1050+750 and interconnects...

I've got a question for the folks with the 1050+750 combo (or even other receiver/pre-amp + amp combos). Think of it as a poll of sorts. What interconnects are you using between your pre-amp and amp? Monster Cables? BetterCables? TMC? Kimber? MIT?Nordost? Tara Labs? Radio Shack? etc....

Also, who is planning to upgrade to the PCA "short stacks" when they come out soon?

Good topic. I hope there are a large number of responses. From what I've read on the internet and magazines, this one of the most debated topics. I don't know the true answers, but here's what I found in my system.

My old 'pre-amp' was an HK with pre-amp outs, running to a Carver amp. It was a mix and match system (as I guess my current set-up is too) but budget was much more of an issue back then. I had 3 different types of cables running to it: Monster audio cables (can't remember which ones. . . they were about $30 for the pair) for the mains, a video cable for the center and bottom of the line Radio Shack for the rears. Over time, they all migrated to Monster, but to no real noticeable change. Could have been the speakers as well, as they were bottom of the line.

In recent times, all components have changed, except for the Carver amp. I use Tributaries (the Monster were too short for the new amp position) and the one thing I like more about them are the connectors aren't ridiculously tight. Overall, my uneducated ear has not been able to consistently tell a difference. They do seem to have less interference with other wires (e.g. better shielding???), but again, that can usually be avoided by careful routing anyway.

On other interconnecting issues, I have used a mix of Monster and Tributaries, with one generic set from Best Buy to connect a second VCR. They came from the factory with a bum connection, so I returned them and went with Tributaries.

I did notice a significant audible difference in speaker cable, however. I think this is definitely an area where quality/construction can make a big difference. I went from a thick (10 Ga. course wire/fewer strands) Home Depot special to a Monster (12 Ga w/more strands) set and noticed more mid and high level information. That could be off topic, but I found it to be critical in my system.

S.

MrSandman's post got me thinking, so I'll add some of my experience so far with cables, just to keep things rolling. I'll probably add another post in a month or two, as I am beginning to experiment with several brands of interconnects at the moment (trying to decide what to use when I get my 750 as well as tweaking my system overall).

Audio/video interconnects: I used Radio Shack cables for years, back when I had a Pioneer receiver and CD changer. When I added Monster Cable interconnects (Interlink 400 Mk2's) between my Harman/Kardon CD changer and Yamaha receiver, there was a detectable improvement over the old Radio Shack stuff. About two years ago, I had changed over entirely to Monster Cable for audio interconnects, speaker cables, and S-video cables. Recently, I've found a visible improvement in video quality when upgrading from Monster Cable to BetterCables S-Video cables (between a Panasonic A310 DVD player and my Outlaw 1050, and between the Outlaw 1050 and a Mitsubishi 27" direct view TV); I plan to also upgrade the S-Video on my digital cable box and VCR to BetterCables. Improvements caused by upgrades to digital interconnects (coax and optical) from Monster Cable to BetterCables were minimal. The HK CD changer used coax digital to the 1050, with very little benefit obtained by going from Monster to BetterCables (although I preferred the RCA connectors on the BC cable -- they are a solid fit without seeming over-tight). I have used Monster and BetterCables optical (the BetterCables cable is thinner, but has a nicer build quality and performance that seemed identical to me) and a BetterCables coax digital cable on the A310 DVD; the coax seems to have a somewhat warmer sound, but I can't say if it's real or imagined. I replaced the HK CD changer with a Yamaha CDC-775 recently, and began using analog interconnects (the 1050's DAC sounded nicer than the HK FL-8300's, but the Yamaha DAC gave a warmer, cleaner sound than the 1050) -- Monster Interlink 400 Mk2's. I was recently loaned a pair of Magnan Type Vi's, which replaced the I400 Mk2's. The change was absolutely amazing. More and clearer bass signal, as well as clearer mid's and high's. Expensive cables, though, and I am going to be using the CD-to-receiver channel to test several cables soon -- TMC Yellow Label and White Label first (they're on the way from Australia now), but also BetterCables audio interconnects and hopefully Outlaw PCA's. I'll report my findings here.

Speaker cables: Currently, I'm using some old Monster M.75 cables (very heavy stuff) with Tributaries connectors to biwire a Paradigm Studio CC center channel, and Transparent Music Wave Super cables on Studio 60 mains. I went from bi-wiring the Studio 60's with two runs of 12ga Home Depot wire to bi-wiring with the Monster M.75 on the low freq and the 12ga Home Depot, and found an immediate improvement in low end. The Transparents are not bi-wired (have very short jumpers at the speakers), but when they were added, the improvement in sound was startling -- more bass, clear bass, and much clearer and pronounced mid-range and high frequency. I tried bi-wiring using the Transparents on the low freq and using both BetterCables premium speaker cable and Monster M.75 on the high freq, but in both cases the Transparent ran roughshod over the other cables. Once I get a Model 750, I'm going to experiment a bit more with speaker cables (try my pair of BetterCables speaker cable on the center channel, and I may try to get a pair of TMC speaker cables to experiment with on the center or even the mains).

Gonk,

Please do keep us posted on your ongoing experiments. I am quite interested in the outcome of your TMC tests. I found a forum somewhere on the web and everyone raved about them. They all said at first they thought they had made a huge mistake, but after they let them burn in, the improvement was dramatic.

And as for my two cents, I was using a no name S-video cable for my DVD for the longest time, and when I finally set up my home theater with my new 1050, I changed it out to a MonsterCable. I know a lot of people feel that Monster is kind of the Bose of the wire world, good marketing but the product (while not bad) isn't really all that. I thought I was imagining the richer color when I swapped the cable. I had my wife sit and watch while I swapped and she picked the Monster as having better color and definition as well.

So I guess I'm saying if you can't afford over a hundred bucks for a 1 meter cable set, Monster doesn't seem too bad.

Oh, and I wired my Boston System 9000 set with AudioQuest FLX16/2 speaker wire. While I have nothing else to compare it to, my Boston's sound great. My uncle helped me with some of the install labor and was impressed with the quality of the speaker wire. Said it was a lot better than what he was using.

Anyway, happy listening everyone!