2. cables
  3. 124957-818

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
dracule1 OP
1,085 posts
 
Phusis, although you can try "natural" acoustic treatments as you describe it, they are nowhere nearly as effective as absorbers and diffusors that are made based on mathematic calculations from acoustic theory. For example, book selves filled with books do minimal or no diffusing. I was dissapointed when I found out.  Believe me, I've tried using plants, rugs, bookshelves, couches, etc. In a problematic room, these don't come anywhere close to real diffusors and absorbers. 
dracule1 OP
1,085 posts
 
Uncledemp, all of my acoustic treatments come from GIK Acoustics.  Go to their website which has plenty of informative material on acoustic room treatments.
uncledemp
792 posts
 
Thanks for the leads, guys. I'll read up- I have a lot to learn.
david12
1,454 posts
 

I was wondering, should there be a warning over threads like this, perhaps a skull and cross bones, or "Warning, minefield, enter at your peril." Perhaps it would reduce long term health costs, particularly Blood Pressure meds.

 Like Spring following winter, so it seems the same unanswerable threads seem to come up again and again.

 My cents worth:

Do Cables make a difference? Yes I am sure they do, having heard convincing demos at various shows, particularly one by Zensati. Mind you, their top cables come in at over $30,000, each that is, not for a whole set.

Is it worth spending loads of money on cables?  Well it's your money, you decide. For myself, if I had 10 or 20,000 dollars to spend on cable, which I don't, I would sleep better if I gave it to charity instead, but that's just me.

 There, I feel better for getting that off my chest.


dracule1 OP
1,085 posts
 
David12, I didn't start this thread to start a flame war.  Recently I looked into speaker purchase, and someone on another forum started a thread on cabling for the speaker I was interested in.  The cabling for the whole system costs over $100k.  Yes, that's not a typo.  For that kind of money you can build a kickass dedicated audio room or put a downpayment on a second home. Or feed a needy child for many years, if you're inclined to donate.  If one has that kind of money to throw around for cabling, I'm not here to stop him. I just think he needs a reality check. Everyone draws the line somewhere, but high end has become comically retarded.
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