Survey Time! What do you use in your system?

[mmiles]

Once again I dare to tread on thin ice on the ever contraversial topic of cables.

The purpose of this survey is not to establish the benefit of exotic cables vs. Home Depot lamp cord, Radio Shack or homebrew creations nor is it my purpose to discuss the scientific principles of design. No none of that is necessary unless of course you feel compelled to do so. All I am looking for is what you use on your system.

Simple right? Well I hope so. The catagories are: speaker wire / component video / s-video and digital audio (coax or toslink). Brand name is fine but model and or product series would be very helpful as well.

Happy Holidays,

Mike

[toddvj]

I use :

Speaker Cables : Monster Cable Z-2 Biwire for the fronts and Center Channel, Z-1 for rears, Z-Bass for Front Subs, and Interlink 400 Audio Cables for the Rear Subs. I also use Monster Terminations for all speakers, Banana Plugs at the Receiver end, Spades at the Speaker end.

Video Cables : Monster Z300 Component Video cables for Two Hi-Def boxes, and DVD Player plus a set for switching, through my receiver, the Hi-Def Boxes. Monster Z-series (not sure of #) S-Video Cable, and 3 other Monster S-Video (some Video 2, some Video 3).

Digital Audio Cables : Monster Datalink Digital Coax from DVD and One HD Box, Lightspeed (cheapest) for other HD box, and Tivo.

Not Requested but I also have : Two sets of Monster Z200 Audio Cables for DVD audio (still have Cheapies for the Rears), Monster Standard Audio Cables for the CD player (in a closet far away, too expensive to get the good ones), and some other mid-quality Monster Audio cables for the analog outs on Sat boxes, VCR.

Power : Monster Power HTS-5000.

[erdric]

I use mostly Monster Cable except for component from the DVD player and video from my laserdisc player.

DVD player:

MC lightspeed 100 optical

Acoustic Research composite audio

Custom made Canare component video from Vince Maskeeper at HTF. He does amazing custom cables for half the cost of the MC version. I just got them from him and you wouldn't believe the quality. If you ever need high quality custom cable for a great price check out this website:

http://cables.musicianassist.com

He does batch orders so you can't just order and expect immediate delivery. It's very much worth the wait though. I can't recommend them highly enough. I'll post some pictures when I get home. He does all types of cables, speaker wire, and digital interconnects.

Laserdisc player:

MC Interlink 300 Mk II audio interconnects

MC Interlink Digital IDL-100 coaxial audio

Custom Canare composite video from Vince

Subwoofer:

MC Interlink 201 SW

Speakers:

12ga Cambridge Soundworks wire

[prodj101]

I have all original monster cable 12 gauge for speakers, monsterbass 400 for sub, and monster for the rest of the stuff. I'm really regreting getting it though. while it looks cool, it doens't make enough of a difference and the 400 dolalrrs I've spent on cable could have gone towards something better. like khorns or lascala's.

[minn_male42]

speaker wire: 12 gauge install style for mains and center

14 gauge for surrounds

interconnects: phoenix gold 900 series for entire system

not very fancy but very good sound.....

[danbry39]

My sub and component cables are made by Rhino.

The audio interconnects between pre-pro and power amp are AR.

The rest are Signal Cable. (He's an independent custom maker, but makes fantastic stuff for a very reasonable price. I first learned of him when shopping for cables over at Audiogon. The guy has had 150 rate him and all have given him Audiogon's highest rating.) My next step is to replace my AR's with his interconnects.

[TheEAR]

No time to list it all but here...

Monster Sigma speaker wire,Monster M series M2.4B(seven times,15ft),Monster Z Reference(who's reference LOL),Monster M1000 digital 1m,Monster M1000 1m interconects,Monster Z Bass...and too mnay Monster to name

Now...

Cardas Golden Cross speaker wire,Golden Cross interconects 1m

And...

UltraLink ...forgot the models...well interconects and some speaker wire

And that is not all...

Tributairies ,dont remember all interconects from low end to the best they make.Sorry to lazy to verify the models

What...

MIT Z speaker wires,have to check the model,used on Spendor FL10...the fat one with bricks. LOL

And I am off to work...give you a detailed description after work.

Happy holidays to all Klipschers

[chuckears]

I use a 25-year-old pair of battery-jump cables between my preamp and amp; for my other component hook-ups, I use a single bare copper strand (being careful not to let them touch!); my speaker cables are a patchwork of wiring ripped from the insides of my kid's various broken electronic toys; my power cords were cut from a few broken clock radios...

Why would you need anything better? Everyone with any common sense knows that cables make absolutely no difference, right?

[Colin]

Although I started with extra thick zip cord, shortly after Robert Fulton encouraged Ralph Karsten of Atma-sphere OTL amplifiers to try it, I graduated to Monster cable, despite my parents ridicule at being ripped off by him. Today I alternate between Radio Shack and Monster, completely for the convenience sake of buying both and returning one. I select which ever one sounds better. The newer Monster cable did sound slightly better, BTW, than the older stuff. A one, on a scale of ten. The Radio Shack optical cable sounded better on my DAC Services not as dark. The Monster Silver interconnects are better on my Bottlehead 2A3 Paramours lighter, slightly more detail. Certainly worth half a hundred, not worth megabucks. A nice, easy improvement compared to other more strenuous and expensive improvements.