Cable Costs Relative to System

Well, I guess it's funny, but it's now almost a full four years after I submitted that post, but I feel even STRONGER in that opinion now. The price of wire is, in the majority of cases, set by the type of artificial means Mapleleafs3 laid out.

As an example, I personally have a friend who sells a cable for $99 that the rest of the high end audio world gladly pays $1400 for. It's EXACTLY the same cable, apart from the solder and terminations. And, before anyone asks, the soldering job of my friend actually surpasses the more expensive cable. Go figure. He even feels dirty about selling it for $99, that's the kind of profit we're talking about.

Another anecdote, a dearly departed friend of mine used to tell me about a friend of his who is one of the longtime biggest cable guys in this hobby. I mean, beyond household name. Well, my friend, who was also beyond a household name, wound up needing an extra interconnect at a high end audio show a while back. His cable friend had one of his employees fetch one to save the day. When my friend asked his buddy what the cost of the cable was, as he wanted to reimburse him, the answer he received was, "The cost is $3000. But, don't worry, it doesn't cost me anywhere near that. In fact, why don't you just keep it..." Hmmm, didn't sound like something he was too worried about.

Again, different wire SOUNDS different. It's even critically important. But, use your head, and you'll get the best for a lot less than the rest pay.

yep, I love to brag. That must be my motive...

Maple - you have hit the nail entirely on the head. People just want to throw money away. I recently saw a nordost "dem" at a hsow - except it wasnt a dem, they just talked about how their cable was a bargain even at 1000s per metre. A comparison with a $100 cable would have been very instructive if they have faith in their product.

Hi Joe, it's a bit strange hearing some of the words coming out of your mouth on this topic. I know you appreciate the fact that wire does affect sonic quality and that different construction techniques in dielectric will change an identical wire from harsh to smooth. I have often agreed with you over the years, and believe you to be a wise audiophile. I have tried so many under $150 cables and attempted to build many more, but my quest for the Holly Grail has failed every time until I spent money. I agree it's overpriced, and believe me, if a $99 wire could match the performance I would be happy to sell my investment. Please let me in on the Holly Grail you found, I would love to try them.

Maple, I have read through your posts not knowing who you are. Clearly you have a large and heavy chip you are carrying around. You tend to be more prone to trash talking any company YOU feel is a rip off, and have very little value you have added to this site. I'm sorry you are so deeply burdened with this horrid weight, I will pray for your torchered soul my friend.

JD, thanks for your post here. I also feel endebted to your kind words. Further, in watching what part of your audio journey you have been kind enough to share with us over the years, I feel that there are few people in this hobby more devoted, dedicated, and methodical in wringing increasingly better performance out of every part of one's system than you.

As you said, we agree that wire has an effect on the sonics of a system. I even say the impact is substantial. In my opinion, wire is certainly a component, and when I really break things down, from our front end to our loudspeakers, our components are basically wire (think about it!).

And, as you have said, wire is overpriced. There are myriad reasons as to how this has come about, and I don't want to make this post overly long, so I will not go into why I feel we are in the fix we are today. But, I will say that if you really look into the source material of a lot of the cabling we use, the true cost is pennies on the dollars that we pay. That is not a universal truth by any means. Certain materials are of such purity that one could envision this level of pricing, though I am pretty well convinced only a very few, if any, companies are using this type of wire. Also, for companies such as Nordost, who have had to acquire the tooling and machinery to manufacture their own cable, the cost of paying for such equipment must be factored into the price otherwise they'll soon find themselves out of business.

But, again, if you put a list of the Top 10 cables in this marketplace over the past decade together, I'm fairly confident that this cable that I listed above would be on it. It's a Stereophile Recommended Component. All I'm saying is that I have a friend who sells the SAME EXACT stuff for $99/meter. I'd be more than happy to share the names with you offline of both the well known company and my friend...

Take care always,
Joe