Difference between non and factory terminated

Didactically - You're not the first one to say that, and you won't be the last. I got a Black Mamba v2 last year (Used may I add. May I?), and while detailed and rich, I think it's the one piece that's lagging in terms of dollar vs. sound ratio, so I get your point. My friend bought a famous power cord a while back that was hand terminated with better connectors than the original, and tested it against a Cardas Twinlink. It was better - much better. It was also more expensive than the Twinlink, even though cheaper than the original of that brand name. I imagined how the original factory terminated cable would have done against the Twinlink. I'll bet it wouldn't have been any better than the hand terminated one. Still we have fussy people out there with their eyes on the cables, more than their ears on the music.

I hear you. I am using a $15k system and it never ocurred to me to use a power conditioner or so called hi-end power chords. I feel I am just not that gullible.

Though I did aquire some vibration isolation devices which I put back on the market in a moment of recoverd sanity, feeling a little sheepish for buying into that notion.

Also I had more than a dozen heavy duty acoustic treatment devices which ended up in the dumpster when I went dipole for speakers (Audio Artistry).

They never did do the job and only accomplished deadening the room in the attempt to control low frequency room modes excited by full range box speakers.

Sometimes it takes awhile to seperate the stuff, from the stuff. Made all the more difficult with the plentiful enthusiastic expressions of those still duped.

Someday, maybe I too will be so enlightened.

I see. Facitious (aka 'passive agressive'). OK, sorry I did not get it the first time.

It is possible to be so subtle that you actually fail to make your point, you know, which then just comes off as 'timid'.

I think there's no doubt that isolation devices and cables make a difference in most cases - sometimes not a lot of difference and sometimes a lot of difference. But is that change always for the better, or is it a change for the sake of change? It would seem that the more money involved, the more the chance that it will be a change for the sake of change.

"Mwilson" - What you said earlier about the resale value of a home terminated cable not having a good resale value...you're right for sure. The thing is, the longer you use it, the less that factor will come into play.