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Budget interconnects...?

I tend to be cheap, but I have had good luck finding pretty good cables at Goodwill, or other thrift stores. Often there is a big bin of various mixed cables. If you're willing to sort through some crap, you can find some good stuff. I just recently found a new in package set of Radio Shack interconnects that seem quite well made. I think they were 99 cents.
 
RickeyM said:
Those cables look to have some pretty decent connectors. In many cases that's more important that the wire used.
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Yes... the connectors are important. I'm going to look at a lot of what a seller calls "adaptor cables" that were apparently used to go between different sources in a stereo shop. Very cheap and if the cable parts and the connectors seem to be of good quality than I can solder my own cables and save lots of money. Not that I'm all that experienced with soldering but once I make a few of these I should be only way to figuring out how to best do this kind of stuff. Worst case scenario, I completely fail, then I can go back to cable shopping.... though it isn't as if any of this is any kind of super pressing concern.
 
I use Monoprice and a couple custom cables I've made. Starting fresh, I'd probably just call the guys at Blue Jeans.
 
RickeyM said:
Those cables look to have some pretty decent connectors. In many cases that's more important that the wire used.
Click to expand...

I see RS, Vampire, and
Aaron Hayman said:
Yes... the connectors are important. I'm going to look at a lot of what a seller calls "adaptor cables" that were apparently used to go between different sources in a stereo shop. Very cheap and if the cable parts and the connectors seem to be of good quality than I can solder my own cables and save lots of money. Not that I'm all that experienced with soldering but once I make a few of these I should be only way to figuring out how to best do this kind of stuff. Worst case scenario, I completely fail, then I can go back to cable shopping.... though it isn't as if any of this is any kind of super pressing concern.
Click to expand...
Aaron Hayman said:
Yes... the connectors are important. I'm going to look at a lot of what a seller calls "adaptor cables" that were apparently used to go between different sources in a stereo shop. Very cheap and if the cable parts and the connectors seem to be of good quality than I can solder my own cables and save lots of money. Not that I'm all that experienced with soldering but once I make a few of these I should be only way to figuring out how to best do this kind of stuff. Worst case scenario, I completely fail, then I can go back to cable shopping.... though it isn't as if any of this is any kind of super pressing concern.
Click to expand...

Picture #5 shows cables that I think might be good...can't remember the name of the maker.
JMO grab the bunch if indeed it is the whole bunch as shown.
 
I use Blue Jeans LC-1 interconnect cables exclusively in my system. I like the connectors, tho some might find them too long for a given situation. I just wanted all of my cables to match, and BJC had the quality I was looking for at a competitive price to other options I was looking at. I also use the BJC Ten White speaker cables with the ultrasonically welded connectors.

The AudioQuest Evergreens would be another good choice.
 
I like KabelDirekt. Available on Amazon. Their basic RCA cable has low capacitance making it a good choice for turntables with carts that are affected by capacitance.
 
If you can solder, Mogami 4-conductor microphone cable and the connectors of your choosing make some mighty fine cables in the exact lengths you require.

That's what I did before I moved to Morrow cables in my system.
 
Nixxuz said:
Seismic makes decent cable for sure. Dunno about their other stuff, but I'm using some of the 1' RCA's myself.
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Very flexible! Monoprice cables at this length (1.5') were too stiff at this short length.
Shot of class D system I was running for a while and current headphone DAC and amp:
aiyima fx audio minidsp on stand wiring.jpg schiit stack red cables.jpg
 
lots of good budget level wires. i never spend more than $100 for a pair. that allows for audioquest, pangaea, cardas, kimber, blue jeans and many others.

i won a pair of acoustic zen silver wires at an audio society raffle once and i must say, they are better than any that i have had my hands on.
 
mprince said:
If you can solder, Mogami 4-conductor microphone cable and the connectors of your choosing make some mighty fine cables in the exact lengths you require.

That's what I did before I moved to Morrow cables in my system.
Click to expand...


^^^^ This ^^^^

Get yourself some Neutrik "Profi" connectors. They're spring loaded so the ground always touches first and releases last.

You can get the wires in different colors..... so one color for CD player, another for DVD player, another color for...... helps keep things organized.

When I did things in my basement I had a bunch of extras and gave them away.

Oh, and my opinion, I also tried Canare and as good as it may be, I found the woven sheath to be more frustrating than not. That alone knocks them down a bit. The Mogami is wound verses woven.
 
mprince said:
If you can solder, Mogami 4-conductor microphone cable and the connectors of your choosing make some mighty fine cables in the exact lengths you require.

That's what I did before I moved to Morrow cables in my system.
Click to expand...

I am also rolling my own with Mogami but I am using W2965 with Switchcraft 3502a RCAs (for really vintage stuff, the Switchcrafts are very small diameter). The W2965 was one of the lower capacitance coaxes I could find, and it is significantly smaller and limper than the BJC cable (not running down BJC at all, I like their philosophy, and LC-1 is in fact lower capacitance per foot than even the W2965)

You probably can't find them anymore but a couple years ago Parts Express was blowing out some AR branded component video cables for next to nothing so most of my stuff with normally spaced jacks is hooked up with those, with the ends relabeled for stereo use.

Mogami also makes some nice premade unbalanced audio cables using W2965 stock, they are the WR-xx series, but you have to look around to find them. The molded on connectors are not significantly larger than the Switchcrafts. WR-03 is a 3 foot cable, WR-06 is a 6 foot, etc.

When I'm making my own, I also only make them as long as necessary. Here's how I look at it - my 18" homemade cable probably has less overall capacitance than a 1m higher end cable. So I do a lot of 18" for interconnects between components as that seems to be a good size and whatever length is needed from preamp to power amp. plus it makes everything look neater than having big loops of cable behind the system, although I am currently guilty of that at least in the dining room as I'm running out of cables and haven't had a chance to make up any more lately.
 
I actually have a bag of wire and connectors that I bought for $10 on CL. It's all stuff with different connectors on each end of the wires as it was all used for some sort of local stereo gear manufacturer (that went out of business) as adaptor cables. There's probably enough decent wire and RCA ends in the that stock to make a few interconnects, but now that I have that I'm starting to like the idea of going the easy route with pre-made cables (I realize my total laziness/lameness as I say such a thing!).

I found these, which seem to be very well reviewed and of course the price is good. They look sturdier, with thicker wire, better shielding, more solid looking connectors, gold plated ends, than other stuff near their price. They would seem to represent a definite improvement over the flimsy generic cables that I have currently. I wonder what folks opinions here on them are...? I'll also say that although I'm going for lower budget, I would easily be willing to spend twice what these things cost, if I knew that I was getting something much better.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBVMJOV/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A21E2GQRWA2Y0Y&psc=1
 
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