Who is a big high end cable manufacturer

Driver. when you charge 1800 a meter for a cable that cost less than 10.00 a Meter to make, then your no better than a drug dealer. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Thanks for the feedback. Let me add some comments. The reason I initiated the discussion is just this - 3 manufacturers of most cable. 1,000's of different flavors - Baskin Robbins has a long way to go!! Impossible to listen to all. Just the management of a couple 30 day listening test - lot of work. Impossible to remember one cable sound from another if the tests are not done at the same time. No scientific parameters to pick by. Not even a simple chart. Such as "Electrostatic wants - silver strand etc etc, versus Bass reflex wants - heavy copper". Cables are extremely systems dependent making this the hardest component to pick. They also lose value faster than anything else. Coming back to the original question. A big company should be able to support more research, better scientific method for picking a cable without listening to every cable in their line. By the way, it seems people in the cable business think everything gets better in a product line when it gets more expensive. I know many examples of other high end audio products where the top end product is not necessarily better that everything else in the product range, and for sure never the best price value. Any thoughts to a more scientific approach for picking companies and design. How much worse is 99.9999 % pure copper versus 99.999999 % copper. Thanks

Mapleleaf-I find it interesting that you refer to drug dealers when this is a hobby about audio. Is there some hidden agenda here?

Before 1980 cables cost max $100 or so.
Now one can find several that top $15,000.
The hype about cables is that they make a difference.
I say spending that same cash on better equipment in the first place is a far better investment. (and using modest cables in the $100 to $200 range)
The modest cables give you 99% of what the expensive ones do, and in relation to what that extra few thousand total can do for your basic equipment, I find the cable 'problem' to be a hinderance to fine audio reproduction rather than an enhancement.
Beginners are bamboozled into thinking they "need" expensive cables. That is a bad thing IMO.

In 1980, equipment didn't have the kind of resolution it has today, so that's a moot point. True, one's money is best spent first on acquiring the best components; if the equipment isn't up to it, the extra resolution provided by top notch cables won't be heard anyway.

I agree (sort of) with Elizabeth that it's a better approach to work up to great electronics and speakers, and hold off on cable expenditure until last. But when you can go that last financial mile, do it!