I need help choosing interconnects/wires


I have a CJ Sonograph CD player, a CJ PV-8 preamp, Golden Tube Audio SE-40 amp on the top end, and a Pioneer Spec 4 anp on the low end. I'm driving a pair of Snell A-3's. I am looking for help choosing interconnects and speaker wires. I want to go with used to keep costs down but don't know where to start. I have just put this system together and am using Geortz and Monster interconnects and straight wire speaker wire borrowed from a friend for now.
Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Rick
richardzerambo
Richard- Checkout Coincident Speaker Technology cables, both IC and speaker cables. Very good and very affordable. Just MHO. Goodluck.
go to ebay and do a search for cableplex. These cables are custom made and are awsome. I tried a pair of the Basic against Kimber Hero's and they out-performed them hands down at 1/5 of the price.
One word....Interlinkhouse.com.... Sergui has provided me with some of the finest, moderately priced IC's I've ever heard! There is a lot of negative reviews in the forums regarding his stuff. Most of these are from folks using bottom of the line models. I do agree with them, his lower cost lines aren't that great ( but are cheap). I just upgraded to M7's from CWS. HUGE improvement, well worth the money. Sometimes he auctions cables on audiogon or ebay under the trade name Stealth. Try the cross-wrapped silver, they are reasonable and sound great. The ETS series is too bright for my liking. Enjoy!
Try www.homegrownaudio.com for the interconnects. Used Kimber 8tc for the speaker cables. For other ideas: www.audioasylum.com--cables.
Since no one has yet suggested The Cable Company (www.fatwyre.com) I will. They carry many of the well-known brands suchs as AudioQuest, Tara Labs, JPS, MIT, and Synergistic Research. You can borrow cables from their library and try them out in your system before you buy. Yes, they do charge a deposit - but it may be used toward a future purchase. If you don't know where to start send them an email with your system specifics and they'll make suggestions. I would also second the recommendation to try www.homegrownaudio.com as they have a 30-day money back return policy. Mapleshade (www.mapleshaderecords) has a similar policy. Both have cables at such reasonable prices buying used won't be necessary.
Gents, I have tried the mapleshade, homegrown audion lace etc. I find that the build quality, despite best efforts, is far inferior to stealth ( interlinkhouse.com) cables. I used to be one of the folks that thought IC cables were overpriced and didn't mean that much to the system. Suffice it to say that the girlfriend ( who pays all my bills) even agreed that the IC's from Sergui were WELL worth the money. Face it gents, chicks freak about the price of high-end audio gear. Mine was one of them, UNTIL she heard the HUGE improvement they made. Now she even understands why I NEED A WADIA 860! Now rather than flipping out over the cost of the 860....she is bugeting money for it! For my money, I would leave Kimber (way overpriced) and homegrownaudio( no shielding etc.) and spend the extra few bucks for his stuff. Bitching over a $50.00 diference in a set of IC's is ludicris. Pay the money, get some nice stuff, and enjoy your tunes. If you happen to be one of the lucky ones who CAN'T hear the difference, save your cash. I look at cables as I look at fine wine. Sure both the 1982 and 1961 Haut Brion are great bottles of wine, BUT for those in the know, the difference is impossible to ignore. If you are unappreciating of the differences you should go with the cheapest cables you can find that make a difference TO YOU. UNLESS you think that you may be ready for, and have your tastes tuned enough for the $4.000.00+ difference between the 1982 and the 1961 save your cash. Spending megabucks unnecessarily, on names like Kimber, Cradas will fail to enlarge your penis. Also cuuting corners by using the mapleshade or homegrown audio IC's will leave you dissatisfied. TRUE mapleshade and homegrown audio cable do sound better than anything I had previously. BUT>>>When I compare Sergui's cables to others I get MUCH MMORE bang for the buck! I would avoid his ETS line though! By the way, anyone who has well-kept bottles of HB 1961,1982,1987 ( an unappreciated year which may have already peaked depending on storage conditions) email me! :-) Later
ANALYSIS PLUS.great performing cable with both solid state or tubes.i've been down the high end cable road,98% of the
highend cable manufacturers are full of sh--,save yourself a lot of money and dissapointment,buy used cable,if you dont't
like it you could sell it and not loose your shirt.let your ears be the judge.good luck.
I will 3rd Homegrown Audio and 2nd Mapleshade and both have a 30 day return policy. I use both in my system (Homegrown analog and Mapleshade digital IC's) and they have worked well with SS and tube amplification. The Mapleshades are very fragile due to the nature of their design (so just don't jerk them around) and the Homegrown's are at least the build quality of similar Kimbers. I have zero complaints in regard to build quality and they both sound balanced, detailed and above all musical in my sytem.
Excellent build quality and though not cheap, way less expensive than comparable ICs from Kimber, Nordost et al. Do let them burn in for a LONG time. Cable is sytem dependent, but you have some nice stuff - DO NOT buy cheap cable or you will never hear what your gear is capable of. I have had the Coincident with C-J gear, nice match. E-mail me if you would like a connection to purchase at discount.
I would like to thank you all for your help and suggestions. I can see that I have a long road ahead of me trying different cables to find out which works best in my system but now at least I know which direction to take. Again, Thank You.