Thread: Cables

With the advent of advanced electronics, especially for Hi-Fi and Vision, the demand for cables have risen.

When I was a novice, the salemen used to tell me that this $30 cable (from Monster or Belkin) was better than this cheap $10 cable. Unfortunately, I fell prey to the "quality" jive. I can now confidently say that cheaper cables do not compromise quality.

For my own home theater, the projector is 15 feet away from the system components (as the crow flies). I needed an HDMI cable of at least 35 feet for allowing all kinds of length tolerances. When I visited the US the last time, I did not find such a long HDMI cable in stores. The online prices (cheaper than stores) really blaked me. The 30 ft HDMI cable was $175 (plus tax). So I brought the next best thing - the 30 ft. component cable from Belkin for $45.99 plus tax.

Back in India, I purchased two HDMI cables - 10 m and 5 m - over eBay, along with an HDMI coupler. The HDMI transmission is near perfect. I am saying "near perfect" because I am assuming that two HDMI cables bound by coupler is not the best way to go.

So, my advice is there is no need to buy these fantastic brand/high (obscene) value cables. High cost cables with gold plated terminals will not improve picture/audio quality. Cheaper cables will do the jobs just as good. But obviously, do not go for very cheap cables that use aluminium instead of copper, appear shoddy quality even to the naked eye, etc.

If there was a list for top 10 things i would not spend much on, cables would top it for me.

Dont get me wrong, cables are important,but spending huge amounts is rather ridiculous...

great post !