Best Copper IC under 200.

Hello Kadlec:

If interested I have 2 pairs of the Tara Labs Ref Gen II's with RCA's. One is 1 meter the other is 1.5 meters. I'm asking $125 & $150 respectively. Let me know if your interested. Thnaks...sagger

I'm all for buying things as cheap as possible. I too wondered about this, so I just bought/borrowed a couple different cables in different price ranges, and I do find that you have to spend lots of cash to get the 'ultimate' performance. If you want excellent performance the cost drops sharply. There are also instances where the 'expensive' characteristics of the cable you are buying do not benefit your system. For example, the transparency of a $1500 nordost cable does not really show enough benefit over a $250 truthlink with a vandersteen speaker because their inherently lower resolution (vandersteens make up for it in other ways) verses an audio physic speaker.

If you are building a very expensive, ultra high resolution system, you can hear the difference. They are there, and I'm not the only one who hears them.

As examples, my nordost spm cables sound more detailed than my nordost red dawn's, my (former) truthlinks, and the audioquest quartz cables I tried. All these cables were in the same general shooting range, but the spms were unquestionably better. I also tried some generic thick copper intereconnects, some $70 esoteric audio cables, and some mit 330's. All of these were a significant downgrade to the prior group.

On top of this, I tried my spm cables against the $8500 per interconnect Transparent Ref cable in my friends $70,000 system with all BAT electronics, SACD and Wilson Watts. We could both hear the transparent cable was better. No question about it.

I spent about $1500 (used cost) for my system's cables (2 red dawns, an spm, and oval 9s). I would rather it were $500, but honestly it would drop my system performance by too much. No question about it.

I don't think there is test gear good enough to measure a difference in frequency response or distrortion between differnt IC's. Just trying to inject a little common sense.

There's a guy in massachusetts who's company is called 'virtual mode' - he always runs a little ad in the stereophile classifieds - his $100 IC is great: I prefer it to the other 4 or 5 cables I've used (which no doubt makes me almost a cable virgin in this crowd!)

You may be able to find a used 1M (or shorter) pair of Cardas Cross for that amount, and they don't do much wrong. They're worth checking out.

Given his responses to every subject he's commented on thus far, this guy would be happier on AudioReview.com. Might I make a friendly suggestion to give 'em a whirl and leave us to our "delusions." That way everyone can be happy.

Don't waste your money on expensive cables. No one ever talks of a numerical difference between cables. You cannot measure any difference. Your speakers will have a thousand times the effect a cable can have. The differences are psychological.

I second the truthlink at $125ish used, $250 new. I a/b compared it to a nordost spm. It lost on sheer resolution, but it wasn't by much. Another very good cable I tried is the Audioquest quartz x3. I think you can find those in the hundred dollar range used. It's a very good idea to try a couple of cables with your system. Their performance is system dependent.

An all copper cable worth considering is the Harmonic Technology Truth Link. Recently I had to the chance to compare them (in someone elses' system) against a couple of Nordost ICs and left with a very favorable impression. The Truth Links are usually available used for ~$125 here on Audiogon.

Unfortunately, I am only familiar with your pre and speakers, not the amp and source (which I hear good things about). Given that limited knowledge, I'd say the Truth Links are worth a listen.

Kadlec, my thoughts are try MIT through Audio Advisor - 30 day money back guarantee. 330+ or even term series, the term 2 ic is around $80, I know MIT speaker cables and Thiel are an excellent match, I've got em. Not sure about Cary/MIT though. I had Tara Ref. Gen II and did not like in my system, CJ pre and Classe amp.

I completely agree, having recently used both TARA Master g2 and Viper. Also, AQ Opal is discontinued, but is a brilliant cable (replaced by viper) and should be cheap.

I would suggest the Tara Labs RSC Reference Generation 2 although that may top the $200 a bit, like $215-220 I think. Or if you want to stay strictly under $200, then the AudioQuest Viper at $195 (1M). Both of those are close in performance - neutral, revealing, good tight bass on the low end. I auditioned both recently and went with the Tara Labs. If you go used, then you can maybe even find the next step up for both, the Tara Labs Master Gen 2 I have seen used for $195, or the AudioQuest Python should be in the $200 range used.