$10k Speaker Cables??????????????

Preying on the uninformed is called advertising.

dynaquest4"he is referring to truth in advertising. Extreme claims for a product that contain no real, substantive performance justification"

What extreme claims are you mentioning, referencing, and objecting to hear and in addition after you have identified these claims, assurances, and representations why is it that you do not pursue, engage, and undertake remedial action?

Think he is referring to truth in advertising.  Extreme claims for a product that contain no real, substantive performance justification...do just one thing: prey on the uninformed.

What extreme claims of cable manufacturers? Give me a break! This is all made up stuff by sun crazed pseudo skeptics. Shut the cave door and back to pigmy country!

When a company doesn’t promote its product something terrible happens. Nothing.

Just like this kind of Audiogon poster to become emotional and transition to political references and derogatory comments about someone else's financial status. I thought we were talking about the questionable efficacy of very expensive cables.

Seems the only "whining" is emanating from that source.

Anyway, its not really a matter of "having more than you" but whether spending a year's salary on speakers (plus cables) is smart.  I'd bet the average Audiogon forum participant has less than $10K in their main speakers.  And I bet they sound great.

I do not get the notion that anyone else can whine about what I spend on ANYTHING. This is not a Socialist country. You do not get to report me to the authorities for having more than you! If you are envious, then go get a better job! If some rich person buys a $300,000 pair of speakers, or earrings, or speaker cables... I would say great! glad you like them. Not whine about it.  

You dont have to resort to quoting the most extreme claims of some cable manufacturers to make your point. Not all of us that spend a fair amount on cables believes the most extreme marketing hype nor do we necessarily buy from the manufacturers that spew this nonsense. 

It is a fallacy to believe that buying ultra expensive speakers warrants ultra-expensive cables.  Besides the difference between $10,000 and $200,000 speakers is likely only on the order of 5% in sound quality (law of diminishing returns).  That would suggest that the very subtle "improvements" that ultra-expensive cables could (maybe) provide ultra-expensive speakers would be barely audible.

However, if you freeze those new cables, put wood blocks under them , attach batteries, put voo-doo goop on the terminals and ensure the the direction is correct...well then the differences could be mind-blowingly jaw-dropping!

I am not so sure. If you own $170,000 speakers. or $250,000 speakers.. Spending $20,000 on sets of biwires might make sense.

I believe in high quality cables but not buying into the $10K+ price point some companies are marketing.  Some people obviously have too much money and too little brains.

If the outlets improve power line issues, then no, you’re not crickets. 

Well, I spent $3000 on just duplex AC outlets. And that was on sale, Retail they would have been $5000. just for a small pile of AC outlets very similar to what you can buy for $5 each at Menards. But these were genuine audiophile outlets....  
I must be a cricket?

Folks complain about pricing of everything, so it seems like we don’t need threads like this. But folks like complaining, so be it. Did we learn anything from this group cathartic event?

And how much is too much for any given aspect of an audio system? Some have no issue about spending $20k for a Rockna DAC, but complain about spending a given amount for a speaker cable. Everyone’s got priorities.

Arguably, the input power lines and the listening room acoustics are the areas one should spend their money, because those two areas dictate to a large extent how an audio system performs. But mostly crickets are expressed about those priorities.

geoffkait
Absolutely! We must protect ourselves against the, ahem, liberal agenda.
Yes, Garden and Gun, Field and Stream & AK, Home Design & Semi...etc.   Happy Stocking!

I guess price is relative. I run 2.0 mtr Jorma Statement sc’s which are $23.3kUS (circa $32kAUD), but in the context of my system they make sense.

@geoffkait  Garden and Gun? Its a southern thing. If you'e not from here, don't try to understand it. I live it. But not like in the magazine.

uberwaltz, model not included. Can't say she was all that pretty anyway.

glupson, if I recall it was one of those restored wooden runabouts that cost the same as a Ferrari. Or maybe it was a sailboat. Or a dock. I threw the magazine down after seeing $400 towel. 

