# AudioQuest RCA's for Car Audio?



## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Anyone using these RCA cables? either the Evergreens, Golden Gates or expensive Sydney or the cheapest Tower models?

Yes! expensive I know. I like the looks, connector's colors, I also like the construction being a single cable that splits in 2 connectors at the end just like car audio cables should be to run them in tight spaces.


Worth it for car audio? any Experiences in home or car audio systems?


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Sure if you like them.

I have a ton of Type-4 speaker wire that I bought for an old install...some of it was cut to fit the old car, so dunno if it will fit the new car.

I haven't used AQ interconnects in the car, but have messed around with MIT, Cardas, Synergistic Research, Goertz, and Straight Wire, and DH Labs in the car. No worries about noise. Prices can get up there though. 

I would love to use some Straight Wire Encores because I like the looks of them...I did use Rhapsody and liked it.

If you can afford it, go for it!


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## Justin Zazzi (May 28, 2012)

Seriously? ANY decent shielded rca cable will work. Don't spend a bunch of money on brands that offer mystique and pseudo-science. What a waste. If you really want to waste your money on something, give me $75 for every $25 you spend on cables. You'll have the satisfaction spending loads of money and I'll have the satisfaction of buying some food for the week.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Honestly, I was sucked by the looks, construction, single stereo cable, color and the RCA connector it'self almost fully covered. Besides the fact that just for the entry level Tower, I can get a very decent deal. The 16 ft at $400 sydney, I would not think about buying it even at 1/3 of the price .


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

They also said some interesting things here, I am not sure what to think as far as SQ


I know it's an old topic, I could hear a difference between a $12 Monster basic RCA bought in the 90's and some $20 stiff cable with gold plated RCA's from Radio Shack.

10 years later huge difference between Canare Microphone cable vs $15 Target store cables or many others in the $20-40 range. 

No difference between Mono Price and Canare Pro microphone cable. All tests through decent headphones. Mono Price is a no go for Car Audio, bulky stiff one thick cable for each channel, too much space, and some amps may have connectors too close to each other, they are just for home use. 

Times have changed, and these days it may be very hard to notice clear differences, now everybody uses pure copper, or high grade quality copper, and 20 years back, who knows if some of those cheaper cables had real copper, and claimed they did. Some claims on some articles mentioned purple copper. 

Again, Just curiosity andI just see the whole package as convenient with extra color and looks, if the sound is as good it can be, great.  And I wanted to know if anyone have use them in cars. 

The Entry Level #34 Page 2 | Stereophile.com


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Jazzi said:


> Seriously? ANY decent shielded rca cable will work. Don't spend a bunch of money on brands that offer mystique and pseudo-science. What a waste. If you really want to waste your money on something, give me $75 for every $25 you spend on cables. You'll have the satisfaction spending loads of money and I'll have the satisfaction of buying some food for the week.


Epic post. I agree with all of this, except giving Jazzi the money. Give it to me instead...


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## Justin Zazzi (May 28, 2012)

Al, you have always been in love with my car's system. To your ears, it sounds amazing. Every time you hear it you've always asked me about how I do what I do. So trust me on this. I use the same no-name RCA cables that came with a VCR player from my grandparent's house. Think about that for a moment. They are old, cheap, don't have directional indicators on them, no fancy rope braid to make them look pretty, no claims of oxygen-free copper this or that, no battery to bias the dielectric, literally nothing that some people think is critical to have for SQ. And they sound just fine.

I'm dead serious. Find another way to spend your money on something that matters.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

If they look good to him, ties in cosmetically, and he already said he could get a good price on one of the lines. So why not? People spend a ton of time dressing other cables up or making their own. If he can get these for a good price, why not? My time is worth something, and I don't want to spend it techflexing, labeling, and heatshrinking cables if I could spend a few bucks more and have it done for me...with a warranty and some resale b/c of the name.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

I am still happy with my 4 year old 4 ch stinger's, as I add an extra amplifier, 4ch cables become less flexible to connect from amp to amp or if using one single amp bridged, Having to disconnect them from the HU and re connect them on other channels


One thing I failed to pay attention to, when I get in other's cars, is to see under the hood and trunks where the amplifiers are, just to see what cables are being used and check other things like Dist blocks, terminal blocks etc.

