Inexpensive but good interconnect/rca cables

[guydarryl]

DIY - Klotz MC5000 (screened twin core, around £3 per metre, inc, p&p), plus RCAs of your choice - I prefer Neutrik Profi NF2C- B/2, available for around £14 per pair inc p&p.

Available at considerably inflated prices ready-made on EPay and elsewhere.

Hi Vinny,
interested in how you (or anyone else for that matter) connect the MC5000:

Use both cores for signal, connect screen both ends
Use both cores for signal, connect screen one end
Use one core for signal, other for return, screen not connected

etc, etc - I have seen arguments for various methods, and I am just interested in a fresh view.

 

[brian2957]

I use both cores and connect the screen at the source end i.e. CD player, turntable, music server etc. Slightly more bass with the shield connected. These plugs are a good match https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12473428...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1 . However, can take a few weeks to arrive. The Neutrik plugs https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/29228525...d=link&campid=5338728743&toolid=20001&mkevt=1 are also a good match, although the rubber gromit and spacers have to be removed for the MC5000 to fit into the plug,

Also consider the Klotz AC110. Horses for courses on these. However, both cheap enough to try.

 

[brian2957]

i purchased a pair of Rega Couple 2 in 2017 for about $100, now the price has double and i need a new pair, whats up?
did they introduce a new model?

Yes, Rega changed their interconnects a couple of years ago. The original Couples were made from Klotz AC110 cable and Neutrik plugs and (IMO) sounded better than their replacements. Make your own for a fraction of Rega's asking price.price.

 

[Mike1965]

I use Belden 8402 interconnects built by Designacable. Sounds good to me.

 

[PerF]

Yes, Rega changed their interconnects a couple of years ago. The original Couples were made from Klotz AC110 cable and Neutrik plugs and (IMO) sounded better than their replacements. Make your own for a fraction of Rega's asking price.price.

I understood the question different, as if a new variant was present as the Couple 2 doubled in price, but English is not my native language.

 

[Amber Audio]

I understood the question different, as if a new variant was present as the Couple 2 doubled in price, but English is not my native language.

In 2017 the Couple 2 was £99, today it is £199. It appears to me to be identical. I prefer the original and make my own cables using the same Neutrik and Klotz parts.
https://www.whathifi.com/rega/couple2/review

 

[karma67]

Your link does not show the cable you are using for me.

You could also look at this cable MPS M-75 Ohno Continuous Cast 75ohm Digital Cable for Hi-Fi Audio Digital Source | eBay
or this Xangsane SP 8001Cu Rectangular OCC Copper Conductor High Density Shielding HIFI Audio Signal Bulk cable diy RCA audio cables| | - AliExpress
and use with these RCA plugs (gold plated) and reduced in the Black Friday sale MPS Pioneer 8G/10G/11G/8R/10R/11R Connector HiFi RCA Repair Plug Audio Jack Gold Plated Rhodium Plated Plugs For 8MM/10MM Cable|Amplifier| - AliExpress

im happy to say these days i use tripple c

 

[PerF]

In 2017 the Couple 2 was £99, today it is £199. It appears to me to be identical. I prefer the original and make my own cables using the same Neutrik and Klotz parts.
https://www.whathifi.com/rega/couple2/review

I have both Couple (Klotz ac330) and Couple2 in use.
Both great cables, prefer Neutrik plugs.
No idea what cable brand Couple 2 is based on ?

 

[russel]

Just buy any old shite. Bodge it together yourself if you fancy. Use a hair drier instead off a soldering iron. Go nuts.

All streamers are the same. Expensive DACs are a waste of money. Pre-amps are a waste of time with digital systems. DSP makes everything else irrelevant. Most amps sound the same. The technology hasn’t moved forward since the ‘50’s. Everything relevant is known and can be measured. Post graphs and diagrams to prove it.

The only big differentiator are speakers. Buy the best you can and stick any old rubbish in front of them.

Have Linn stopped making everything but loudspeakers?

 

[Del monaco]

You do wonder a bit when it takes years for a leading designer to make the definitive Dac. I think differences are minor and I’m glad I realised this before it was too late. Hate being ripped off.

 

[Amber Audio]

I have both Couple (Klotz ac330) and Couple2 in use.
Both great cables, prefer Neutrik plugs.
No idea what cable brand Couple 2 is based on ?

Dunno what cable the 2 uses, Rega maybe realised to keep quiet after the 1 was cloned so easily. The cable used by the 1 is Klotz AC110 not 330 by the way, originally it was called Klotz LaGrange GY107.

 

[ff1d1l]

Home brew after reading an exhaustive post on the subject on the net.
Untwisted, unshielded, spaced, cotton dielectric, locking Rhodium plated plugs, silver plated copper conductors, single on the send, three on the return.
Oh and I silver soldered all connections.
No problem with interference or hash, but not using as anything but line level.
Any good? Would I go to all this trouble and have them throughout the system if they weren't? Revelatory - put that in your pipe and smoke it, cable sceptics!

 

[Seanm]

What are people’s thoughts on shielded vs unshielded?

 

[PerF]

Dunno what cable the 2 uses, Rega maybe realised to keep quiet after the 1 was cloned so easily. The cable used by the 1 is Klotz AC110 not 330 by the way, originally it was called Klotz LaGrange GY107.

Ha-ha your right, my bad, thanks for edit

 

[ff1d1l]

What are people’s thoughts on shielded vs unshielded?

This was what prompted me to experiment.
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/diy-interconnects-review
Scroll down to the bottom for other installments.

 

[Roog]

I tend to use whatever came in the box, or make my own usually using studio supplies, but if I need one 'on the hurry up', say a slightly longer cable then I have used cables branded by Cambridge Audio available from Richersounds or more recently Amazon Basics. I have also bought some reasonably priced and robust ready made XLR cables from studio suppliers. They all sound good to me.