Cable Costs Relative to System

Sean, my comments were not directed at you. Sorry, if I bruised toes.

You are right, I do feel strongly cable cost effectiveness ratios are way out of line. I did mention, though, specialty cables may indeed calm grunge.

I don't try to cypher the production of every disc. I just judge them against what I have heard live.

The reason I throw water on cable sermons from time to time, is that there are newbies that frequent this forum.

Going solely on gee whiz testimony they read here, they are all too ready to shell out rolls of green for pretty cables, when they should be rolling out that Onkyo cdp.

Hi,,, wow its amazing cause i'm just about exactly at the same price point for the system cost and cable cost as you are. I was quickly adding it all up and stopped at 60k system cost and over 10k on cable cost. Actual cost are about exactly as yours give or take a mere bag of shells. I did the cable thang myself and ended up using Kimbers Select line of cables cause although it was much more expensive than most other common cables it became very obvious to me that my system REQUIRED cable like the top model Kimber Select. I found that I did get what I paid for and the cable turned out to be an absolute must. It made me realize just how much of a weak link the cable becomes in a well matched high quality system that is fully capable of passing a very strong clean extended accurate signal. I found the expensive Kimber Select to pass a very clean efficient signal from component to component with far less signal degradation than all other cable tried. It was shocking just how much of an improvement the cable made. yes i do believe that cable cost is relative to system cost. I would not use the best cable with a mid level system. I also believe in the REAL Industry Leaders who produce cable like Kimber, Siltech, AN Kondo San, Nirvana etc who produce their own wire in house with real technology over most small cable makers who buy spools of commerially made wire from large wire manufacturing plants and repackage the wire and make wild claims. The cables job is to pass an un altered signal, do nothing, and the higher quality and more capable the components are the cleaner and cleaner the cable must be to un alter the best signal the component is capable of sending. I also believe in NOT USING 1 WEAK LINK. No matter how good the components and cables are using just 1 weak link in the chain will only get you the best that the weak link is capable of. NO cable will perform any magical tricks. A good cable does nothing but pass the most efficient un altered signal. From there your using a form of tone control which could yield a positive or negitive result. Start with the best room and use the best well matched components and best matched cables that your budget can afford. NO weak links. The results can be sonic bliss. I also find that all being equal the TUBE yields a more natural musical sound and the old tubes sound better than new tubes in most cases. Its not really as complicated as we make it out to be if done right and you follow the rules. Knowledge is the key.

If you're worried about system matching, spending thousands for cables that may or may not result in a synergy with your components, spend fifty bucks of the Analgue II IC's and start your search form there, you may find that these excellent cables will match more expensive wire right up the scale. To a point of course. But what an interesting sonic journey! If you find something that works better, turn the Analogue II's in for a full refund.

You have awsome power cables. There are steals and rip offs in high end just like anything else. You should not exceed 20% of the cost of the system in cablles because there are some $1000 cables out there that are better than $4000 cables. The best cables I have ever heard are the new Essence cables. Essence is the company that actually builds your power cables and line conditioner under a different name. FMS is also real good but hard to find.

all,
my system is meager compared to what you all seem to have.
The retail value of my system is about 7k

(Tyler Ref Monitors, Rogue magnum 66/88, Cal CL15)

my cables are currently all stock/(with the exception of speaker wire which is
signalcable)

I've been contemplating upgrading my cabling/interconnects
especially after reading this post.
15% would be 900/450 (retail/used)
10% would be 600/300

should I take the leap and toss 300ish on cabling for my system or would that be
money better spend in upgrading other components? (My system uses 2
interconnects, 3 power cords, and figure speaker cable is already taken care of
with the signalcable gear)

any brands in this price range? or recommendations?
geoffgarcia@hotmail.com