Good, Neutral, Reasonably Priced Cables?

time tells all....lets see if the vdh or ridge street rise to audio cable fame.

dont get me wrong, there are ALOT of great cables out there. but there is generally a direct relationship with the cost vs. performance of most of them. some are offer more perfomance for the buck than others.

most cables dont do everythng for under the $450 range. i used to say takes AT LEAST $750 to $1000 to have a great well rounded player (bass, imaging, dynamics, tonal color, musicality) untill i have tried the audience au-24. it hs closed the gap to $500 retail for a well rounder player.

i think the audience offers the biggest bang for the buck going (new or used). i have tried alot of cables up to the $2k price point and the audience is what works well in my system (i sold all my straightwire crescendo ic's for it)

looking at the original thread, the guy asked about a neutral ic for $100 - $150...well guess what...IT DOESNT EXIST -if it does please send me a 2 pairs ( 1 meter rca and a 2 meter xlr).

all i suggestd was to spend a little more and get a great sounding cable that if it doesnt work out, he can sell it for what he has into it or close. YOU CANT DO THAT WITH A VH DIY or a new ridge street. at least with the audience it is a "recognized" refernece quality cable that is in demand.

also unless he has heard a reference quality cable, there is nothing to compare it to.

please note this is my opinion....

Dodgealum,

For what it is worth, I agree with previous comments that system synergy is much more important than name brand appeal when finding cabling.

The best advice I can give is to read a lot, find the closest analogies you can to your own system, either in reviews or on boards here or other sites (audio asylum, etc.), buy a few sets, and audition them for a while.

I recently did this myself- it definitely costs money, but if you buy used, it isn't as painful as it could be, and you don't need to spend time breaking in cables. Afterwards, you can re-sell the 'rejects', for lack of a better word, for minimal losses.

In my case, I started in your general price range, but ended up drinking the Koolaid and going upscale- it was worth it in terms of sonic improvements. Your mileage may vary...

I posted here a while back-

Agon cable comment

Good Luck,

Mike, I went out with a Mexican model that makes Salma Hayek look quite a few notches lower. Unfortunately, she is nowhere near as *famous*. Perhaps that's one of the reasons she gave me her phone number.

Get my drift?

***

Sometimes what we ask for is not what we want. Dodgealum has asked for neutral cable recommendations, and he's received quite a few suggestions. I own both Audience Au24 and VH Audio Pulsars. In my system, a combination of Au24 and Pulsar sounds best.

Sounds best. That's an important distinction. I may have wanted neutral to begin with, but what sounds best is another thing. I don't believe one has to pay big bucks for "neutral" cabling. And, I'm one who considers Au24 to be big bucks cabling, but you can see where my price/performance skew rests. The Pulsars are not the ultimate definition of neutral, but they sound damn good. Combined with the Au24 interconnects, the combination is very, very nice. I'll add that I've owned the Ridge Street Midnight Silver Edition II interconnects, and while these are also not the ultimate definition of "neutral", they too sound really, really nice and are certainly worth investigating.

That's why I continue to recommend (as others do, too) that wire has to be heard in one's own system with an open mind.

....makes Salma Hayek look quite a few notches lower.

sounds high maintaince to me :))))

i actually prefer when they ask for my number.

you know what i mean...

mike