Garden & Gun? Are they crazy? What’s next, Field & Stream & AK-47? Home & Design & Semi-auto? Country Living & Bump Stock?

But I was reading a sickeningly pretentious magazine called Garden & Gun that my wife gets and there was a model on a boat wrapped in a beach towel. The list price of the beach towel was $400. I think I can safely say that even if I was uber-rich I would have no need or desire for a $400 beach towel.

All depends if the model is included...…….

I guess everyone is different about money. And it is always easy to look into someone else's situation and criticize it because it doesn't fit our own outlook.

There is the idea that if you have tons and tons of money then blowing it on $10,000 or $40,000 speaker cables is the thing to do.

I don't think I would be that way....I wish someone would give me tons and tons of money to test my theory.

But I was reading a sickeningly pretentious magazine called Garden & Gun that my wife gets and there was a model on a boat wrapped in a beach towel. The list price of the beach towel was $400. I think I can safely say that even if I was uber-rich I would have no need or desire for a $400 beach towel.

When I'm searching for a $10 item I'll still try to find one for $9.

I wouldn't pay half that

My guess is that dogma would say that economic inequity is the root of all evil. 

I am with n80 in that I think your point is absurd.

I had to laugh at wesheadley's response. Not only does he "know" that cables plateau in the hundreds and not thousands, but he also has divine insight into the buying motives of others. Perhaps he would like to share with the rest of us a bit of his resume. I also think I can detect of bit of a shaming mentality so often present in discussions about the purchase of luxury items. 

+ 1. Folks have been whining about the exorbitant prices ever since the 60s and 70s. I complained rather vociferously myself on occasion. But not once did I try to emulate Fabio. A man’s got to know his limitations.

unreceivedogma said:

"  That doesn’t change the point that I’m making, which is that economic inequity has distorted the audio market. "

I would like to see some evidence to support that.

I knew there had to be a reason I prefer ear buds.

"...the size of a guy’s stereo speakers are in inverse proportion to the size of his d - - -."

I knew there was a reason I prefer earphones. Thanks for clarifying it.

Wesheadley:

”3,000 billionaires -- no, these products are made for high net-worth professionals and of course, the venerable trust-fund-babies...”

Like, whatever, dude. That doesn’t change the point that I’m making, which is that economic inequity has distorted the audio market.

There that old saying about the size of a guy’s stereo speakers are in inverse proportion to the size of his d - - -.  With today’s .5%, the resources available to compensate for such insecurities are greater than ever. 

Ha!  Get it on your shoe, and well....

I guess he missed the box, again. 

Bad Kitty. 😷

"It’s a fluid situation on the ground, folks."

Be careful where you step. You never know what it is and who did it.

I posit you suffer from vertigo, but, maybe it is just peaches and hamburgers. 😿

Let’s use the new math, shall we? You know what I’m talking about. 90,000/2. Glubson, the answer is.....?

It’s a fluid situation on the ground, folks. And you have got to develop situational awareness and awareness of transitional spaces. You have to be able to crunch the numbers!

Kat scratch fever....🙀

One more for good measure...

80 000/2 = 40 000

Made you look?

Nobody can say glubson is weak in math. He’s like a computer.

9986 more.

You need more question marks DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I might have been lucky so everyone I have known owning a Ferrari has been a friendly, nice, and polite person. There may be many reasons not to buy one (actual humiliation of purchasing, at times) but one it is not. Music in the car. Historically speaking, Ferrari is actually a bona fide audiophile vehicle. 612 came with Bose system stock. I am not aware that anyone has beat it so far, when it comes to obvious audiophile attempt. I guess, a true audiophile should not dis it.

Yes. I would buy a Ferrari in a heartbeat. On two conditions: 1) I had enough money to buy it and treat it the same way I treat my 350Z. In other words it could not be so precious to me that I was afraid to use it. And 2) That I'd drive the heck out of it, street and track, the same way I do my Z.....which has taken enormous abuse.

