5 Hifi Products to Spend Money On

0:00 Start
0:35 Intro
1:18 Power Conditioner
3:07 Cables
6:21 Banana Plugs
7:54 Speaker Stands
9:34 Rack
12:50 Storage

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Recommended Streamer

Recommended Speaker List

Around $100 (These prices will fluctuate between $75 - $150)

Around $200

Around $400

Around $500

Around $600

Recommended Amp List

Under $100

Around $130

Around $250

Around $400

Recommended DACs

Subs

[knivesandfire]

I can also vouch for Blue Jeans Cable. Nice that they are local to me (Seattle) and I picked up some of their fantastic custom made speaker cables at their facility.

[tdewys]

I borrowed a Niagra 1200 from a friend for almost 6 months. I wasn’t sure that it made that large of a difference until he asked for it back. Once it was gone, I had to immediately buy my own.

[TheKizersoze]

I use BJC (blue Jean cables) cables. Similar reason to what you said. You know they are made extremely well and I will never have to worry. They also allow you to customize what type of Ends you want. They also shield in white.

$40-80 for normal cable length

[rodzilla]

The Monoprice Monolith Audio Stand XL is quite good for the money. It has larger diameter tubes and thicker shelves than most other racks in the same price range. I recently assembled one and added the Monolith Amplifier/Component Stand XL to the top for a five shelf rack. I filled the tubes with glass beads so the rack is both sturdy and quiet. A good place to buy speaker stands is Parts Express, they have multiple sizes in wood or steel.

[dillonbray]

What's even more important than the company selling the cable is the manufacturer of the cable and interconnects. Sommer, Canare, Belden, Amphenol, Neutrik, etc. all manufacture quality products.

[driversk]

I'm a Tripp Lite Isobar guy. Built like tanks and (depending on the model) each socket has an isolated filter. If they're good enough for medical equipment keeping folks alive, then it's good enough for me. i'm also a huge fan of flex pin banana plugs because they work with spring-clip and screw-down terminals. It's like having a bare-wire connection that doesn't get shredded.

[nancyray]

Thanks! Love that you're always here when I start messing with my HiFi again and wanna kick back with some videos on the hobby.

[kennethmccullough]

Blue Jeans cables are very well built and decently priced as well.

[rosswarren]

I built my own rack by buying 1/2-13 threaded rods, stainless steel nuts, washers, and rubber washers (used them under the stainless-steel ones to dampen vibrations and to help hold everything snug) from McMaster. Bought castors from Home Depot. If I had to do it over again, I'd buy heavier duty castors. Don't skimp out there. Bought 3/4" thick oak plywood and had Lowe's Hardware cut them to shape and drill holes in each corner. They were able to stack two or three at a time when drilling the holes to maintain alignment. Used some rolls of oak veneer (yeah, comes in a roll you iron on - duh) to hide the edges and then stained them with several coats of stain and a few of urethane for protection. All this wasn't cheap, but I got exactly what I wanted. One thing to note: Using threaded rod works well but be prepared to go a bit crazy spinning the nuts into place. Recall that there will be EIGHT for each shelf. That takes a long, long time. Chill out and listen to music and be prepared to waste an afternoon. Oh, if I had a chance to do it all again, I might spring some $$ for black anodized threaded rods. That would look even better.

[dsnydercnn]

Blue Jeans cables have been solid for me. Welded terminations are tough to break. I like WBC also. 😊

[nickbutler]

Rack - built a Salamader-style one for my system in University - Home Depot for threaded rod / washers / nuts, and for the pine 'project boards' used as shelves. Sent a couple of nights drilling, sanding, rounding all the edges and then finishing the shelves (urethane) Worked really well, and being able to adjust the shelving for different sized components / storage racks was great (although time consuming).

[scotthartman]

Blue Jeans Cables. Great quality, great value. This is where i go to get cables that will do the job and not

[TheFrugalAudiophile]

I use inner and outer sleeves from vinyl storage solutions. They are a Canadian company but shipping is still free if you spend a certain amount. I really like the double pocket outer sleeves so that I can put the record in one of the pockets and keep it separated from the album cover to prevent leaving a circle impression on it. They also have really nice rice paper, inner sleeves that minimize static. Their products are priced fairly and occasionally they do have sales.

Also, my sister has one of the mono price audio equipment, racks; and I think it is very good for the price. I’m sure the other ones you mention are better, but they are priced accordingly.

[steve]

My first speaker stands were unfinished wood barstools! I sawed off the legs to the correct height.

[garganega]

My Furmans' breakers tripped overnight once. They have coax and RJ45 protection. I was impressed. Definitely buy that again. I absolutely love the 10 AWG copper speaker cables from Blue Jeans. I have their optical/RCA/Cat 6E cables also. My whole system is on casters. Nice rubber wheels do not transmit much vibration. I replaced my wall outlet with a medical grade model. We moved the hardwired house internet port next to it. This was over the course of six years. I keep a dedicated box of audio parts/cable in the garage. Never know when something might be needed.

[pervertedalchemist]

I have two sets of speakers stands in my house. I just need racks - for my stereo equipment and my rather expansive collection of vinyl. I hope to acquire them when I move into a bigger place next year.

[Photoboy]

I highly recommend Pine Tree Audio cables. I use his speaker, interconnect, coaxial and power cables. Replaced my Audioquest Diamondback interconnects first and I saw a big improvement in clarity plus Jesse does custom work and is great to work with.

[davidwho]

Spot on Randy! A few months ago I tried World's Best Cables. I bought the Mogami 2964 variety and Wow!. This led to a return to Amazon for 3 more pair and a pile of junk cables that will never be used again. I never thought about snipping them in half, but they probably should be. LOL!
Also, about a year ago I purchased a Panamax 4300. The unit has Linear noise filtration and that is a definite sonic improvement for things like a DAC, streamer and CD players.

[jimx]

Blue Jeans Cables are nice. They'll build most cables in any length and, in some cases, different colors.

[BlastBest]

I highly recommend SKW cables. Probably the cheapest cables with OCC copper instead of regular OFC. Their speaker cables are amazing (on the slightly more expensive side tho) and the RCA are quite a bargain