Hi guys,
New to the forums and have recently purchased a pair of Usher S520s off a fellow member. I’m now in the process of ‘completing’ the system with an amplifier and some cables. My interest for this thread is cables. I’ve been doing some reading, trying to find out what I need and how much I should spend (and where I should buy). To put it lightly, finding answers has not been all too obvious or straightforward.
Aspects to consider seem to include:
Gauge
Interconnects
Material: Copper/silver (other?)
Purity (of material): 99.9999%, polished, oxygen free etc.
Braids?
Insulation (FEP, PVC …)
DIY?
Seems mighty complicated… I'm hoping someone can simplify this for me and recommend some decent, budget cable.
My needs: I believe all I need is 2x2m of speaker cable and some interconnects (banana plugs, preferably) which do not significantly detract from my sound quality. I don’t want to spend any more than $100. If I could get the cable pre-cut to length with the plugs connected, that would be sweet. Otherwise I’ll do it myself.
Current thinking: From my reading, I should only need 18, or maximum 16AWG. Banana plugs would be ideal. Copper is fine. Extreme purity would be nice, but not essential. Braids and insulation are probably not too relevant for non-DIY cable. DIY cabling looks promosing but I'm still not certain about it, and don't really like the idea of buying CAT5/6 cables and pulling them apart to make more cables - as opposed to buying purpose-built cables already completely formed and ready to plug in - seems somewhat inefficient and wasteful. If I have some CAT5 cable laying around at home, I might give this a shot though.
So far, decent sellers appear to be:
Bluejeanscable
Selby Acoustics
Custom HT?
Space Hi Fi?
Based on what I've mentioned above, could anyone recommend me some specific cable, or at least point me in the right direction?
Thanks in advance...