Customer Reviews

Acoustic Research AP031 6-Foot Stereo Analog Interconnect, with Gold RCA Plug Molded Connectors

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since the reviews for these products are all tied together, I'll lump all four of them together in one review.

Several recent additions and upgrades to two home theater systems necessitated several new audio and video cables. For overall quality and pricing, I found the following cables by Acoustic Research to be perfect for each particular connection that they are intended for:

Acoustic Research AP031 6-Foot Stereo Analog Interconnect - These are your standard red/white audio cables that are integral to connections such as receiver to tape player, receiver to CD player, receiver to television, receiver to DVD player and receiver to VCR. In each case, I found the quality to be perfect in these connections with Audio Research's AP031. They're so high in noise reduction that if there are any extraneous noises, I'm certainly not hearing it.

Acoustic Research AP064 A/V RCA Audio w/S-Video - These are the perfect cables for your standard receiver to VHS player with S-Video capability. With these particular cables I'm receiving the highest quality picture and audio one can expect from a VCR.

Acoustic Research AP071 6 foot Coaxial Digital Audio Cable - This particular cable is outstanding in the capacity of receiver to DVD player in covering both digital audio and digital video signals!

Acoustic Research AP091 3 Piece, 6 foot Red/Blue/Green Component Video Cables - I'm using this particular cable in the capacity of receiver to television set and simply put, one would be hard pressed to receive higher signal quality, color saturation, black level, picture detail, all leading to a sharper, clearer picture!

Overall, I highly recommend these and any other cables from Audio Research as I've found, with few exceptions, that one would be hard pressed to find better cables in the same price range! You don't necessarily have to spend a ton of money on a name when you can spend far less and receive the same quality such as that delivered by Acoustic Research's products. {ssintrepid}

I bought these interconnects to connect my Marantz CD player to a high-end integrated amp. They replace gold-plated Radio Shack RCA interconnects. Boy did they make an immediate and huge difference!

I got better soundstage and imaging, smoother highs, more resolved bass and more revealing sound overall. This sounds clichéd, but I am hearing things that I never heard before including some background sound that I never thought existed. These are directional cables and the instructions tell you to install the cable with the arrow pointing toward (not away from) the source - which is correct! Wrong direction caused a huge hum in my system.

One of the previous reviewers is absolutely right - you have to get good interconnect cables and they do make huge audible differences. This is because the effects of capacitance, inductance and shielding from EMI/RFI noise are noticeable particularly on interconnects. (Whereas it is extremely difficult to percieve sound differences from any well-constructed speaker wire of 12AWG or thicker). Ideally you want an interconnect with low capacitance, good inductance (most do anyway), and good shielding. This Acoustic Research AP031 Stereo Analog Interconnect does just this!

My entry level audiophile stereo has a couple of great components and can make listening to sub par recordings unbearable. For those who care- Toshiba SD-9200 HDCD --> NAD C740 --> PSB Image B25's --> PSB Sub Zero 6i. Yesterday I tried a pair of $125 Audioquest Ruby Hyperlitz three foot cables in between my cd player and my receiver. I connected them in my system between a $2000 cd player and an $800 dollar receiver and sampled them back to back using King Crimson's "Level Five" as a reference. The inexpensive acoustic research cables sounded better. There were things that the Rubys did well- a little more depth but mostly a slightly softened presence. They did not do anything positive, in my opinion, to the lower midrange. The Acoustic Research cables are very good in every respect. I'll take the more present sound along with the tighter lower mids, i would have needed to fiddle with my sub crossover if I had kept the Rubys. I never would have guessed how well the AR cable would stack up to a genuine entry level audiophile cable. Very good value and a better sounding cable with my components...

This review applies to Audio cables only. For the record these cables are a much improvement over what you get in the box with whatever audio component you are purchasing. They provide a cleaner, crisper sound than standard RCA cables. The biggest issue I have with them is that the bass seems over compensated for however it can be easily adjusted if you are running and EQ. The bottom line is this, most of us don't have the money nor the justification to pay 100$$$ per cable for "high end" (read as audiophile geek)and this cable works fine, an affordable upgrade that does improve the sound....

My audiophile brother raved about this extremely high-value interconnect. I was skeptical that an interconnect could make the kind of difference he described, especially at the very low cost of the AR AP031, but hearing is believing. Money very well spent, and not very much!

o.k let's face it. these cables are about one step up from the free ones that come in the box. i recommend these to someone with a weak, starter system. basically, they'll do the job until you can spring for more sophisticated cables , i highly recommend audioquest by the way. the key to a good sounding system is to keep it simple, meaning the less components you have hooked up to your amp or receiver, the less distortion will be made. i have two jbl 10's, a harman kardon stereo receiver, and a sony mega changer cd player. cablewise, i have a paire of audioquest coral analog connectors, and audioquest midnight speaker cable, a ten foot pair, the shorter the better when it comes to speaker cable, also, less expensive. i consider my home system low end and a starter system at best. while i have sunk about 2300 dollars into it, and to most people, non audiophiles, that is a lot ogf money, it really isn't when you look at all your options out there. one could easily spend 25, 30 grand building a system piece by piece, of course, using middle to high end equipment, not the junk that they want to sell you in best buy or circuit city. remember, when buying expensive audio equipment, especially online, make sure you are buying new, factory sealed product with manufacturer warranty. you'll see some insanely low prices out there on decent items, and chances are that they have been used, demoed, or factory refurbished at some point. all in all, these cables got me through about 6 months of listening and they sounded well enough, until i could afford better ones.

Pretty good interconnects, definitely better than out-of-the-box cables.
Changed to a pair of Ecosse Composer ... Cleaned up the sound considerably, especially the booming bass. If you like big bass - use the AR i/c.
The interconnect cables make a BIG difference in your system. It's a good place to spend some extra money. Besides, it's fun and easy to experiment with different brands.