Audio Setup Suggestions

[flashpoint603]

HI, my HD595's are on the way along with a Z-Audio Lambda. Just looking for any suggestions for getting the best quality from this setup such as certain cables to use or replacing the 595 cable. etc.

Any tips would be great as I am not that into audiphile. Thanks for the help!

 

[Sycraft]

For cables, just get normal, cheap, quality cables. Don't buy expensive stuff, they don't help the sound quality, spend the money on something else.

If someone insists that a certain cable is better, make them prove it under a controlled condition. For example you swap it with a cheap cable back and forth when they can't tell which is which. If they won't agree to a blind test, well then they probably aren't so sure about the quality, are they?

I ran in to that at the high end audio shop. I bought a Rotel amp and as I was filling out the paper work since it was a special order they asked about cables, I said I'd had custom cables made and they'd arrived today (Bluejeans cables, since I'm too lazy to buy my own crimp sets and raw cable). They slammed them, saying those "professional" cables were crap and I should get some better cables to go with the amp. They just happened to have $100 interconnects, and $150 speaker cables they recommended for my $400 amp. I said ok, I'd bring the amp and my cables back tomorrow, wire them to speakers of their choice, and conduct a test. If they could reliably pick out their cables from my cables, I'd buy the cables on the spot. They weren't willing to do it.

I recommend Monoprice for most people for cables, they are cheap and plenty good quality. Bluejeans is another good choice if you want superior quality cables (they sell broadcast quality Belden cables) and want to get them in custom lengths. You pay a pretty hefty premium for the Bluejeans stuff though. Anything more expensive than that, well somebody had better be able to prove that it sounds better or I claim it's a waste of money.