price

too tight

Way too tight. have pulled the rca connectors off of more then one of my receivers.
Interconnects from WWW.Bettercables.com cost more but offer a much higher level of performance at a relatively higher price.
Audio Advisor also offer interconnects at a higher price but offer much more performance.

Similar Products Used:

better cables, mit interconnects

Price

Connector fit

I bought these interconnects to connect a vintage Pioneer equalizer, and they were about the best that I could find at the time. I am not one of those people that can tell the difference between brands of cable unless the difference is huge. The problem I had is the friggin tight connectors. The second time I disconnected them I had to use pliers. I was afraid of breaking the RCA jacks out of the back of my equipment so I never used them again. Maybe there is a good reason for such a tight fit, but I don't want to take a chance.

Similar Products Used:

Stinger, Lynx, cheapo

Inexpensive, good sound

A bit flimsy

After reading positive reviews of these cables on this site, I decided to buy these instead of more expensive cables, to connect my Toshiba SD-3109 DVD player to my Aiwa AV-D50 reciever. Part of one of the connectors snapped off as I was plugging it in, which didn't impress me in terms of quality of manufacturing, but I have been very happy with the quality of the sound since then. I think they're great if you are just starting an A/V system.

Similar Products Used:

none

cheap, good value

hard to find

I think that these cables can't be beat for the money. Do yourself a favor; get these, same some money. Your ears and wallet will thank you.

Similar Products Used:

none

Price, sometimes quality

Sometimes quality

I find that as far as price/performance ratio, Rat Shack can't be beat. However, I have had some of these cables that were bad out of the box, with broken or bad solder joints. I guess they were made on a monday morning or friday afternoon. Anyway, it is always easy to take them back to the shack and swap them out for a new pair. Like other reviews have mentioned, it is a shame that they don't come in a shorter length. The connectors definitely go on tight, which can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how often you re-arrange your system. I really haven't noticed much of a difference between various cable brands, although I DO notice a difference between these and the freebies. I know my hearing is pretty good, and I can still hear over 18Khz, and my gear is pretty good, too, including a pair of B&W Matrix 801's driven by a pair of Onkyo M504's. Not quite Hi-Fi, but not exactly Emerson, either. More important than the cables themselves is how they are run, i.e.-not placed alongside AC power cords, as short as possible, and no sharp bends/angles. I will only give them 3 stars overall though due to quality control. I think they are great bang for the buck, just inspect them before you install them.

Similar Products Used:

Monster, A/R, Canare

The previous PBJ review prompted me to look at myself in the mirror, and resulted in the following. (Do you think PBJ's sell because they remind their buyers of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches? I do.)
This is another product I cannot believe nobody has rated yet (at least that I can find). It's probably due to the reluctance of many to admit they have them, further reinforcing my suspicion that half of this hobby is the opportunity it provides certain individuals to comfort their probably overpaid, possibly underinformed, and definitely over-compensating personalities. Of course, that would not include me. Of course not, unless this is the other side of the coin--the macho, show me I'm from Missouri, real men wear pants and women wear dresses end of things. Who knows, and who cares? (Oops.)

Back to my story. I simply have too many project systems, too little money, and too large a need to have SOME kind of interconnect standard to be playing in the "10% of your system cost" cable game. My system tweaks are more sweeping: tube changes, component changes, speaker changes--mostly rotations from one system to another--which would mask any effects from cable changes anyway, not to mention the additional substitutions and combinations an additional variable would add to adequately assess what is really better in a given system combination. So I buy RS Gold.

They are cheap (I mean inexpensive). They are well built--never had one break. They grab onto RCA phono jacks just fine. They look nice--I especially like those little red and white Spaghetti-O's at each end. They come in quads, which are nice for tape deck use, and they are local. What they aren't is available in 1.5-meter lengths, which would be nice, but there's always the DIY approach.

I notice many, many shots (especially of Dynaco Stereo 70's) up on the Net where the interconnects are RS Golds that are neatly routed back under the chassis for the photo, but never mentioned. So come on--admit it! You use them and you like them! Ah, occasionally you get swept up by the latest little tart to hit the scene, like Bruce Willis picked up on Liv Tyler while working on Apocalypse (allegedly), but such dalliances are by nature short-lived, and you always come back. So take off your hoop earrings, your doo-rag and your eye patch, comb your hair, and yell out your high-rise apartment window: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore! I use Radio Shack RS Golds and I like them!"

I do.

Oh, how do they sound? Nice bass, quiet (good shielding), nice highs (not any noticeable rolloff due to excess capacitance that I can hear), consistent, apparently fairly equipment-independent, no "grain" or "grit" (really, now), delicate mids and a sweeping soundstage (I'm getting a little sick here), and above all, great packaging. Now available in new black and gold colored hanging blister packs! This is a big improvement over the original blue and then red packaging in my opinion, and I'm sure will be copied by all of the other manufacturers.

BTW, their 75-ohm single "video" cables make great digital interconnects, but their dual-banana plugs just completely suck shit. (Oopsie.)

Five value-added stars, nonetheless.

Be an organ and tissue donor and tell your family you really mean it!

You guys have inspired me to upgrade my "came with the component" RCA cables! I have never been a big believer in being able to "hear" interconnects. Seams to me that there are plenty of "weak links" in my moderately priced stereo equipment (not to mention the sound engineers, studio monitors, sound boards, CD pressers, etc...) that the least of my worries should be the interconnects. I could probably change the sound more by putting on a cotton sweater and washing behind my ears. But I digress...
But based on your testimonial on how attractive these affordable cables are, I've got to upgrade just for the esthetics. Off to Radio Shack... Keep those real world affordable upgrades coming ( and all you high horse hi-end snob's can save it, because I'm already hob knobing with the incredibly knowledgeable staff at the Shack).

I too own Radio Shack interconnects and am proud to have them. They do the job. Actually, I didn't really take the time to do an A/B comparison with other cables because I'm spending my time on more significant things like comparing and upgrading speakers and components -- it's these things that should be evaluated, NOT cables. If I do decide to upgrade cables, it's only to get NICER looking ones. But until I feel like doing something that insane, I'll just stick with what works -- i.e., the RS Gold Series cables. Oh, BTW, I also own the new RS Theatre cables - they have those turbine rca connectors that are really attractive. For the value as compared to other cables, I give the RS cables 5 stars.

I have switched the 'Monster Cable' brand interconnects (short length) with my Rad. Shack interconnects back and forth several times between the same 2 components to compare the 2. The result was that I did hear a slightly better sound quality & efficiency from the Monster Cable, but not = to the price difference. In other words, The price difference between the 2 is big. The quality difference is little. the Rad. shack interconnects (as well as gold bananna plugs) are very impressive and should be auditioned before purchases are made (in my opinion).

I work at a company owned Radio Shack and i am a huge audio nut mostly vinyl and well anything i can find that has the ole MFSl mark on it. I have a few R.S. cables in my system for the minor things like casette decks (i use the cable that has all four rca on each side for this which i find very convienent) and i find it very musical i cannot complain and for the money you cant beat them. You wouldnt beleive how many of these things we sell and i have yet to see one of them go bad or was bad out of the box. Oh speaking of killer R.S. products i also have a portable cd player the optimus cd-3400 with digital out also a neat little item we should still carry but that is another story. I would recomend this cable to anyone no matter what they are using it will help, it will make things sound a bit smoother and they sure fit snug maybe a bit to snug.