2. cables
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Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables.  I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day.  So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound?  May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
dracule1
calloway
874 posts
 
Dracule1....very nice system...
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,556 posts
 

As Rocky Balboa once said;

"I don't see any brain damage".

dracule1 OP
1,085 posts
 
Calloway, appreciate the compliment. At some point, I’ll have to put up some  photos of my system.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Dracule wrote,

" I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I’ve evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I’ve ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day. So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff."

Well, it all depends on how you look at it. If you bought a pair of speaker cables for $2700 twenty years ago, then taking into account inflation those same cables would sell for what in today’s dollars, more than $6,000? You ask, who buys this stuff? Apparently it’s folks like you. ;-)

dracule1 OP
1,085 posts
 
Nice try, geoffkait, I bought my $2700 cables 5 years ago. Adjusting for inflation, the price hasn’t changed much at all given the slow growth of our economy. And any cable with asking price $2700 is still too expensive today, IMO. 20 years ago, I was a poor kid in graduate school and couldn’t even afford a $50 cable, even though I was bitten by the audiophile fever.

But didn’t I admit I regretted the purchase to begin with? Why try to dig up crap where it doesn't exist?
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