I am barely getting funds now to upgrade my amp power wiring and it will be a while when I change the RCA's.

And as much as I respect people that do a little extra work on the side to support the hobby or generate some extra money, I am one of those also that don't have a full time job or the work I get is seasonal and I seek opportunities to generate some extra cash when possible or get the best possible deal when I can, I happen to also sell RCA's occasionally, not custom or special, they are already made new in retail package where the margins are much tighter, I know how difficult and hard it is, and how much some members support the ones that offer a quality custom product.


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## capea4 (Sep 2, 2010)

snap av top tier cables are what you are liking, for cheap money.

http://www.snapav.com/p-183-b7-aud-1-r.aspx


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Real boyz buy these cables...

Nordost ODIN interconnect Cable

For $10k/m they BETTER be good 



> INSULATION: High purity class 1.003 extruded Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP)
> CONSTRUCTION: Precision Dual Micro Mono-Filament and TSC design
> CONDUCTORS: 8 x 23 AWG extruded silver over 99.99999% OFC
> PROPAGATION DELAY: 90% speed of light


ROFL! I want warp speed for that kinda money.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

I hope I am not sending the wrong message here not being too clear. I like value and if looks and cosmetics come with it, then great.

I appreciate the extra options.  The audioquest are the ones that caught my eye, call it eye candy or first good impression. 

Sound Quality is important and I do not expect them to be better than my Stinger Level 3 sets, if they are, fine if there is no difference that is fine with me also. 


And sure, I will admit that I just wanted to know if someone used them, and if there was a market for them because I may decide to get a few pairs to sell. 

Not many of them to the point it will affect other popular cables here in the forum, just a few pairs and they will be discounted but not to the point below or equal to compete with the other 2 custom great cables sold here, or the Stinger's I still sell, that are almost gone and only available in 12ft 2 ch now. 
Sizes and lengths will be limited also. No worries, I may not do it and if I do, I would need to sell a few pairs in order to make enough $ to reward myself with some of them.


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

Wood Grain Finish for that Bling Factor,,
RCA Connector products | China RCA Connector Products, Suppliers, Manufacturers


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## I800C0LLECT (Jan 26, 2009)

Hanatsu said:


> Real boyz buy these cables...
> 
> Nordost ODIN interconnect Cable
> 
> ...












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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Once upon a time I had multiple Nordost Valhalla RCA cables...sold those really quick on Audiogon.


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## DDfusion (Apr 23, 2015)

Soundrive or DD. Custom fit
And with Soundrive you can get them color coded. 
I was t expecting them to sound any different but they really cleaned up the install


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## Elektra (Feb 4, 2013)

Well I have a lot of AQ in my car - does it make a difference - I like to think so - would I pay the retail on them? No I wouldn't. 

I'll bet nobody here has the cables I have here - but it's not about showing off or anything like that - hardly anyone who knows my car knows about the cables - I don't advertise it - In fact I hardly let people listen to the car unless they want to. 

Music is a personal love for me - always striving for that 5% better - it consumes you eventually so you have to say what the hell and stand back and think about what your doing.

Sure it's a lot of cash for a cable - but some of the crap you buy out there is really what it is crap - terminals come lose etc engine noise and so on - even the entry level AQ is well made and if you buy the Evergreen of Forest cables I reckon it's money well spent - cables are thinner there isn't a dedicated left and right cable - as it's all in one split only at the ends - makes life easier when your running a P99 with 4 sets of RCA cables from front to rear - also easier from behind the HU install as well.

I think it's worth it - but I think it's equipment level based so I reckon Evergreen or Forest (can't remember the name) is great for 95% of the installs 

My 2cents here.... 


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

I actually got the green audioquest cable in my car. Got it for free, otherwise I'd never pay that kinda money.

