Price, Value, Good Sound

Death Grip on the RCA Jacks

For the money, these cables are very good. There is a marked improvement over the cables bundled with most gear. The biggest gain in my opinion was in the treble region. As with everything else give them a try and see for yourself.

Similar Products Used:

Monster Standard 200, Acoustic Research

Overall sound

Cant brag their rat shack

I bought some RS rca cables for my HT over a year ago and ran them in my main system to compare to other high end cables in my search for the perfect 250 and less single ended cable. I tried Kimber XLO Cardas and other high end cables. All had their strengths and weaknesses but no cable was more of an all around winner than this CHEAP piece of crap cable. Yes it is cheaply made, it fitts very tight, its cheap looking, but the thing just makes everything sound like it should MORE than the others. Voices have the proper resonance, highs have the proper decay, the bass has the proper weight and the whole sound spectrum is represented. I hate that these sound so good in my system because I paid over 7 grand for my system and I have RAT SHACK CABLES.....

High bang for the buck. Well-built, using good-quality materials and worksmanship. Looks good.

Audiophools sneer at everything RatShack. Once in a while, RS WILL score a hit =o) (ok, once every 20 or so years. ;o)

Allrighty... i''ve never been a big beliver in wires making a difference..heh. My first education there was making speaker cables out of Catergory 5 network cable. Smoother extreme highs. My second was in replacing the very old interconnects on my 30-something year old Thorens turntable with a six-foot Gold IC from RatShack. Well hell. The highs came out. Everything sounds a bit more detailed. The biggest improvement was the extreme high frequencies -- they were very masked by the old (possibly oxidized?) wires. I was starting to think the audiotechnica 440ML cart. was a dog. Not. My wires were the dogs. This thing now positively sparkles. So, I got a 3-ft lenght for my CD player. Hm. The tizzy highs, the confusion, in extreme high-freqs is gone. Cymbals now have distinct sounds from each other..not one big ''sssssss''. That 3'' length replaced freebie ''came with it'' interconnects. Fit is tight, but nothing a pair of pliers won''t cure if you''re paranoid about losing a jack. All in all, using quite revealing equipment (Sansui CA2000 preamp, Dynaco Stereo70 power tube amp, thorens 145 table w/ AT440ML cart, el-cheapo CD player, and Klipsch speakers) the difference is audible, and in my case, welcome. The whole system now sounds more ''polished'' and refined.

Similar Products Used:

El-Cheapos, some home-brewed with Cat5. Will be interesting to compare to lo-end Kimbers, et al.

Cheap upgrade from factory cables. Durable,good looking,gold connectors.

Transmits the signal in a rather metallic,cold way on the steely side of neutral. Lacks ease of presentation,real air,and naturalness...a typical low-end,coarse,spittle of dynamics that while interesting,is a little too inhuman to be musical.

This can be considered a review of both the RS gold interconnect and a newer cable I have tried which is much more expensive and exotic,in order to demonstrate to anyone concerned that one interconnect is certainly not the same as any other,as I myself had tended to believe before I tried Mapleshade''s Clearview double-helix interconnect. The RS gold is an ok,inexpensive,basic connector that communicates in a basic way the basic thrust of the music. The Clearview is an exotic,unusual design unlike any other I have ever seen,and to look at it is to wonder how most of the music signal would not be lost between components.But the difference in sound quality,while not exactly a transmutation of the sound,is a quantum leap toward naturalness,tranparency,liquidity. The RS gold is a "conventional" looking cable with copper cables of the usual thickness,etc..,while the Clearview has for right and left channels a pair of half-inch wide translucent plastic sleeves containing one ultra-thin copper strand the width of a thread in each,with really heavy golden connectors at each end. How,I wondered,could such thin wires transmit the highs much less the bass-lines? But the sound with these interconnects is so much more fluent and real across the spectrum that I can only surmise that what is happening with this design is that the cable is simply getting out of the way,"bending with the wind",so to speak,while the thicker wires are presenting a rather constricting obstacle of sorts. If you are really interested,check out the Mapleshade website''s section on Clearview products under "Tweaks and Wires". Then you will notice that the double-helix retails for $240! However,while I was still an interconnect-skeptic I was looking into HCM Audio''s used and demo cable bargain-bin and saw a listing for the Mapleshade interconnect for only $69.95,a trade-in from another customer. I had vowed to experiment with interconnects while never spending over $100,and I guess I got lucky...Check out HCM for similar great deals,all Ye of timid minds and wallets. There may be a lesson or two here for some of you! Now,the sonic improvement derived from replacing the RS golds with the Clearview design was definitely worth at least $100,but would it be worth $240? Well,I would not have bothered beyond Radio Shack if I had not found a deal at HCM...I did,though,and now I see differently!

