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View Full Version : Best place to buy Cables?



andrewzarian
07-09-2012, 06:49 PM
Where do you guys by all your Audio/Video cables?

mcphillips
07-09-2012, 08:36 PM
Buying cables is an art form. If you know what to get, you can order them from Sweetwater, Musicians Friend, FullCompass, Markertek, Amazon, and a host of others. Sometimes the best place to get a cable made is a local electronics shop. The trick is to buy nickel plated cables - not tin-plated ones like most of the Radio Shack junk. Also beware of Monoprice. They're cheap, and they're cheap.

I usually make my own using Switchcraft or Neutrik connectors and premium grade wire. If you're going to make cables, you'll probably need to get at $100+ soldering station, tin-lead solder, and lots of practice.

TomSinclair
07-25-2012, 05:53 PM
Tried Sweetwater and they were very quick on shipping. Also they even called me when an item I ordered was on backorder. They CALLED me! Amazing!

mcphillips
07-25-2012, 06:08 PM
The problem with Sweetwater is to get them to STOP calling.

andrewzarian
07-25-2012, 06:09 PM
Never ordered from them Mike. What do you mean ?

mcphillips
07-25-2012, 06:24 PM
They are a great company with excellent pricing most of the time, but they are very sales oriented. They look for every excuse they can to call you.

They much prefer telephone calls over other methods of contact. I got pretty angry with them one day because my brother, who has ALS, is unable to speak. He can't call them. When he first lost his ability to speak, he was still involved in audio and recording. To their credit, they gave me a direct email address that my brother could use.

So what I'm saying is that I like Sweetwater for a lot of reasons, but I don't need them calling me for every little thing.

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but the calls seem like sales calls.

andrewzarian
07-25-2012, 07:52 PM
I generally stick with Monoprice or Amazon. I ordered some really cool purple XLR cables from Amazon a few weeks ago. Was about 5 bucks for 50 feet.

alekstef
08-13-2012, 12:22 PM
I make all video cables (coax/BNC) myself, and most audio cables (XLR). Depending on the project, I might buy cables if I only need standard lengths, and if I need alot of them. For coaxial cables with BNC connectors, you'd want to get cables from for instance Draka, Belden, Canare, Extron. Make sure to get 75 ohm cables, and not 50 ohm. For audio / XLR, Klotz and Schulz with Neutrik connectors are great. I don't know if you can get them in the USA, though.

Andrew, 50 feet for $5 sounds too good to be true... At least if you are looking for quality.

andrewzarian
08-13-2012, 04:56 PM
I need to learn how to make cables. I also thought it was too good to be true but Mike Phillips check them out for me :) I got his blessing

mcphillips
08-13-2012, 06:41 PM
The cables we talked about were TRS, not XLR. The purple ones.

andrewzarian
08-13-2012, 06:57 PM
Same company :)

alekstef
08-14-2012, 09:56 AM
You don't need to learn how to make cables when you can get high quality cables for that price! Wow..

andrewzarian
08-14-2012, 07:52 PM
I guess I got a good deal. It was a sale price at the time. :)

Dahalabit
09-18-2012, 06:49 AM
I stick with Monoprice!