I measured 5m RCAs some time back, they had measurable noise rejection differences, but both FR/PhResp from 10Hz-40kHz -HD-IMD showed extremely little differences.

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## Elektra (Feb 4, 2013)

I paid very little in respect to the MRSP.. Otherwise the value of the cable alone supersedes the value of the equipment... So if you managed to find a $3000 RCA cable for say $300-400 I'd say it was worth a go... Logic says that a eBay I can get my money back when I am done with them - but I suspect they will just go from car to home.. 


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

You should post pictures! 

Models of these AQ RCA's have changed over the years, I think.

The ones pictured for example the Evergreen, (green connectors), a 16 foot 2 ch goes for $64

The red ones, 16 ft ( golden gate) $110

The black ones Sydney' also 16 ft $420. 

The green and red may be in the range for some wanting to match their cars exterior for example  or simply to dress up an install just for looks and having decent audio performance


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## adrianp89 (Oct 14, 2007)

I'm glad I came across this thread. I can get the Evergreens rather cheap, so I think I will use those for my next build.


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

U guys are,,, I wonder how much of a difference you will get... 460$ vs 20$ cable hmmm 

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## JVD240 (Sep 7, 2009)

I've just saved this webpage to a thumb drive and thrown it in the garbage.

Afterwards I am setting said garbage on fire.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

quickaudi07 said:


> U guys are,,, I wonder how much of a difference you will get... 460$ vs 20$ cable hmmm
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


The Law of Diminishing Returns: 10 Items That Lose Value the More You Spend


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## adrianp89 (Oct 14, 2007)

quickaudi07 said:


> U guys are,,, I wonder how much of a difference you will get... 460$ vs 20$ cable hmmm
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


Figuring the Evergreen cables are cheaper than some KnuKonceptz wires...I don't see where the big deal is. I think some people here see AudioQuest and automatically assume $10k cable.


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## thehatedguy (May 4, 2007)

Exactly.

Some of the "car" cables are as expensive as some of these "high end" cables, especially when you are in the upper end of the car cables. When I was installing for a living, I used to be able to buy DH Labs for less than Monster and IXOS (our two lines at the time).

Plus sometimes you can find good deals on cables from places like www.usedcables.com. At one point they had a cable "library" where you could rent and try various cables in your own system before you buy.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

:laugh: That's it, I can't care less if the Audioquest black ones are $400 and the green ones are $65

They look the same to me. And it's the look and construction that caught my attention, gold plated connectors, shape, color, single stereo 2 ch cable, too many check marks passed and nothing to dislike or be negative about to me anyway.


Some cables can be very expensive, perform well and still not very appealing or boring

I've always liked RCA cables connectors that cover most if not all the part that seats on the amp's connector once plugged all the way in. 

Even color matters sometimes, the stingers HPM3 or 8000, being gray, blend well with any color interior if exposed.


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## danssoslow (Nov 28, 2006)

If I may, where do you guys find short RCAs? Like 6" to a foot?


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Anything less than 2 ft is hard to find already made. The ones with DSP's need them and for custom lengths and very fair pricing I would use Jazzi.


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## Elektra (Feb 4, 2013)

I never forget the day I bought some RCA cable off the roll - I think it was Transparent Cable and had the RCA cables made up - I decided to go to a hifi shop that stocked other brands like AQ and said to the guy I want to demo their cable 

So I plugged my cable to there hifi in a listening room - listened for about 10mins - they then brought in a set of the AQ Diamond Back cables - the difference was stupid - it wasn't even close the AQ molested my made up cable.

From that day I steered clear of these made up cables and always bought made up ones.

If you look at AQ range say - Diamond Back - the cost of 1m isn't half of 2m etc and a 5m length isn't 5 times more expensive than 1m - the money is in the plugs they used. 

If I bought the made up cables with the same quality terminations the cost would be similar.

Why not just buy the properly factory terminated cables then? You have endless trouble with the made up ones with pulling on the terminations to get them in tight spaces just pulls them apart...

