Cable Quality Question

[Hammie]

So, I think I may be getting the XPA-5 for my birthday. Funny how the wife asked to see it on HER computer this time.

Anyway, if this becomes a reality, I will need to get some cables between my Denon and the new amp.

I've looked at the Monoprice ($25 for 5 three footers) and BlueJeans cables ($88 for a 3 foot 5.0 setup). My question is has anyone compared the construction between the two? Are the BJC ones that much better?

Also, what are some other cables I may want to look into for say less than $200 for a 5.0 three foot setup?

Should I get the Monoprice cables now, then get better quality XLR cables once I upgrade my Denon to a Pre/pro that has the XLR outputs? Do XLR even matter for short distances like three feet. I thought I read once that they are better for very long runs.

This may be starting to get into a couple thread topics in one post.

Anyway, any help/guidance would be appreciated.

[HAMP]

Sorry my question isn't related to what you are asking, but when is your Birthday?

[richteer]

Originally Posted by louhamilton

I've looked at the Monoprice ($25 for 5 three footers) and BlueJeans cables ($88 for a 3 foot 5.0 setup). My question is has anyone compared the construction between the two? Are the BJC ones that much better?

Early congrats on your new toy! :-)

My only experience with either brand is through forums, but both seem to have a good name when it comes to budget cables. What seems to be the best constructed and offers you a better argument for your cash. All being equal, I'd probably go for the BJC because they may be made better.

Assuming both have a money back guarantee, you might even order both, try them, and see which one you prefer.

Should I get the Monoprice cables now, then get better quality XLR cables once I upgrade my Denon to a Pre/pro that has the XLR outputs? Do XLR even matter for short distances like three feet. I thought I read once that they are better for very long runs.

The main reason to go for XLRs is noise suppression, so unless your house is subject to lots of RFI, XLRs may not be necessary from that point of view (especially over a short length). That being said, some gear that offers both types of hook up sounds better through one or the other, so again, your best bet would be to try it. Hurrah for 30-day satisfaction guarantees!

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by HAMP

Sorry my question isn't related to what you are asking, but when is your Birthday?

6 September... and cash is always an acceptable gift.

If anyone is open to funding the Lou Hamilton HT Project, I can send you my paypal account for donations.

Originally Posted by richteer

Early congrats on your new toy! :-)

My only experience with either brand is through forums, but both seem to have a good name when it comes to budget cables. What seems to be the best constructed and offers you a better argument for your cash. All being equal, I'd probably go for the BJC because they may be made better.

Assuming both have a money back guarantee, you might even order both, try them, and see which one you prefer.



The main reason to go for XLRs is noise suppression, so unless your house is subject to lots of RFI, XLRs may not be necessary from that point of view (especially over a short length). That being said, some gear that offers both types of hook up sounds better through one or the other, so again, your best bet would be to try it. Hurrah for 30-day satisfaction guarantees!

I appreciate your input. Getting both may be an option and see which one I like better from both a construction and sound POV.

[crazyBLUE]

Lou , Just for my .02 cent worth , I am using RG6U RCA cables from Monoprice ! They are A heavily shielded RCA cable that are great & def. helped the sound out from using cheap RCA;s . I am also running the same RCA from my ERC-1 to the receiver !

HAPPY EARLY B-DAY !!

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

Lou , Just for my .02 cent worth , I am using RG6U RCA cables from Monoprice ! They are A heavily shielded RCA cable that are great & def. helped the sound out from using cheap RCA;s . I am also running the same RCA from my ERC-1 to the receiver !

HAPPY EARLY B-DAY !!

I'm running a 35' version of the cable you have for my sub. Ergonomically, the Monoprice onces would match my sub. But, I've had an issue where the sub vibrated the connector off since it is just a screw together RCA connector.

That has been my biggest concern with the Monoprice cable.

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by louhamilton

I'm running a 35' version of the cable you have for my sub. Ergonomically, the Monoprice onces would match my sub. But, I've had an issue where the sub vibrated the connector off since it is just a screw together RCA connector.

That has been my biggest concern with the Monoprice cable.

