Good Cheap cable: Esoteric Audio Musica 500

[Tom Morrow]

I just picked up some of these Esoteric Audio Musica 500 interconnect
cables, and like them alot. I am one of the folks who subscribe to
the "cables don't make much if any audible difference" camp. I buy
cables based on cost, build quality, usability, shielding, and
perceived ability to resist corrosion. These have all the features
that I look for: Double shielding, nice heavy brass connectors with
24K gold plating, 18-gauge stranded center conductor surrounded by
nitrogen cell polyethelene foam, nicely flexible, split center pin for
good contact, and they fit tightly but not so tightly they will rip
the RCA connectors off a circuit board (like Monster cables can). I
also subscribe to the "keep it as short as possible" mentality, so I
got 18" cables.

The price for the 18" cables at my local Circuit City? $14 per pair!
It's hard to beat that; I think that might have been a mistake on
their part, because Crutchfield sells them for $25 or so. But anyway,
I bet this cable would sound as good as any other cable out there, in
the 18" length. I have done listening tests and couldn't tell any
difference between this cable and any other cable that I tried out of
the 5 other under-$100 18" cables I listened to. In fact, I couldn't
tell it from a 3-foot "freeby" cable that came with the stereo. I do
think that for longer lengths the cable sound might be significant,
but keeping the cable short is much simpler and cheaper than buying,
auditioning, and judging longer cables.

-Tom

[Brian E. Allsmiller]

In <5irv9r$2...@canyon.sr.hp.com> tmo...@us.oracle.com (Tom Morrow)
writes:

>
>I just picked up some of these Esoteric Audio Musica 500 interconnect
>cables, and like them alot.
>

>The price for the 18" cables at my local Circuit City? $14 per pair!
>It's hard to beat that; I think that might have been a mistake on
>their part, because Crutchfield sells them for $25 or so.

Circuit City is closing out their Esoteric line, they are picking up
monster cable :( But I'm picking up a bunch of it before it's gone, I
own some already, but need to finish my system in it. By the way, I
saw in one of the magazines that I get, it was reviewed very well,
regardless of price. Get it while it's cheap, and ignore those folks
who tell you that you need $150 interconnects.

Eric