A mate of mine bought Audison Sonus RCA cables and he had endless problems with engine noise in his car - he had the P99 in his car so to find the cable that was the issue was not easy - eventually we found one of his RCA cables had a bad termination - probably from the installer pulling at the terminations - but I was surprised at the poor quality of these cables compared to the AQ versions 

My cables are expensive - I know that - just the cable value in my car is more than any other car fully built with install and equipment over here. It's not something I advertise but if you know where to look you can be surprised how cheap you can get a RCA cable for... 

I know the AQ agents here very well - been buying stuff on and off from them or there dealers for years.. 

They gave me great deals on some discontinued stock which is most of the reason why I ended up with the cables I have. 

If you have a system that is worth say $10k in equipment only - why use $50 on your cables? 

Same can be said if you have a $1000 system - why use $1000 for cables? 
























There is some King Cobra behind the HU and a IPod Cable as well.. No pics of. 


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Thanks for sharing that picture. 

Those look similar to the Columbias with that plastic box and tinny powered wire at $645 for a 6.5 ft pair one.


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## Elektra (Feb 4, 2013)

From Columbia up they all have that DBS system...


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## DDfusion (Apr 23, 2015)

danssoslow said:


> If I may, where do you guys find short RCAs? Like 6" to a foot?


Z-Wire RCA System - DD Audio

Or Soundrive


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## gumbeelee (Jan 3, 2011)

I have used audioquest rca's an optical cables. I had a little static when i was using stinger rca's, switched to audioquest and it was gone. If u want to spend the money for quality rca's, u can't go wrong with audioquest. If it were me and u are dropping some dough for quality rca's, buy them from Soundrive. They make there own rca's and they are the best i have ever used. Soundrive used to be WestCoast Co., a guy on diyma made the rca's but Soundrive is making them now. They made me a 17ft. six channel and I absolutely love them!!


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## DDfusion (Apr 23, 2015)

gumbeelee said:


> I have used audioquest rca's an optical cables. I had a little static when i was using stinger rca's, switched to audioquest and it was gone. If u want to spend the money for quality rca's, u can't go wrong with audioquest. If it were me and u are dropping some dough for quality rca's, buy them from Soundrive. They make there own rca's and they are the best i have ever used. Soundrive used to be WestCoast Co., a guy on diyma made the rca's but Soundrive is making them now. They made me a 17ft. six channel and I absolutely love them!!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Same here. I didn't have issues but I did need short cables. They are solid and quality stuff. Very happy with them for what I spent.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Anything that works for us and keep us happy, I can build my set of cables using the same exact cable, with better connectors for 8 channels for under $60. One long and 6 short and offer myself a lifetime warranty without waiting.

There are other choices, premium guitar cables that may have an edge over the microphone 4 conductor twisted pairs shielded cables. I think jazzi does not use twisted pairs in the RCA's he builds, not sure, and would go with those if I had to order some.

And stingers high end cables are directional RCA's if there was a noise issue, it was not correctly installed or there was some issue with a connector damaged or abused.


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

How can you abuse a cable ???

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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Twisted pairs only matters in a balanced system.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

quickaudi07 said:


> How can you abuse a cable ???
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


By yanking it out from the cable and not the connector itself, if they are tight and don't remove easily


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## Justin Zazzi (May 28, 2012)

That's right, I don't use twisted pair for RCA cables because they are not balanced or differential on either end. It's like why would you try to race a monster truck on a Nascar track? You don't because it's not the right tool for the job, and you'll have worse performance.


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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Found my measurements.





The yellow was my homemade cheap cables and the other one some fancy Audison cable or something.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

By yellow you mean green?

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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Someone must be color blind  just kidding.!!!!

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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

I see greenish and baby blue graphs,on both screens.perhaps optometrist visit in order.

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## Hanatsu (Nov 9, 2010)

Supposed to be yellow and teal I think


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Really its pink who cares lol the graph is there... 

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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

I also see green and light blue

The letters at the bottom look more yellow to me


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

Guys I was kidding about the colors seriously lol 

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