Budget RCA interconnects

agw_01 · 6 Jan 2016 at 13:52

Hi guys,

I've started baby proofing my living room which means my B&W 603s and LCR60 have gone into storage and 601s returned as fronts (although away from little hands).

As I'm back to a stereo setup, I've taken the opportunity to 'upgrade' from my trusty Yamaha DSP AX620 and have bought myself a NAD C352, having wanted a C350 for as long as I've owned my 601s.

Anyway, losing the Yamaha and its digital inputs means I need to look at some new interconnects for my sources and was wondering if there were any popular favorites to consider. I already have a Mark Grant interconnect to use between one of the sources but looking around, they don't seem to focus on that end of the market anymore.

I'd be looking to spend around £20/m and will need 2 pairs, one from a soundcard (M-Audio 2496) and the other from a BD player. I'll just find any old POS for the Sky box

Also, is it worth replacing the pre/power jumpers for short length decent jumper cables?

Thanks.

agw_01 · 6 Jan 2016 at 23:14

Cambridge Audio?

I used to have some CA Atlantic's which seemed nicely built but was wondering if it would be worth considering anything else?

How do the QED Graphites perform?

agw_01 · 7 Jan 2016 at 11:49

Thanks lucid, that's really interesting to know... especially about the shielding.

I'll have a look on AVF but nothing on ebay unfortunately. I have even though about getting myself some Canare cable and making my own.

agw_01 · 9 Jan 2016 at 16:33

Picked the NAD up yesterday and got it wired up and working today. Very very happy with it, much more detail and seperation than the Yamaha. Lots of power and drives the 601s very well with more weight in the lower end. It's really made the speakers come alive... I'm well impressed (which was to be expected, the Yamaha sounded great for movies but music was never its strong point).

lucid, very kind of you to offer me some cable. I've searched for each of the cables and the VD Red Series Plasma, is that more for video applications than audio? Do cables for different purposes have different resistance that could affect the end result if used incorrectly?

Thanks.

agw_01 · 13 Jan 2016 at 23:45

Excellent post, very informative. Thanks lucid. I've seen plenty of 75ohm cables around but always presumed it was for video, as you say audio cables don't really conform to a standard so its not something you see advertised against your typical 'upgraded' cable... Or at least I've not noticed it in general.

I've been having a look around and having studied my Mark Grant cable a bit more, its the LV61S with C4A connectors. I'm sure you're familiar with them.

Having this info, I've found some of the same spec on eBay from the US. 30cm pre-terminated cable for ~£15 would make nice jumpers for the amp... What's the likelihood it's shoddy cable in a thick sleeve, lol

I gather that crimping is better than soldering when it comes to RCAs? When doing electrical work in my car/PCs, I've always been one to solder presuming it was the better method. Interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for the advice so far, very interesting.

agw_01 · 28 Dec 2017 at 14:08

Time to revisit this one seeing as how I didn't get much further at the time, a new baby will do that to you!

@lucid, thanks again for the time taken to post such useful information. I'm not a cable connoisseur by any means but what you say is understandable and makes sense. From what I can gather, 75ohm co-ax is fine for the majority of video and audio applications unless over long distances.

I'd be looking to make a mixture of stereo analogue audio, digital co-ax and some short bridging cables to use for my NAD and Schiit stack. I've seen reflection and refraction mentioned when talking about really short cables, is this actually much of an issue and is there a minimum recommended cable length? Max length of the interconnects will probably be about 2m.

I've been comparing the Belden 1694A, 1505F and Canare LV-61S and they all seem much of a muchness spec wise, apart from the 1694A being RG6. Should I be using RG59? I guess all quality 75ohm cable will have similar specifications so it just comes down to price/preference?

You mentioned the Canare RCAP and I agree, they are pretty chunky. I've been looking at some compression fittings (namely ICM FS59/FS6). They look easier to work with than the RCAPs.