Since using AR Pro Series interconnects I have seen a radical improvement in sound and clarity from highs to lows. They are well insulated, look good and work well at a reasonable price. What more could you ask for? No need to spend a fortune on high priced european name cables.

Just an FYI - Lowe's (competitor to Home Depot) now sells a full line of AR interconnects. Wish I discovered this before I bought $300 worth of Vampire cables.

I have equipped my Home Theatre with AR cables all around (S-video, Toslink, audio). Everything is working well and if it could be improved by using cables twice or more expensive I would be very surprised. It is time to expose the high end retailers as selling on faith not PROOF!!!!!

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Acoustic Research produces the best quality cables for the money, there is no other brand that comes close in price and quality.

Similar Products Used:

RCA, Monster

well-made, low price, looks good

None that I can find....

I just got a new Sony ES receiver, and figured that I should upgrade my cables, since I was using POS Radio Hack cables that I bought in college. I looked at Monster Cable and decided they were way overpriced, and then I found the AR Pro series of cables. I bought 3 S-videos, 2 opticals, 1 digital coax, and one set of stereo interconnects. I could actually tell a difference between the AR S-Video cables and Radio Hack ones. The optical cable is an optical cable. Can't be any differences there, either the signal is passed correctly or it's not. I just bought it because it looked good and was made better. I'm not really sure about the stereo connectors, but they may make a little difference.
Overall, I'd recommend any of the AR Pro series cables to people looking to get a nice-looking, well-made cable for a price much lower than Monster Cables. If you want to spend more, go ahead, but there's probably not much difference.

Similar Products Used:

Radio Hack cables, cables that came with the receiver

Does its job, reasonable price, adequate build.

Could be even better constructed.

I have read some reviews on digital cables here where some of you are actually claiming to hear differences in the sound when using different DIGITAL interconnects -- this is impossible. Bits are bits. The job of an optical cable is to transfer bits. If the bits don't get transferred, you will know it not by the sound becoming duller or brighter or any of these adjetives that belong in the ANALOG domain, but by hearing a god-awful blip.

Now this isn't the finest constructed cable that you can also use to catch a 300-pound bass, but unless you plan on experiencing a nuclear war anytime soon, this cable is just fine whether it is attached to a swap market receiver or some rig that costs more than the GNP of a third world nation.

Similar Products Used:

Monster Digital Coax

Not absurdly expensive

Not cheap enough

This review only pertains to the toslink cables.

I bought a few of these from www.avconnect.com recently.

Folks, toslink cable can NOT affect sound quality.
If you think it does, you are dreaming.

Having said that, when you are buying toslink cable,
you want these things:

1. Not so flimsy that it'll fall apart.
2. As cheap as possible, provided condition (1) is met.

These cables were the cheapest I could find in longer lengths.
I'd really prefer cheaper (I think I paid $26 or so
for 12ft), but couldn't locate any for lower price.
They have a nice feel to them, well packed, with
fancy plastic protection covers you have to remember
to remove before using them. The "Audio Craft" cable,
which is cheaper, but not available in longer lengths
is as far as I can tell identical.

This stuff is just plastic 820nm (red) multimode
fiber, it costs cents per meter in industrial quantities.
The connectors proably cost 10 cents each, add perhaps 10
cents for assembly and test, and so basically you are
paying for the packaging, delivery, cost of stock and
profit.

Similar Products Used:

3 cent 820nm plastic fiber which came with my MD player.

Cheap

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I just bought the 6 ft length from AVconnect.com for $18.99 and returned my 1m Monster cable lightspeed that was $39.99. Didn't even open the MC cause it was so expensive I knew I wouldnt keep it. Had a slight problem ordering from avconnect, I ordered the 3ft length, waited about 1.5 weeks for it. When it didn't show up I called AVconnect and found out the item was on backorder. I complained because the website says items are shipped same day and item was in stock. I ended paying for the 6ft length cause it was in stock and they agreed to 2nd day air it at no extra charge.

Similar Products Used:

Monster

I just got my AR 3-foot AV cable today from www.avconnect.com, total cost: $18.49 INCL. SHIPPING! I had been listening to a MC interlink 250 connected between my Digital Cable Radio tuner and NAD preamp for a long time, using Sony MDR-V6 headphones. I swapped it out for the AR cable, and there was an immediate difference; no break-in period needed here. The overly-bright, brittle top end of the solid-state equipment disappeared and the total sound was more neutral. The mid-bass sounded warmer and more natural, more tube-like. Aside from tonal changes, these cables made my system sound noticeably cleaner and more open. In fact, when I adjust my treble knob, it now sounds like it's working on a slightly different frequency, more "oomph" with less adjustment. As for appearance, I agree with the previous post that said these must be at least equal to the MC 300. The 250 has smaller RCAs, and the cable itself isn't as substantial I think. Forget MC: their equivalent is $30 (at least) and sounds worse. I'm very pleased with these, and considering their price I'm ASTOUNDED! If you're running cheapie cables and want to upgrade, your search is over. Buy one and try one; what have you got to lose?

These cables are as well made as those famous brands costing at least twice the price. They work well, though the RCA connectors are pretty tight. Radio Shack's "high end" cables appear identical to these and sell for somewhat less (here). So don't be prejudiced by the name on the packaging. A worthwhile and not too expensive upgrade from the center-conductor/shield type cable.