Transparent Cables - Worth the money?

Tubester,I am definately common and I don't live anywhere near California. If you want something you have to work and save for it. It's just a matter of how bad you want it. While they are expensive I don't believe the markup is any higher than other cables out there. You get what you pay for.

having owned transparent super and had transparent ultra in my system (ml and b&w)and now have audioquest sterling in my system and have tried may other cables. Cable differences seem to be a balance trade off between resolution and smoothness.With the audioquest in my system it is like u r in the music venue listening as if u r there!
I find with transparent it is like hollywood sound everything is exagerrated bass mids vocals soundstaging placement of insturments and the sound is dry uninvolving no pace rythem, not really musical just a big dynamic sound with exaggerated sound effects.I guess it just depend what turns your crank but myself i will seek sound that takes me to the hall, recording studio or stage

Ontario, my listening tests from listening to transparent tell me that transparent only sounds as good as the rest of
you're electronics and that the cable exposes any weak links
in that particular system. Listening to my friends system
that consists of Krell FPB 600c, B&W N801, bat VK50se, +
Sonic Frontiers P3 Hooked up with Reference With XL technology only exposed the true character of the Krell
amp. In my system I run the same wires but use a Jeff
Rowland 8t to power my n802 and find the presentation to
be very musical and natural. Airy, not congested, extended,
true to the image, rich in the midrange. As for audioquest
I have never tried, but Transparent in my system is the real
thing.

I have just completed a transformation of my system to use Reference XL throughout. While I, too, feel that the cost of any of almost any cable out there is suspect, there is simply no denying what you hear. In my experience (and I've tried nearly everything - Harmonic Tech, XLO, NBS, etc.) the Ref XL simply makes musical instruments (and human beings)sound more like the real thing, in real space, than any of the others and by a wide enough margin to justify the cost. When you have invested significant $$ in all the other components of the system, it was, for me, illogical to use a lesser-performing cable that significantly compromised the overall sound of the system. In my experience, value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Because of what these cables do, their cost, for me , was more than justified.

Hello,
Thought I would chime in and say that the only speaker cables (not interconnects) that beat the Transparent Super line were the gutwire chime cables, and the Kimber monical. The speaker cables are actually reasonably priced for the excellect performance you recieve, but the interconnects are not worth it.
PS even my girlfriend could tell the diffrence between, the transparent and the Analysis plus 9 cables and the rest, but she had trouble (as I did too) telling the differenct between the AQ, the Kimbe, and the Transparent.
And it is not true that your equipment must be up to snuff to hear the differences. Even on the Magnum Dynalab 308 reciever the changes wrought by the more expensive cables were obvious.
I perferred the Transparent, there is just something I like about the sound, but the others sounded nice too and I suspect that some will like the others, so definatly go listen.
B&W n-805's with sound anchor stands
Magnum Dynalab 308 integrated
Bryston 4b and BP-20 pre
Kimber siver streak and transparent IC's
Various speaker cables (see above)