Got that sub cranked up I see lou I just checked my subs and they are all still tight

[solarrdadd]

Lou, i use blujeanscable.com's BJC LC-1 Multi-Channel Audio Cables
for interconnects between my Onkyo 805 (soon to be the UMC-1) and my XPA-5 i like the quality, the build and the price. I purchased the 7.0 flavor and purchased the sub-woofer cable seperately because of the length. i use to use monster brand cables as interconnects and they weren't cheap ones either, in fact they cost more than the bjc brand. the monsters were good but i can tell you that the bjc are much better. i replaced the monster because one of the cables faulted and kept knocking the XPA-5 out on a fault so i did some research and through word of mouth recommendation i went with the bjc brand and i could not be happier. my sound is rich and full and it has accruacy. I'm sure this is part interconnect and part XPA-5. i do not own any monoprice interconnects so i can't tell you how they stand up to quality of build and functionality relative to the bjc. i can only tell you that i have not regreted one day since purchasing them.

as for you ask about the XLR's i've been made to understand that they are best if you are making really long runs (for interconnects i'd say more than 6' is long) and the other thing i heard is that they are good for you if you are experiencing speaker hum and none of the other solutions seem to be working. I don't know that you will get better sound with XLR's per say but i think that they are definite use type cables for specific situations. if that were not the case then they would be on every amp and every receiver if RCA type interconnects were "no good"

Hey, Lou, don't let folks bully you about spending money on cables, if that is what you want to do. i don't believe just because something is cheaper it's better nor do i believe that just because something is expensive it's better. What i do believe is that something that's better, is better and sometimes it's cheap and sometimes it goes towards the expensive. Make the choice on what you want for you and not what we want for you. We are just here to help you make a more informed choice.

who am i? I'm the guy who likes his speakers bi-wired and is proud of it! I don't hide from anyone when it comes to what I like. Of course i also own and love the Carpenters on SACD, so there ya go!

[naturephoto1]

Hi Lou,

I have no experience with either Monoprice or BJC. But, I suspect the BJC are better cables. I use both RCA and Balanced XLR cables depending upon the component and what the component can use. For running from my upgraded Onkyo 885 Pre/Pro to all of my upgraded Aragon Palladium 1K monoblock power amps (and also my upgraded Krell KAV-250a/3 power amp) I use Balanced XLR cables. But, my Aragon Palladium monoblock amps only accept Balanced connectors; they are also true Balanced Amps. For consistency and as recommended by Krell (they supposedly are about 6 dB louder) I use Balanced XLR cables as well; I believe the Krell amp is true Balanced as well.

The Balanced cables running to the amps vary in length from 1 to 2 meters. Length variation is not a problem because of the short distance, however, amp pairs have the same length cables to avoid issue. My front and side amps will use 1m, Center channel will use 1 1/2m length, and the rear 2 channels will use 2m length cables. The cable lengths vary due to the position and distance of the amps from the Pre/Pro (and what will also hopefully be a Pass Through upgraded Audio Research LS10 Preamp).

In addition, I use a special cable that is Balanced XLR coming out of the Onkyo 885 Pre/Pro that is terminated as an RCA connector to run into my Epik Conquest Subwoofer.

I like the locking mechanisms of the Balanced XLR cables and connectors.

Rich

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

Hi Lou,

I have no experience with either Monoprice or BJC. But, I suspect the BJC are better cables. I use both RCA and Balanced XLR cables depending upon the component and what the component can use. For running from my upgraded Onkyo 885 Pre/Pro to all of my upgraded Aragon Palladium 1K monoblock power amps (and also my upgraded Krell KAV-250a/3 power amp) I use Balanced XLR cables. But, my Aragon Palladium monoblock amps only accept Balanced connectors; they are also true Balanced Amps. For consistency and as recommended by Krell (they supposedly are about 6 dB louder) I use Balanced XLR cables as well; I believe the Krell amp is true Balanced as well.

The Balanced cables running to the amps vary in length from 1 to 2 meters. Length variation is not a problem because of the short distance, however, amp pairs have the same length cables to avoid issue. My front and side amps will use 1m, Center channel will use 1 1/2m length, and the rear 2 channels will use 2m length cables. The cable lengths vary due to the position and distance of the amps from the Pre/Pro (and what will also hopefully be a Pass Through upgraded Audio Research LS10 Preamp).

