I've been involved in audio cables as a hobbiest for decades and have spent considerable sums on cables over the years. As with many things, one quickly hits the wall of diminishing returns.

There are several products I've not seen in this discussion I would like to bring to everyone's attention.

A popular manufacturer of cable is Canare. If you proceed to their web site you can read about what makes their cable tick and importantly they publish electrical measurements to support their methods. It is popular to construct interconnects from their microphone cables. Cost is very modest. While I have made my own cables, it is very cost effective to hand the chore off to a third party. One such company is Markertek.com. For well under $20 per meter pair, you get a a very well constructed cable with substantial connectors and a lifetime warranty. They of course use the previously mentioned Canare cable. I recently ordered an assortment of stereo interconnects, 75ohm digi cable, and microphone cables using various rca and xlr terminations and I have been very happy with the quality and sound. The Canare cable is also very flexible and comes in about a dozen colors in case you feel certain shades tend to "color" the sound more. ;-)

Finally, I will also recommend a product called Stabilant-22. This is an electrical contact enhancer that has proved miraculous in a number of situations. You paint this liquid on your interconnects, op-amp pins, computer chip/memory pins, etc and it enhances the contact quality of the connection. I have used this on both audio and computer parts and had remarkable results. For example, I had an intermittent connection in the rear speakes in my Lincoln LS 2000. I took it to the dealer and they spent a day fiddling with it. After a time the problem returned. At this point I took things into my own hands and "painted" some Stabillent-22 on the amp to rear speakers connection and voila I have not had a problem since. This product is used in recording studios, hospitals, and other places worldwide. An additional bonus is that the Stab-22 also makes fitting of tight connections much easier.

Here ae some links to the products mentioned:

http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/product.CFM?BaseItem=SC3RR

http://www.canare.com/cat10pdf/p26-28.pdf

http://www.posthorn.com/Stab_2.html

-CB

[This message has been edited by ctbarker32 (edited July 02, 2002).]

[This message has been edited by ctbarker32 (edited October 07, 2002).]