[hiifuser]

Looking for some good interconnect or power cord for my system.

Anyone used Zu cable? Is it a good value cable? Please share your comment to me.

Thanks.

[Phil A]

Welcome- there are lots of good choices including forum sponsors (e.g. Zenwave).  What is in your system component wise and room wise?

[Emil]

Start here......

http://www.triodewirelabs.com/triodeweb/

[Wind Chaser]

Looking for some good interconnect or power cord for my system.

Anyone used Zu cable? Is it a good value cable? Please share your comment to me.

I think you stand to gain much more from a good IC than a PC.

I have some ZU cables and I quite like their Libtec speaker cable. Even though it's been discontinued, ZU still sells it on ebay at a fraction of what it used to cost. 

[Nordkapp]

Canare or Mogami w/Neutrik connectors. Period. Everything else is a rip off.

[zoom25]

Power cable: Generic 14 AWG shielded.

IC (digital + analog): Mogami 3173 / 2549 / 2964, Grimm TPR. Grimm is priced slightly ahead of the Mogami, but worth it.

Everything with Neutrik connectors for XLRs.

You can get custom work done from Pro Audio LA. Their prices are excellent. They also have more expensive stuff there as well from Evidence Audio and Vovox.

[twitch54]

Frank @ Signal Cable will 'hook you up', give him a shout !

http://www.signalcable.com

[Elizabeth]

A lot depends on the level of equipment you now own.
My basic newbie suggestion is to spend about 10% of your total system cost on cable/powercord/speaker wire upgrades.
This give one a place to start thinking how to divvy up that 10% to cover all the wires one might want to upgrade.

I agree the most bang for the buck is going to be in the interconnects.
With maybe the powercord to the amplifier also being a good place to upgrade.
(my personal like is Pangea, a Pangea AC9 powercord for the amp)
Speaker wire IMO can be plain 12 gauge zip cord and get you 95% of the way to nirvana.
Once you have some better wires, one other way to upgrade the power end is a power conditioner. But I would start with the actual wires first.

Also every person who responds will have a personal 'favorite' wire..
Then the wire is wire crowd who proclaim all else is snake oil and fraud.. LOL

I am using $1,100 a pop IC so I am so far removed from cheap IC I do not know what is better anymore in the low priced stuff)

[deadhead]

My power cords are from Ice Age audio.  They were reasonable (around $100) but I can't say for sure whether or not the sound is better.

[Wind Chaser]

A lot depends on the level of equipment you now own.

Very true.

My basic newbie suggestion is to spend about 10% of your total system cost on cable/powercord/speaker wire upgrades.

OTOH, if the level of equipment merits better cables than what can be had at 10% of your systems total cost, don't hold back. I've tried cheaper balanced cables and that was far too much of a compromise to my ears.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=155498.0

[zoom25]

The goal should also be made clear: do you want something that sounds good by changing the signal or something that is as accurate as possible. Of course, I'm not saying that accurate doesn't sound good. However, in some people's system, accuracy might not be the best sounding for them. On the other hand, people also have the tendency to sometimes pick stuff based simply on whether it sounds different from the rest, even if the change is something negative. The novelty aspect cannot be ignored.

To objectively confirm accuracy, you will need measurements. To subjectively confirm accuracy, you would have needed to be at the location of the recording. Something that not many here can claim.

[Nordkapp]

Power cable: Generic 14 AWG shielded.

IC (digital + analog): Mogami 3173 / 2549 / 2964, Grimm TPR. Grimm is priced slightly ahead of the Mogami, but worth it.

Everything with Neutrik connectors for XLRs.

You can get custom work done from Pro Audio LA. Their prices are excellent. They also have more expensive stuff there as well from Evidence Audio and Vovox.

Agreed. PROAUDIO LA are excellent. I've used them a bunch of times-not a single problem. I once owned roughly $5K in MIT cables. Waste of money.............the cables used in pro audio are every bit as good without  the stupid audiophile prices. Just my 2 cents.

[max190]

Looking for some good interconnect or power cord for my system.

Anyone used Zu cable? Is it a good value cable? Please share your comment to me.

Thanks.

Welcome hiifuser,

I cannot offer any info about Zu cable since I have not heard them.
The interconnects that sounded the best to me in my system were from here: http://morrowaudio.com/audiophile-and-home-theater/interconnects.

 

[Wind Chaser]

The goal should also be made clear: do you want something that sounds good by changing the signal or something that is as accurate as possible. Of course, I'm not saying that accurate doesn't sound good. However, in some people's system, accuracy might not be the best sounding for them. On the other hand, people also have the tendency to sometimes pick stuff based simply on whether it sounds different from the rest, even if the change is something negative. The novelty aspect cannot be ignored.

To objectively confirm accuracy, you will need measurements. To subjectively confirm accuracy, you would have needed to be at the location of the recording. Something that not many here can claim.

If the goal is to obtain what one perceives to be the best possible sound, then the only thing that matters is what that person hears. If one is confident in that, they don't need measurements or anything else to confirm what they already know.

[Wind Chaser]

It should also be mentioned that many cable manufacturers offer a free trial period / money back satisfaction guarantee.

[zoom25]

If the goal is to obtain what one perceives to be the best possible sound, then the only thing that matters is what that person hears. If one is confident in that, they don't need measurements or anything else to confirm what they already know.

I think there's 2 ways to get there. Yes, you can always swap out cables for one that makes your system sounds great, but IMO it's shortsighted (even if easier cost wise).

I have a different approach to the overall system. If I knew with 100% certainty that one gear/cable is more linear and transparent than the other, yet still sounded worse in the system than the coloured gear/cable, then I'd try to fix the actual problem that exists somewhere else rather than mask one problem with another.

If you push for maximum transparency and linearity throughout each stage, I think the end result might be far better than what you've initially gotten.

Steve Nugent and James Tanner, of Empirical Audio and Bryston respectively, have both voiced this sentiment and philosophy in much better words.

[Folsom]

ZenWave makes really nice cables.

[FullRangeMan]

Looking for some good interconnect or power cord for my system.

Anyone used Zu cable? Is it a good value cable? Please share your comment to me.

Thanks.

If you have a few minutes of free time you could do your own cables, a quick service requires neither practice nor skill.
http://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/goertz-silver-micro-purl-interconnect-cable-p-4974


http://www.soniccraft.com/index.php/wire-interconnect-c-296_177

[Doublej]

These, cheep too!

http://www.newark.com/search?st=quail%20hospital%20cord