In addition, I use a special cable that is Balanced XLR coming out of the Onkyo 885 Pre/Pro that is terminated as an RCA connector to run into my Epik Conquest Subwoofer.

I like the locking mechanisms of the Balanced XLR cables and connectors.

Rich

Rich, I trust in everything you have said as true; I am a man of science. however, and i could be wrong so Lou feel free to jump in here at any time, almost all of your equpiment is what i would call "high end" and most of your equipment is not stock but has been modified or sometimes heavily modified/upgraded. given this, do you think that Lou's stock, unmodified equipment will benefit greatly from XLR over RCA as much as say your stuff has?

I guess that was almost a loaded question since i realized that Lou's equipment doesn't have XLR's right now but he mentioned he will upgrade in the future.

Well, Lou, i think depending on how far away the future is from your purchase of the XPA-5, be it days, weeks or months, once you buy the amp your gonna need to get signal to it somehow, so for right now RCA is your only option unless you upgrade the pre-amp section at the same time or before the amp gets to you.

rich, i'd still like some feed back on my question, do you think Lou or me would see that noticable difference using XLR cables on our stock gear? unlike most, you know i'm cool rich, i just want your opinion!

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

Rich, I trust in everything you have said as true; I am a man of science. however, and i could be wrong so Lou feel free to jump in here at any time, almost all of your equpiment is what i would call "high end" and most of your equipment is not stock but has been modified or sometimes heavily modified/upgraded. given this, do you think that Lou's stock, unmodified equipment will benefit greatly from XLR over RCA as much as say your stuff has?

I guess that was almost a loaded question since i realized that Lou's equipment doesn't have XLR's right now but he mentioned he will upgrade in the future.

Well, Lou, i think depending on how far away the future is from your purchase of the XPA-5, be it days, weeks or months, once you buy the amp your gonna need to get signal to it somehow, so for right now RCA is your only option unless you upgrade the pre-amp section at the same time or before the amp gets to you.

rich, i'd still like some feed back on my question, do you think Lou or me would see that noticable difference using XLR cables on our stock gear? unlike most, you know i'm cool rich, i just want your opinion!

Certainly if the equipment in question at both ends of the stream are true balanced, I would suspect that Balanced XLR cables and connectors would in all likelihood be of benefit and probably yield better results. In part that that will probably be due to the increase of approximately 6 dB in volume and the resulting lower noise floor. Obviously running longer cable runs would also benefit from the Balanced XLR cables. As I have also indicated, personally I like the locking mechanisms that are offered by Balanced connectors and Balanced cables. If space is an issue for loading cables onto a unit, RCA connectors/cables take less space and will frequently (but not always) cost less than like Balanced Cables.

As far as I know, my Teres Certus 450 Turntable control box, Teres Illius Tonearm, and Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp are True Balanced components, but they use RCA connectors and cables. If I insisted upon it I could have had them made with either Balanced connectors and cabling or a way to mate the 2 kinds of connectors. I get outstanding results with this cabling method, but will be getting much more expensive RCA cables to run from the Phono Preamp once I move, but they will be half the length that I am currently using.

Obviously generally you will need both ends of the sending and receiving component to have Balanced Connectors. An exception to the rule is the cable that I mentioned running from my Pre/Pro to the subwoofer and also a cable that I use at times running from my upgraded Denon 5910 to my upgraded Lavry DA10 DAC. When I next visit Dave Schulte to pick up my speakers hopefully in December, he will add and install Balanced XLR Neutrik silver connectors and parts to the my already upgraded Denon 5910 and the unit will be a true balanced component.

As Rich Teer has suggested, once Lou has the components, it may be worth comparing the performance of RCA and Balanced cables for his system. I suspect that whatever Lou will be using as the Pre/Pro source will have Balanced XLR connectors, but like my upgraded Onkyo 885 (I believe that it is not true balanced) it will not be a true balanced component unless he spends a lot of money on the unit. Both you and Lou should contact Emotiva though to find out if the amp (s) is true balanced or only has balanced connections and also find out which Emotiva thinks actually sounds better (RCA or XLR connectors and cables for the unit). Regardless of the connection type, I would be surprised if the equipment is good that you will not get very good or excellent performance with either type of cabling and connectors.

