What SACD/DVD-Audio Cables should I use?

[dpwicz]

I just got a SACD/DVD Audio DVD player, and I am wonder what type of analog audio cables to use? I'm not concerned about the price, and the player is right on top of my receiver.

[BGLeduc]

If you have about 10 years to spare, do a search for the topic of "cables".

Seriously, this is the biggest can of worms in audio.

My advice is just buy something with decent build quality, and don't spend more than radio shack money. Lots of users are happy with RS, AR, Dayton Brand.....very reasonable in price and good build quality.

Good luck and prepare for lots and lots of suggestions, but keep your hands on your wallet...lots of charlatans in the cable business I am afraid.

BGL

[Billped]

Originally posted by dpwicz
I just got a Pioneer DV-578 SACD/DVD Audio DVD player, and I am wonder what type of analog audio cables to use? I'm not concerned about the price, and the player is right on top of my receiver.

If you bought the 578, then you clearly are concerned about price. I just bought the same unit and spent about $40 on cables. Spending as much or more on cables as for the player itself doesn't make sense.


Bill

[grrr223]

I just bought the 578 also, and I love it for the money, it's worth every penny. I got it for $129 from Tweeter.

I just ordered the Monster SACD/DVD-Audio cables. MSRP is $150, but you can do a search on pricegrabber.com and get them for a lot less.

Yes, I know I just spent almost as much on the cables as I did on the player, but it's worth it because the cables will still be useful as I upgrade components.

Build quality is one of the most important things at these price points, and quite honestly, Monster cables, even the low end ones are usually worth the money. Just make sure you do a search on pricegrabber or something, places like best buy and circuit city make a lot of money by sellign cables for very high prices. Get a good deal on some monster cables and you will be very happy.

[TauRus]

Originally posted by grrr223
Build quality is one of the most important things at these price points, and quite honestly, Monster cables, even the low end ones are usually worth the money. Just make sure you do a search on pricegrabber or something, places like best buy and circuit city make a lot of money by sellign cables for very high prices. Get a good deal on some monster cables and you will be very happy.
Unfortunately, Monster cable high price does not translate into great build quality (with the exception of their higher end Z series IMO). I have personally witnessed badly soldered terminations on Monster cables. Also some of their connectors are designed in less than optimal way. You should be able to get at least equal or much better build quality for a lot less. There are a few online brands like BlueJeans or MrCable that offer great cable solutions.

[HiDef Bob]

My suggestion is the Harmonic Technology Rainbow.

[CCarncross]

You didnt mention what receiver you have, but your DVD player should not be on top of your receiver with pretty much any conventional receiver. In fact NOTHING should be on top of your receiver...

That said, 3 gold stereo RCA patch cables work perfectly fine.

[grrr223]

I am speaking from my own experience, that's it. I have been very happy with all of the Monster Cables I have ever owned.

Buy them online, get a good price, or even better, try e-bay. They're not THAT more expensive than other cables, at least you know what you're getting. But since there are about 100 different brands of cables, half of which are really bad, to me it just comes down to how much is your time worth?

You can spend $X on the Monster cables, or spend $10 less on some brand you've never heard of, because honestly, other than monster, most people havent' heard of ANY of them, and risk getting something that's not that great, and then where are you, back to square one. That's all I'm saying.

Monster is by no means the best, and certainly not always the best bang for the buck, but they're a decent value to have the piece of mind that your cables aren't holding you back from experiencing what your system has to offer without auditioning 10 different pairs of cables. I'd rather just spend that time listening to music or watching movies.

[kdog044]

I saw these mentioned in a previous thread. I like the fact of having one color coded set instead of multiple red and white cables but obviously the latter is more cost effective.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/6channel/index.htm

[grrr223]

Wow, those look great! I wish I had seen them last night before I ordered the Monster ones.

Is that company good? I've not really heard of them before.

I agree that having a set is better than a bunch of cables. I was just happy that the Monster ones are at least labeled FL, FR, RL, RR, C, SW or something like that instead of say 3 pairs of identical stereo cables.

I'd love to hear how these perform. I'm still in the market for Component video and Coax cables.

[scottlr]

What CCarncross said - get the dvd player off the top of your receiver. If you MUST stack components, put the receiver on top. Put some cheap wood pucks from home depot under the receiver feet to create some space and get some isolation.

[ender21]

I like Outlaw Audio's interconnects.

http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/cables_about.html

$90 for 3-pair with screw-tightening connectors. At 0.5 meter length, it keeps things short and sweet between my DVD player and processor.

Rick

[Paul Bigelow]

Have fun with this thread and the merits of, um, "premium" cables:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=496077

Paul