Do You Pay Attention To The Quality of Cables?

[racketboy]

Do you every pay more for the heftier/fancier AV cables or do you just go with the cheapest as long as it's decent?

[Cerulean]

I go for quality. I even picked up those 60 dollar Wii cables off of ebay for 20. it was a steal. I usually buy monster too but the connectors keep breaking when I pull them out.

[marurun]

Heftier cables can be a boon. More expensive cables? Not so. If a company tells you they have a unique wire weave they are most likely full of crap. Wire gauge is really all you need to worry about. Insulation only really factors in if you need longer cables, and you don't need fancy insulation, either.

Monster cables are NEVER worth the premium.

Read the following for more info:

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cable-b ... 268788.php

[Cerulean]

Heftier cables can be a boon. More expensive cables? Not so. If a company tells you they have a unique wire weave they are most likely full of crap. Wire gauge is really all you need to worry about. Insulation only really factors in if you need longer cables, and you don't need fancy insulation, either.

Monster cables are NEVER worth the premium.

Read the following for more info:

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hdmi-cable-b ... 268788.php

I know. I used to work at an electronics store. But I like they way the look and feel. but I always try to find the cheaper better deal.

[wyatt]

My televisons are too crappy for me to worry about the cables. RF is about all I try to avoid.

[nightwalker]

Me too I usually go with the medium price. Ok whats for me medium price one cost 20 another one cost 10 so I look for one in between. It has worked for me.

[Pullmyfinger]

Anything goes for me when it comes to cables, I don't have HDTV or anytihng like that though

[HoboJoe]

I use multiple old A/V cables (the red, yellow, white ones) to hook my component (the five goofy colored ones) stuff up to the big HDTV....works perfectly fine...can't tell the difference.

[pixelbender]

With the advent of digital/optical cables, it simply doesn't matter. Monoprice.com FTW on HDMI and optical cables. I've also bought some RG6 components from them as well, and they are quality analog cables (pretty thick) even though the RG59s in the past have worked as well.

The only composite cables I use are for my NES (soon to be retro duo), other than that its S-vid or better.

[Scooter]

For a digital signal, the size of the cable doesn't matter that much (Monster Cables on a digital signal are a waste for example). For analog signals, size can certainly matter, as can the quality of the connectors and the portion of the cable that actually carries the signal. Low oxygen content copper cables can be a benefit on analog signals for example.

The most important issue overall, however, is to have good solid connections at all cable ends and to keep the cables as short as possible. Of course slightly thicker cables do not suffer as easily or quickly from fatiguige breakage. No cable should be bent sharply at any portion of its length.

Some kinds of signals require cables that are well shielded, skimping in this area can create annoying static and signal strength and quality loss.

I use moderate quality cables on all my system and make use of S-video on everything but my Genesis. My hi-fi, however, uses the highest quality cables I can afford to connect all components to one another. All my electronics (amplifier, tuner, cassette deck, CD player) are NAD, my turntable is Linn, my speakers are Magnapan and my headphones are Sennheiser so few compromises were made in these areas!