I'm now a Cardas Woman. I used to be a Kimber gal

100% about the music..."
Well the whole reason to even have a stereo is to play music. maybe i should be listening to test tones?
The jump into cable hell was after a long gap of not buying anything except music. And by the end of next month I will probably not look at or listen specifically to a cable for years..
So i guess some folks have no ability to see beyond the present moment. Sure i am listening to the sound. i want to fix what is a problem which I started a few months ago, and seriously want to fix so i can go back to just ignoring the stuff in my setup and play music with no thought to the parts.
The fact several folks jumped on your comments should suggest taking a break, laying back, Nope, you want to defend your statements. So if YOU can dish out criticism, so can others. Funny you want to dish out but not get any back?
Anyway sorry you are upset folks are bashing back. Glass houses and all. And no one says you have to shut up either, all you need is to be able to take your lumps. Instead of whining that it is unfair you got them.

And for Jmcgrogan2 Yup! right on.

Yea.... Elizabeth tell me all about it. You sound like a real intellect. Obviously, you missed the point of my last comment like Mr Greyhound9...."that disagreement is not chastisement" It seems a bit obscene to me to spend all that money to eke out an ounce of better sound; I been doing audio since 1972 and always felt constrained to control my self indulgence in this hobby

Your comment"....and no one says you have to shut up either" is laughable because you have a consensus of the responders in your favor, and therefore argue from a supposed position of authority of numbers (or is it superiority??) You misconstrue my criticism as "whining". I see it as legitimate criticism that needs to be aired

Let me ask: when is the last time you ventured to say something controversial in a thread that either questions the audio obsession or the fact that these toys are so expensive. Lastly, I guess if you want to spend yourself into bankruptcy that is your choice.

Bummerjim, Elizabeth has always championed lower cost cables. She found a sound with the Cardas and really liked the sound with her system. The Cardas are not even very expensive.She went a little too far with the loom concept and learned/relearned a lesson. Some good stuff here.

Why does this bother you? I don't understand how your points relate to this thread? The cost of audio? start another thread. This thread is in the cable section, surprise, the focus is on cables.

Most of us are constantly constrained by cost, why pat yourself on the back?

Elizabeth, enjoy your new cables!

Thanks Acman3. I do not get 'Bummerjim's problem. I would guess it has something to do with having something stuck up his ass ... itching bad. Perhaps some cheap cables?
Not my problem.

Agree My take on cable money i have stated many times.. Ten percent is a good balance of total system cost to total cable cost.(this is all IC, speaker cable and powercords.)

Sure some folks go beyond and no problem if they are happy with that. But if you have to ask, the 10% is a great guide. More than ten percent often the money would be better spent on the electronics.

Bummerjim may just be jealous too. I have no idea why he wants to crap on my parade.
Since December I have spent $5,000 Retail on cables/wire. Subtract the discounts, and old cable stuff i sold and cash out of pocket is about $2,700. So not a big expense for me. To "spend myself into bankruptcy" would take a lot more than under three grand. The money spent on a little Christmas present to myself. And that is what the cables sort of are.. Just a little late that is all.

And yes the Parsec are the cheapest current Cardas cable product.
The Kimber wire I am buying is some expensive raw copper round wire they sell. they do sell some even more exotic rectangular copper, but how do you strip the insulation from a tiny rectangular wire???

Anyway, with powercords, speaker cables and all these new IC, i am a little over the 10% as of now. BUT if I buy the Magnepan 20.7 I want then I will ba safely back in the 10% zone.
So ALL I need to do is save up a little to get the Magnepan 20.7 to rebalance my spending.

Great audiophile reasoning there.BTW

10% isn't the right answer anyway. True audiophiles know the correct number is 12.5%. Do your research! I bypassed a lot of great sounding cables to get to the right number.