This is my first system. I'm on a budget and have purchased all the equipment used. I would appreciate any advice on all the required cables. All I have presently is the OEM power cords. The parasound equipment has XLR interconnects. So far all I have looked at were from Signal Cable because they appear to be in budget.
I am not sure what your budget is, I am a big fan of Synergistic Research. they do have cables for just about any budget and also have great support when it comes to upgrading.
i would look at stereovox they have cabales for all budgets. i have there top of the line interconnects which are probably out of your budget but they also have excellent cables for all budgets. i could not fit there top of the line speaker cables into my budget. so i am using there firebird speaker cables and for the price it will be hard to find something better
I use Audioquest Diamondback interconnects and Type 4 Speaker Cable (http://audioquest.com/). These were moderately priced and well built cables, but they have recently increased their prices significantly, and I think competition from companies like Signal and those listed above are providing products of equal performance at lower cost.
Your orginal thought on Signal is a very good start, he makes good stuff, you might also check out Element cable as well, excellent cables for great prices. Kens suggestion of Synergistic Research is a great suggestion.
A great place to start is the auction and classified section here on audiogon, you can get some great cables for good prices. Since you are first starting out don't dump to much money into cables, just get your system up and running with good decent cables and enjoy it for awhile!
Benn listening to the M-20s for a few weeks now. They are exceptional monitors. I'm using inexpensive DH labs cables, shotgun Silver Sonic T-14 speaker cable and the very inexpensive Silver Sonic BL IIs. Nice cable for the $.
Wow! I really appreciate all the helpful responses. Now I will compare price, quality and resulting sound each of the possibilities offer. I never realized different cables would produce different sound qualities. Again, many thanks to all.
I highly recommend you check out bluejeanscable.com XLR interconnects. They use very good connectors(Neutric) and pretty good quality wire. They compared very nicely to a much more expensive Audience AU24 XLR interconnects in my system. I am actually using a relatively long run(11ft) of bluejeans RCAs now from phono stage to my preamp with very good results and it blends fine with my other much more expensive cables. As far as speaker cables, I would recommend, if you go with XLR interconnects, to invest most in a good speaker cable. Some sp. cables to consider are lower end Synergistic Research, Purist Audio(Meauseus), even Monster M2.4. Also, the word is Anti-Cables are good, but I never tried, so no opinion on that brand. As far as power cords, put the best one on the source component and if this has to be the only power cord you can buy now, buy the best one you can afford.
If you listen to rock, blues, or jazz, I can also recommend Blue Jeans cables for your first system. What they currently list on their website as their favorite balanced and single-ended ICs are good sonically, well made, and affordably priced cables. I am not going to say that they are as good as anything I have used, but that they are good enough to get the jest of and sort out most systems and enjoy music playback, so they make sense for a first system.
After that, it can get a little messy and confusing with various cables having various colorations, especially if you are [know it or not] trying to compensate for component or room colorations. Build a good foundation (system and room) that pleases you when listening to music, then drive yourself crazy with cables.
Cable recommendations are very difficult to make as each system is different and what works for one system does not necessarily mean it will work in another system, additionally everyone has there own tastes as to what sounds best to them. Each of these recommendations is very sincere and I am sure it works fine within there systems and they are quite happy. I have always found that the MIT cables have had a particular synergy with what ever system I have owned, It is due to these cables having network boxes which enable you to match the impedances of your electronics, as well as addressing the additional interactions of your electronics and speakers, enabling you to extract the optimum performance your electronics and speakers are capable of. This matching can make MORE of a difference than changing other pieces of electronics. I suggest you find a dealer who will let you AUDITION the MIT cables within your price range in YOUR system, I am pretty sure you will be quite impressed and your search should be over.
I would make your own cables with Woods Yard Master Patio Cord from Wal-Mart $$$7.44 6moons.com did a review on these diy cables here..... http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html
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