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20 February 2024
Navigating the quagmire of different audio & video cable brands is not easy. There are a huge number of manufacturers developing cutting edge technologies and each company manufactures hundreds of different cables all in many different lengths. So how should you decide which company and which cable suits you and your AV set up?
Each AV cable manufacturer aspires to a variety of brand values and a distinctive sound that they wish to offer to their customers. Changing the cables on your AV system can make a huge difference to your listening and viewing experience. So how do you decide?
The easiest way to make the decision is to research the brands and see what they offer you in terms of technology and performance. Once you have chosen the brand it is advisable to try the cables out with your AV system set up to see what the quality of sound is like and whether it is what you want.
By selecting one cable brand and in some cases one range within a brand, you will create harmony between your set-up due to the existence of similar conductors, shielding and connectors which will ultimately produce the quality of sound that the manufacturers aspired to during the manufacturing process. Your perfect system set-up can be implemented more efficiently because the cables are all compatible with each other.
Mixing and matching cables from multiple brands consisting of different types of copper and/or silver, different shielding and different connectors could result in a number of missed opportunities. You may strike a lucky balance between the mismatched cables but the sound will not be perfect as the cables do not reach their peak performance.
Alternatively, the cables may all clash with each other resulting in sub-standard sound performance. When they do clash, it is almost impossible to find out which cables need to be changed to improve the sound as there may be one or more cables affecting the sound. Through trial and error you may eventually work it out but it can be very long-winded and tedious.
At Futureshop, we have tried and tested full looms from Audioquest, QED, Wireworld, Atlas, Chord, Nordost and Tellurium Q. We have personally found major improvements since changing over to using one brand solely for cables. Previously we also used to use a mix and match of award-winning cables from a variety of companies which didn’t quite allow us to achieve the full potential of our Hi-Fi.
If this blog has caught your eye, please look at your own AV set-up and see how many different branded cables you are using. If you do find that you are using multiple brands, then give the single brand approach a try. We offer a 60-day money-back guarantee on cables to help you pick and decide which cables work best in your system. It’s surprising the difference you can make by changing a few AV cables.