Hi Rsf507, yes, cable prices these days is high, however, I have listed to very, very, good equipment that was stratosphere expensive with poor 2,000.00 a meter I/Cs and speaker cables, guess what, sounded, well, like hi-fi,,, I also listened to average costing system's using very good cable's kick the crap out of much costlier system's that did not, to be honest with you here, I always have your same mind set about cable's, until I get floored by what some cables out there are capable of, now, many years later, I must admit my opinion, cables are a component, cheers.