2. cables
  3. 1014149717

7500 for USED cables? Are they joking?

I've been out of high-end audio for about 8 years, and the thing I am most struck by on my return is the apparent acceptance of power cables, interconnects and speaker cables that cost as much or more than heavy-duty high-end components.

As a now-outsider of sorts, this really looks like the Emperor's New Clothes big-time. Especially power cords, considering the Romex that delivers the A/C to the outlet isn't exactly audiophile quality.

Are people really paying $500 and up for wire? Is this foolishness of the highest order, or is this what people now believe it takes to extract the last percent or two of definition from their components?

What happened? Even buyers of what are now considered "modestly priced" cables would be laughed out of the professional audio world, so why do audiophiles think they need something better than was used to make the original recording? MOST professional recording engineers scoff at the difference between microphone cables that cost $19.95 vs. those that cost $49.95 -- most anything higher is rarely considered at all (the most expensive microphone cable might be $125 for a 20 foot run, and it's laughed at by most of the pros).

I'm not criticizing -- I'm too stunned to draw any conclusions -- I just wondered if anyone has given this much thought.

(At least I understand the home theater revolution -- thank heavens something came along to save the high end manufacturers, although it makes me chuckle to think of someone spending $30,000 to watch the Terminator. It's OK with me.)

Thank you for your consideration,

Mark Hubbard
Eureka, CA
Ag insider logo xs@2xmark_hubbard
docwarnock
63 posts
 
I was just kidding in my last post about the $3,000 fishing line. The truth is since I've migrated from using $8.95 fishing line to using $3,000 fishing line, a magical transformation has taken place. Whereas before I was simply going through the process of fishing, now I have become one with the fish.

I have also noticed that the bass that I catch are much more full bodied yet without any hint of being tubby. Moreover, they hit my line with far greater slam and jaw-dropping authority.

Now for those of you that do not regularly use $3,000 fishing line, yet feel entitled to make a reasoned judgement as to the merit of my claims, WRONG! You are simply slobs and Phillistines that are just not open to the experience. I vascillate between pity and scorn for you :-)
jeffloistarca
1,004 posts
 
For the record, I really really hate getting kicked in the nuts! I was a wire skeptic and still am to some degree but I have tried different interconnects and found subtle differences that were worth changing from one brand to another. All within reason. I'm with Sean on this one, spending more than $200 on a used interconnect is not the best way to tweak a system. DIY makes sense assuming you're handy with a soldering iron and have the time. Power cords...nope, no real difference from what I can tell (and I do own Synergistic, YBA, ProAc, and MIT). The wire market is catering to those who seek the final frontier at all costs, logic and intuition be damned. I'm very curious who buys interconnects and power cords at MSRP in the first place? Want that last 1% improvement? Run dedicated lines so your household appliances don't compete with your source components for yer juice. Roll your tubes! Better yet, tweak your listening room.
gboren
143 posts
 
Doc: Have you tried spiking your boat? Awesome bass!
clueless
763 posts
 
I think Sean said it all.

Wire is not wire and we cannot measure everything that makes a system sound good at this point, but the price put on cables cannot survive any intelligent look at their design parameters. Too many folk look at cables as some mystery tweak when there is less "mystery" in cables than any other part of the audio circuit. What is especially unfortunate is that in the cable discussions so many throw up their hands and argue that measurements and numbers don't matter at all. This is throwing out the design with the bathwater, so to speak, and moves us all in the wrong direction as far as improvements in audio are concerned and leaves everyone even more available for the endless marketing hype. Just recently there was a post where a guy was advised to buy $3,500 worth of wire when his cd player and speakers totaled 5k. I'd never walk in that store again.

Sincerely, I remain
flex
292 posts
 
I am playing devil's advocate here -
What about running the numbers, that is, the real ones on running a small business within a niche market. If your main business is cables, and you have to pay engineers, marketing people, distributors, factory upkeep, expensive measurement and assembly equipment, test room construction etc, how many cables would you have to sell at a realistic pricepoint (say $200) in order to break even. Now what if you increase the price to $7000?
It seems worthwhile to me that someone stays in this business to research cable issues. What may have happened is that competition for the small number of audiophile customers has been driven too strongly by too many 'manufacturers' seeing too much profit available for too little research effort.
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