Cable Costs Relative to System

Update....found some old MIT MH 750 shotgun speaker cable laying around my dealer. Upgraded speakers to Totem Winds driven by Krell 400xi second time I've bought it). Startlingly good...open, detailed, 3D soundstage beyond walls, dynamic as hell and natural sounding...relaxed! Perhaps at this level I will have to jump at the chance. Originally $1200+...still some around for $550 or less!

I think cable upgrades are important, but way overhyped. I would venture to say, besides a deeper black level and lowering the background noise floor, if you blind test most people, using different cords, plus a stock cord, that you would not notice a tremendous difference between the $150.00 cord and $1000.00 cord.

I have a friend who owns a high end audio store and he told me that cables are like the socks of the clothes world. Easy to stock, easy to sell and lots of margin.

There's no 10% rule. Cables are used to cary a signal and it should do it without loss. It is not a question of $/ft. It is not true neither that you have to spend a thousand $ on a cable to achieve that. If you buy a very expensive cable, it's only camouflage because you have poor electronics and you try to get the less poor sound from your system. I have a 10000$ system and I will never spend more than 2 to 3 hundreds on cables, even if one day I have a 60000$ system simply because I chose the right electronics.

If you buy a very expensive cable, it's only camouflage because you have poor electronics and you try to get the less poor sound from your system. I have a 10000$ system and I will never spend more than 2 to 3 hundreds on cables, even if one day I have a 60000$ system simply because I chose the right electronics.

This is like shopping for the best produce, cooking in All Clad, and using Morton's salt. You have no idea what you're missing. Oh well...

Chrfor, never say never. Some day you may be lucky enough to be enlightened, perhaps.

It's interesting to me, when this thread was started it was full of people who spoke without knowledge, and argued for the sake of argument. During these past years more development dollars have been placed on cable materials and methods of construction. This effort has taken us from one step above Monster cable to some jaw dropping products.

I hear the comments about blind a/ab comparisons and double blind testing, with these camps continuing to speak with such conviction that we would not hear a difference. How absurd these comments have become. No one with any experience with high end equipment could continue to have this view, yet somehow they continue to exist.

I simply shake my head and laugh. For the rest of the people here, we continue to learn and experiment, finding more and more from the electronics. When we started this thread, I was in the camp of the absurd in that 1/3 of my budget was spent on cables. As I look at the virtual systems posted here, I'm now seeing more and more people learning that the cables may well be the most important factor in our system.

Chrfor, perhaps you need to re-examine your confusion. You state our cables will only point out the poor electronics. You are correct, but if you had good electronics then all you would hear is your bad cables. Your system is only as good as the weakest link. I read from your comments this is your electronics. Sorry for you, but as I said, never say never!

jd