I've never known anyone very well who owned a Ferrari. I do know a man who owned a room full of Purdy and pricier shotguns. He was a gun snob in precisely the same way we are all audio snobs. I did not consider that to be a reflection of his character which was otherwise warm and generous. 

Stereotypes are often correct but very frequently wrong as well.

"That's reason enough not to buy $10k cables and Ferraris - not to be associated in any way with those f*****s."

Hopefully, there are other reasons for those who prefer not to buy these things. Above reason would be quite a snobbish one.

@inna : "That's reason enough not to buy $10k cables and Ferraris - not to be associated in any way with those f*****s."

Almost anyone on the street could look at your system and mine and say the exact same thing about us, right?

"And you don't need such an expensive gun for a bullet to go straight to the target."

First off, they're shotguns, so no bullets. Second, Purdy owners (I've know 1 or 2) will tell you there is a lot more to it than the trajectory of shot leaving the barrel. There is balance, feel, grip, momentum of swing, etc. (I've held a few of these guns and they mount and feel great in the hands). But, they are also handmade and of extremely high workmanship. They are also embellished with often elaborate hand engraving and checkering which is much appreciated by their owners and fans.

My point here is not to justify the cost to you ( I do not want and will never own one). The point is that all of these elements which we might consider a fetish are almost exactly analogous to the things audiophiles, even of a modest stripe, put so much emphasis on and pay so much money for. I suspect the Purdy owners I know would be shocked and amused that people pay $10,000 for a pair of speakers to listen to three guys crank on guitars, bass and a drum kit.

"Real money is earned money, my audiophile friend, but of course you already know it."

That's pretty much the only kind of money I've ever had but can't deny that my path in life has been blessed. So I'm not knocking inherited money either. And if a long lost uncle dies and leaves me a bank roll, I won't turn it down and I might even blow it on a $1000 DAC that to me sounds outrageous but to many if not most in this forum sounds like a compromise. ;-)

It all comes down to what you’re trying to achieve and what you can be happy 🤗 with - all things considered - including SR, your expendable resources and how much you have put into the game. I have a nagging suspicion, and trust me, I know a lot of audiophiles, many folks get a little carried away with the whole thing. Chasing the dragon. 🦎 Consumed by the fires of Ork. 😃 Geez, try to keep a little perspective. People! As Groucho Marx quipped when his guest told him she had eight children, I like my cigar but I take it out once in a while.

That's reason enough not to buy $10k cables and Ferraris - not to be associated in any way with those f*****s. And you don't need such an expensive gun for a bullet to go straight to the target.
Real money is earned money, my audiophile friend, but of course you already know it.

@elizabeth : Don't forget to have them burned in before you buy them!

I saw a Montblanc pen made in conjunction with Purdy shotguns ($100k for one of their guns is nothing). One of the higher level pens is priced at 120,000 pounds. I'm not sure what that is in US dollars. It is a very pretty pen. If you can buy a 120,000 pound sterling pen that will never touch paper, then $10,000 speaker cables are nothing at all. Nothing. And you don't have to be a billionaire for that type of luxury either.

I've heard, urban legend maybe, that there are Ferraris sitting unclaimed and covered in sand in Saudi Arabian airport parking lots. 

Those of us who are merely affluent have no idea what real big money is like.

I have to disagree that cables plateau in the hundreds.. I gladly paid $1,100 for several pairs (Kimber KS) and $3,200 for one important seven meter pair.(also Kimber KS)  and yes they are better than the piles I bought at the $360 price point.(Cardas Parsec). Took me time to cough up the money, since at heart I am a cheapskate. As far as speaker cables go ... I am still holding the line at Kimber 8TC.
Maybe someday when I have more money left in the bank than makes sense, I will splurge on some fancy speaker cables. ($3K tops, I PROMISE)