What process do you use to purchase cables?


I’m in the process of updating my gear and thinking about what to do for updated cables. Every time I think about it, my head spins as there are so many different cable options & companies. I struggle to even start the process.

I don’t care if it’s speaker cables, interconnects or power cords – Just explain what you typically do to nail down your purchase.

FYI – my past “process” was to simply purchase whatever I found to be the most affordable options recommended by folks on this board. For that reason, I’m currently using Canare 4S11 speaker cables, Mogami Gold interconnects, and Pangea power cords.

Since I’m planning to push my component updates to significantly higher quality gear, I don’t want to fall short on the cable side. If you have a process, let’s hear it! Thanks


dfairc777a

Showing 3 responses by raysmtb1

There’s no need for any of this confusion. Buy a reasonably priced well constructed set of cables and a preamp that has tone controls. Our forefathers who designed equipment in the past recognized I need to be able to adjust what we listen to because rooms and equipment sounded different. It was impossible to build something that fit every situation. So one day somebody said, how about tone controls? Why nobody talks about them anymore is beside me. Now everybody uses power cords, interconnects and speaker wire as tone controls.The only people that the lack of tone controls serves is the dealers and manufactures that make the stuff. They are slowly winning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_control_circuit

here’s just a little excerpt from the above link. It sounds like they’re talking about cables. It looks like a cable is just a passive tone control.


In their most basic form, tone control circuits attenuate the high or low frequencies of the signal. This is called treble or bass "cut". The simplest tone control circuits are passive circuitswhich utilize only resistors and capacitors or inductors. They rely on the property of capacitive reactance or inductive reactance to inhibit or enhance an AC signal, in a frequency-dependent manner. Active tone controls may also amplify or "boost" certain frequencies. More elaborate tone control circuits can boost or attenuate the middle range of frequencies.

The simplest tone control is a single knob that when turned in one direction enhances treble frequencies and the other direction enhances bass frequencies. This was the first type of tone control, typically found on radios and record players from the 1930s to the 1970s.


If I have 3’ interconnects that make my system sound nice and warm….if I reorder a 9’ set of the same model does that mean my system will sound 3 times as warm?