EDIT "Are quality cables really that important?"

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I am looking at buying new cables and am not sure if the benefits are really that good. Are quality cables and connectors for your set up really that important? The fact that a set up will have gold connectors and more expensive cabling. Is there anyone that has upgraded their system with new cabling like this? Did u notice a significant difference in audio quality? What options did u go for and how much did it cost?

Just trying to get an idea for a really good set up for myself so i wont have to buy again for years.

Thanks.

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With my setup im running upgraded phono cables from my mixer to amplifier etc, aswell as upgraded speaker cables.

Speaker cables will make a fair bit of difference (well they did on my speakers!) if you buy half decent ones compared to the shabby thin ones that are commonly used. Also, if you can bi-wire your speakers, do it!

I have a couple of these:

http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=CAMB-PACIFIC

I have the older ones which are yellow and deliver a fuller sound IMO - the difference wont make you want to run down the road naked, but they do sound better than standard red/white phonos. Plus my yellow cables looks the bees knees lol!

Overall, IMO i wouldnt say they are 100% needed in order to have a good setup, but then again every little helps I suppose. If i had to change one set of cabling before anything, it would be speaker cables as no matter how good you interconnects/phonos sound, if you speaker cables deliver a poo sound already then changing the phonos wont have much of an effect.

Hope this helps!

oh and one more tip, if you have a hi-fi specialist near you, go and listen to different cabling for yourself - many places now have demo centres in store and they are definately worth checking out

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It depends on how long your cables are really. If your speakers are a good distance (many metres) from your amp then it will make a difference, but with 1-2 metres of cable it won't make any difference at all whether you use average or high quality cable.

I'd never consider paying £30 for a 1m cable thats just ridiculous to me. At 1m, you're not going to tell the difference between that and you can get a decent quality one for a tenner - you might as well just give me the extra £20

I do agree with CC that if your speakers and amp are bi-wireable then you should do it. That does make a difference.

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i agree....decent cables are pretty important. as the saying goes...your kit is only as good as the weekest link. An example would be the mixer i bought last year. It has some of the best microphone preamps available in a mixing desk of that price and when i used my old macro xlr cable it wasnt that impressive. I bought new cabling for the system and some professional xlr microphone cables and the difference is incredible. For me the deciding question was ...whats the point in buying a top class mixer and monitors when the cabling i was using wasn't eliminating the 'air'. thus the monitors and mixer were rendered useless with shit cables!!!

i get all my cabling from

http://www.soundstable.co.uk/

they have a link to their ebay shop from their homepage. i have been highly impressed with the quality of cables and their service. they do already made cables or can make them to your specification and only use professiobnal standard Nuetrik connectors and Van Damne cables, both recognised as some of the best there are.

hope thats of some help

BIg UP CQB

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gav must have posted roughly the same time as me!!! i agree gav but the one difference ive noticed with upgrading cables is that the signal is stronger and louder through higher quality cabling.its probably neglegable on some cables but as i explained with the xlr cabling, the diffenerence in sound quality was massive and that was only over a distance of 3m cables.

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Yeah over a distance of 3m you will need better ones, but my point was that over 1m just average will do.

A lot of manufacturers want your money for their overpriced cables and claim that they somewhow improve the signal quality with magic. As long as the connectors are ok then it will sound good.

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Here are a couple of articles on cables


http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/cables/speaker-cable-face-off-1

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/feb96/cables.html

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Nice one guys

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As a basic rule, Mono/Unbalanced cables are ineffective against Noise/Hum & the longer the cable the worse interferance becomes. Even if cables boasts wicked insulation & gold connectors.
Professional mixers have "Balanced" inputs & own all! They reduce interferance to "0" meaning you can have seriously longer cables without having to worry about interferance
In short, cables are just cables until they are balanced.

Peace..

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Depends on the rest of the setup too - not much point spending a bomb on cables to put a KAM DJ mixer thru to a Goodmans all in one hi-fi unit if you know what I mean.

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lol, very true
We get away with some of our PA being unbalanced & its fine,

Basic Rules

1. "The shorter the better"
2. Avoid running cables near AC power supplies (some mixers have 'em)
3. Try not to coil audio cables around power cables or around each other as this can greate a magnetic feild which manifests in Noise/Hum