big fan of the Mogami line. Their middle grade cables are inexpensive and built quite well.



http://www.performanceaudio.com/item/mogami-3603/10731/

(PURISTS - AVERT YOUR EYES!)

In my case, super premium cables are NOT an option ... even the inexpensive varieties are a good chunk of change when you're talking dozens of pairs.

 

I was thinking, is this per interconnect or for all the interconnects on the system?

 

^^^^ The question was Average cost of cables in your system

 

Fair enough,
That's the way i took it, i just wasn't sure. Thanks

 

I get mine at Rent-A-Center.

 

There's no shortage of good, inexpensive ICs & other cables too.

 

I use whatever is decent I can find at Goodwill. New price averages $15-40. My price - $1.99.

 

Shi.....

I got mine from eBay cause I'm not going to pay full price ! My wife would have killed me if I even spent a hundred, maybe that's why I'm divorced !

 

Even at $10 a pair, I've still got almost $500 invested ...