Similar Products Used:

Various sub-$25 interconnects.

Excellent price/performance ratio

tight connectors

I have to agree with most of the previous reviews. I''''''''ve been using Rat Shack''''''''s Gold Series interconnects(sub cable,digital coaxial cable,and A/V cable) for awhile and I''''''''m quite happy with their price/performance ratio. I haven''''''''t experienced any problems with them except for the common problem of them being extremely difficult to install and remove. Actually, the digital coaxial cable doesn''''''''t suffer this problem and the sub cable to a lesser degree. I used Rat Shack''''''''s regular cables(not GS) on my daughter''''''''s system and they seem to be EVEN worse in this regard. All in all, I''''''''m satisfied and will probably continue to by RS GS cables in the future...I avoid their other stuff like the plague.

Similar Products Used:

regular RS interconnects,high-quality(but very thick and unmanageable) interconnects from the DAK catalog(now defunct).

Cheap; transmit signal adequately.

Tight, tight, tight!

Very hard to use; extremely tight fit! What''''s with that? Surely they''''ve been told of this problem by now! Sure, they''''re cheap, but so what if they ruin your equipmnt? Avoid these!

Similar Products Used:

Manbufacturer freebies, AudioQuest, Kimber

Very well made cable, clearly marked with the little circles that are color coded. Fit tight, wont fall off.

Not advertised as much as other brands such as monster.

Replaced audioquest cables with RS Gold. Immediate improvement over the audioquest cable, no longer sounds muttered, depth and highs and lows returned.
Get rid of audioquest cable... Paid 8.99 for my RS Golds at local RS. Save money and time get these.

Similar Products Used:

monster interlink, audioquest topaz.

inexpensive

none I can think of

After a time I could no longer stand the overly exagerated warmth of the Monster Interlink cable so I tried the Radio Shack gold. The difference was easily discernable. The Monster cable seems to color the music whereas the Radio Shack does not. Don't waste money on Monster!!

Similar Products Used:

Monster Interlink 400

Price, good performance for the money.

Not for the hi end

I find the RS cables to be a step up from the free imterconnects you get with audio components. There is nothing outstanding about the cable, and no major weaknesses(considering the price). However, it is a small notch down from the MC and AR. I use RS Gold interconnects between my Sony ES receiver, and my VCR and tape deck. I prefer AR/MC for DVD, LD, CD. I am not a big fan of expensive cable and would not spend more than $100 for an interconnect unless it makes a big difference.

I have a dual system. The VCR, tape deck, DVD, LD are routed through the receiver. The CD player is connected to an Acurus preamp to an Odyssey amp.

I find it hard to distinguish between cables even on a good receiver, but with the separate components, I can hear subtle differences when different cables are substituted. I have a very good mid fi system by audiophile terms, and I can already hear subtle differences with different cables. Therefore, I can imagine a higher resolution system might produce an even bigger difference when using different cables.

I would conclude that this cable is appropriate for audio/HT systems with moderatley good receivers(under $1000). For the best receivers available(Yamaha DSPA1, Denon 5700) and separates, a better cable would pay off.

Associated equipment:
Acurus RL11
Chiro C200, Odyssey Stratos
Rega Planet
NHT VT2, VS2a, HDP2
Sony 50ES receiver(preout to amp for HT)
Toshiba 3108
Sony VCR, tapedeck
Pioneer LD
AR, MC, Audioquest and RS interconnects and cables

Similar Products Used:

Monster Cable(MC), AR, Audioquest

Very transparent cable for the price. Nice mids/highs and tight bass

connectors are a bit too tight, this could be good or bad

DVD-Audio was the ultimate test for these cables. Since I cannot afford to buy 3 pairs of expensive audio interconnects I went with RS gold. The high resolution sound of DVD-A comes through with these cables. Highs are crisp and clean and not at all bright. Bass is tight and well defined, and mids are warm without sounding distorted.
The only cable I have compared these to is Monster, (and some cheap RCA brand cables that were the same price but nowhere near the quality) so I can see that Monster is a rip-off except for their video cables. If your thinking of getting into one of the multichannel high resolution formats and need several interconnects but don't have alot to spend, give the RS gold a try. Maybe sometime down the road you'll have the money for something more expensive, but it may not sound better!

Similar Products Used:

Monster Interlink 400, 250