Cables: How much do you need spend on audio/video cables?
The biggest fraud in the home theater / audio world is cables.
The idea is if you spend more money on interconnects and speaker wire it'll make your system sound better. This isn't true. In "The Complete Guide to High-End Audio" the author writes that cables should cost 10%-15% of your complete system budget. But cables are not a percent cost, they are a fixed cost.
Here's what you should be spending on the wire:
Good interconnects, around $20US each.
Speaker wire, $30 for 30 meters (Mediabridge 14AWG 2-Conductor 99.9% OFC)
IF you need connectors on the wire, SVS SoundPath Ultra Speaker Cable - $60 for 3m and you get 12AWG gold plated spades and banana connectors and "PVC dielectric cores". As far as "premium" cables go, I think SVS is the brand to have, their subwoofer cable did make a difference.
That's it, no more, no less. No matter what your system costs, this what the wires should cost.
At that price you get a quality cable, with well connected ends, and usually gold plated and OFC copper. That's all you need. Spending more money on the wires can't make your system sound better.
Put the money you'll save by not buying those expensive interconnects into buying better speakers, this will make a big difference in how your system sounds.
That said, I own a lot of expensive cables, silver interconnects, several of the MIT "magic boxes", Monster Cable's speaker wire. And I found it's impossible to hear any difference between a $20 cable and a $200 cable in a blind test, and certainly I could not say that one sounded better than the other.
Even after long break in periods, testing on high end McIntosh components.
For speaker wire, avoid using any type of connectors on the ends, just use bare copper with a little contact enhancer (it's cheap enough snake oil and maybe helps) and wrap around the posts.
I don't see any advantage to adding in another piece of metal between the copper and the terminal, and having the connection between the copper and the lug or pin coming loose is a common source of sound problems. Don't worry about oxidation of the copper, it does not effect sound.
That's it, no more, no less. No matter what your system costs, this what the wires should cost.
At that price you get a quality cable, with well connected ends, and usually gold plated and OFC copper. That's all you need. Spending more money on the wires can't make your system sound better.
Put the money you'll save by not buying those expensive interconnects into buying better speakers, this will make a big difference in how your system sounds.
That said, I own a lot of expensive cables, silver interconnects, several of the MIT "magic boxes", Monster Cable's speaker wire. And I found it's impossible to hear any difference between a $20 cable and a $200 cable in a blind test, and certainly I could not say that one sounded better than the other.
Even after long break in periods, testing on high end McIntosh components.
For speaker wire, avoid using any type of connectors on the ends, just use bare copper with a little contact enhancer (it's cheap enough snake oil and maybe helps) and wrap around the posts.
I don't see any advantage to adding in another piece of metal between the copper and the terminal, and having the connection between the copper and the lug or pin coming loose is a common source of sound problems. Don't worry about oxidation of the copper, it does not effect sound.
See also (prices are getting lower):
BUT WAIT, there's more. IF you really want to spend more on cables...
It's a safe bet interconnects are shielded. However speaker cable is not, and can, maybe will, pick up stray RF, like an antenna. Braided speaker cable is a thing, to address this. The man here explains it all, and funny enough, he sells very expensive braided speaker cable which may indeed be worth the price. Check out his power cables too.
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