Scart leads

[Liszt]

Scart Cables. What's the big deal? It's some multi cored wire terminated by a moulded plug. Whats the big deal? What is the secret manufacturing process which makes a teenage goit in my local retail superstore want to charge me thirty notes for a cable. I need a couple to connect Video./DVD/SKY to tv and he was wanting 60 quid for 2 cables. I only paid £99 for the video FFS !!

Also, what is it with the angled plugs. Do these people not consider that not everybody wants the lead to run that way!

And don't get me started on gold plugs and all that . Do I look like George fg Lucas? I have a modest home cinema system in a modest living room and so don't need to listen to the bd Tweenies at 150 db!

After telling him where he could connect his cable to, I am still in need of a couple of cables, can anyone recommend an online retailer?

[lazyitus]

Morning

[fto2tuscan]

theres a small shop called dallans in stafford - it's ahorrid scrubby place, but their scart thangs are cheap!

when you buy a PS2 you get a scart to phono lead - getting 2 of these adapters and some phono leads would probably be cheaper.

but for the love of trevor stay out of Currys, Comet, B&Q, etc

[Rob P]

Maplins are usually good for that sort of stuff, not sure how price competitve they are though...

[raceboy]

I'm not going to say these are any good but they're cheap
cheapy cheap cheap
a bit less cheap and a bit more bling
and if you don't like the angle

[pdV6]

raceboy said:

and if you don't like the angle

Forget the angle... I like the flatness!

[Liszt]

And...........relax!


Cheers guys. I knew they were trying to shaft me.

Argus, eh? As much as I try to avoid the place I may pop in.

[angusfaldo]

I've a binful of the damn things. How many do you want

[simpo two]

£30? Bargain mate - I've seen 'em for £99!!!

But I did see in The Range (don't know if there's one near you) a nice-looking one for £10 with a flat ribbon-style cable which would fold down nicely.

[mcflurry]

Woolies used to sell them for £3.99

[roop]

www.cpc.co.uk

I got some gorgeous OFC cabled SCARTS with proper heavy metal plugs and gold terminal for about £3.50 each. Look and feel great , not flimsy.

Roop

[wiggy001]

Just remember that you get what you pay for and, when it comes to home cinema, it's pointless spending good money on kit only to buy cheap cables. Total cost of cabling should be around 10-20% the cost of the euipment you're linking up.

Also, not all Scart leads are fully wired, so won't be able to provide an RGB signal. Maplin's are normally a good bet for all budgets...

[sjg]

Liszt said:

What is the secret manufacturing process which makes a teenage goit in my local retail superstore want to charge me thirty notes for a cable. I need a couple to connect Video./DVD/SKY to tv and he was wanting 60 quid for 2 cables. I only paid £99 for the video FFS !!

It's one of the few things they get decent commission on - hence when you buy a new TV/video/DVD player you get them insisting that you need one of the horrendously expensive ones, along with extended warranties.

I don't agree with the 10-20% of budget stuff - it's usually quoted by the same magazines that run tests on optical cables and declare that one has "far greater warmth and clarity" or some other guff when all it's doing is shifting bits around. Yes, there are improvements to be made over the cheapies but you very quickly reach the point of diminishing returns, snake oil and the placebo effect of plugging in chunky colourful cables. Still love the story of Quad demoing some of their high-end speakers at one of the audio shows - all hooked up with black & decker mains extension cable, but with fancy plugs on the ends. Lots of audiophiles enthusing about the sound, but none noticing that the cable cost 15 quid total and was designed for plugging in hedgetrimmers.

Second the CPC recommendation - great cables in any configuration you'd want and very well priced.

>> Edited by sjg on Monday 29th March 18:30

[john_p]

Still maintain this is one of the most amusing reviews ever:

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=104690

"Hyper detail. Hyper macrodynamics. Microdynamics in spades. Brutally unforgiving"

All from a bit of wire

[Liszt]

sjg said:

I don't agree with the 10-20% of budget stuff

Me neither. This is a mass produced item, where are the complexities? What bumps the price up?

I agree that these things should be well made and properly shielded and have a sufficient capacity, but that shouldn't make them expensive.

Another rip off in my opinion

[wiggy001]

Liszt said:

sjg said: I don't agree with the 10-20% of budget stuff Me neither. This is a mass produced item, where are the complexities? What bumps the price up? I agree that these things should be well made and properly shielded and have a sufficient capacity, but that shouldn't make them expensive. Another rip off in my opinion

I wouldn't agree with that personally. I've bought cheap scarts in the past (for example) and it's not long (relatively) before the plugs become loose in their sockets. I've also had to run some pretty long scarts in the past and the cheaper cables just aren't up to the job. I'd always insist on gold-plated terminals as a minimum and feel it's a false economy to buy cheap.

Saying that, I don't spend hundreds on cables like some would.

Also as I said before, the cheaper cables are rarely fully wired (same goes for the cheap switch boxes too).

And I'm not just talking about scarts - speaker cable supplied with speakers is quite often not think enough (not enough strands) to carry the required signal clearly.

Suppose it all depends on how much of a perfectionist you are