Rich

[solarrdadd]

thanks rich, preciate your answer. i am going to send emo an email asking just that question. though, for me at least for the for the future, for a while, i'll stick with my RCA and stock stuff unless i get my hands on a couple/bunch of money then we might be talking about something different!

[mdabb]

Go with Blue Jeans Cable. Far better quality materials are used in their cables than in Monoprice ones. How do I know ??? You can look up and research what products BJ's uses to make their cables. I have cut apart every single Monoprice cable I own to see what is inside, and it isn't much, sorry to say Also Monoprice cables aren't put together using the same craftsmanship as BJ uses to put together their cables.

As to why use "balanced connections" when you can ??? Read this link..........

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/...udio/index.htm

Also the sound quality benefits because of an extra ground.

I also agree that BJ's craftsmanship surpasses any of the more costly competition I have used to date !!! So far that is Monster, Audioquest, PS Audio, Nordost, Shunyata. Plus I'm sure I'm leaving something out. I have yet to achieve better results from another cable or I would be using it. The only expensive pair of interconnects that I still own but don't use are a pair of 1M Nordost Red Dawns IC's. Why don't I use them ??? To me they feel poorly terminated and the cables are highly susceptible to kinks and shorts. Plus they allow more interference to get in the signal affecting sound quality.

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by mdabb

Go with Blue Jeans Cable. Far better quality materials are used in their cables than in Monoprice ones. How do I know ??? You can look up and research what products BJ's uses to make their cables. I have cut apart every single Monoprice cable I own to see what is inside, and it isn't much, sorry to say Also Monoprice cables aren't put together using the same craftsmanship as BJ uses to put together their cables.

As to why use "balanced connections" when you can ??? Read this link..........

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/...udio/index.htm

Also the sound quality benefits because of an extra ground.

I also agree that BJ's craftsmanship surpasses any of the more costly competition I have used to date !!! So far that is Monster, Audioquest, PS Audio, Nordost, Shunyata. Plus I'm sure I'm leaving something out. I have yet to achieve better results from another cable or I would be using it. The only expensive pair of interconnects that I still own but don't use are a pair of 1M Nordost Red Dawns IC's. Why don't I use them ??? To me they feel poorly terminated and the cables are highly susceptible to kinks and shorts. Plus they allow more interference to get in the signal affecting sound quality.

Howdy, are your cables XLR or RCA?

[mdabb]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

Howdy, are your cables XLR or RCA?

Got both and are happy with both !!! I didn't want to believe it, but I can't and won't deny it !!!

The only reason I started using BJ's is because of a noise or hum issue that I couldn't resolve no matter what I tried or with big dollar cables. So after researching shielding and stuff I decided to try out BJ's cables. The problem was completely solved in 10 seconds !!! I then started replacing every single cable in my setup. Since I have tubes and they are easy to pick up and amplify noise, I am happy to say my system is dead quiet to the point that when in idle you can't even tell it's on.......... I even tried bundling all types of cables, IC's, power cables, RF coaxial cables together for a test and still dead quiet.

I even made my own speaker cables using Canare 4S11 in a starquad or quadstar (???) pattern for low resistance and low capacitance. Anyhow, I soldered on some nice spade lugs, and again I am completely happy !!! My home made cables are better terminated than a lot of expensive cables !!! I then used some TechFlex cable sleeving and heat shrink tubing and now my cables look good (expensive ) as well !!!

Now that is satisfaction and I should have tried it a long time ago !!!

I'm not one to knock anything or tell people that they are wasting their money, but I do say try the alternative............ Quality doesn't have to cost a lot, it really doesn't !!! Whether I have had a positive or negative experience that may help someone, I pass it on. It's up to them to try it for themselves

[Hammie]

I've decided on Blue Jeans Cables.

Thanks to all the suggestions and thoughts on the subject.

[blu_world]

good read,i was always wondering what kind of grade of cable to use when connecting an onkyo or any receiver with outputs to a pre-amp.




definitely stay away from cheap dollar store RCA cable's,they aren't shielded (in turns won't protect your signal from interference of other electronic components,might hear a hum) & very little thin copper wire construction..


Vs a Premium RCA that's thicker with a 100% foil shield,better gold plated terminal plug (they really hug on tight compared to a cheapo brand that slips off with little force)