A Perennial Debate For Which I Seek Help

Douglas_schroeder - what I mean is that there are good and bad cables at all price points, and that I do not believe that wire will make any more difference in a $2000 system than it does in a $100,000 system, or vice versa. You seem to be saying that the higher the system's price point, the more important wire becomes proportionally in it, and this is what I disagree with. I use the lower price point as an example since the vast majority of us cannot afford $100,000 systems. I don't think anyone should put say $1500 worth of wire in a system if their system budget totals $6000, for example. The money can be spent much more wisely by buying better source components or speakers. The same would be true at a much higher price point. I also believe that if your source components or speakers or amps are poor (again, regardless of price point), wire is not going to somehow make them better. There are those who would argue that it does, and my opinion is that you should run away from a dealer trying to "fix" your system by selling you much more expensive wire, an all too common trick. Again, I never said wire was unimportant, just that it is overrated by some.

As for the "breathing" theory, no I am not specifically aware of that. I am merely repeating advice given to me from several different sources, which is that if one cleans the cable connections every so often, you will maintain a better electrical connection, and that unplugging them and plugging them in again every so often helps to do this. I do not pretend to have a knowledge of the science behind these recommendations, but I did hear a difference when I tried it. I am a professional orchestral musician, and my knowledge of the science of music includes a working musician's knowledge of acoustics and some basic practical recording knowledge (things like mike placements, basic knowledge of different types of equipment, etc.). I use my ears to judge equipment, not specs or price points. I wish alot more recording engineers and audio equipment makers and dealers and audiophiles would do the same. :)

Learsfool, we're not so far apart; there's many things we see similarly. Most different is the amount we would each contribute to the cables in a system and their "importance" overall. Everyone has to decide that for himself.

At first it sounded like you were indicating leaving the cables unplugged for a short period of time, hence my choice of the term "breathing". It seems you're rephrasing the action of unplugging and plugging them in again. If there is indeed an audible effect I would never experience the degradation of sound from leaving cables connected too long, as I break down and rebuild systems on a regular basis.

I agree that we are not very far apart at all, that's what I was trying to say in the first place. I also agree that everyone needs to decide for themselves what is the most important to them in their own systems. For me, I go back and forth between whether speakers or source components are the most important, usually siding with speakers. Amplification would be third, and recent experiments/reading are beginning to convince me that power conditioning may be more important than cables and interconnects as well, though I am undecided there. Unfortunately, being a musician, I don't have the financial luxury to switch things in and out all the time, so I did an awful lot of listening and research for quite a long time and bought the best I could afford, and don't anticipate being able to change or upgrade anything for a long time yet. I still listen to other stuff as much as I can, and read about a whole lot more, including things I will never be able to afford. And I am very fortunate, as I said, to play in a great concert hall almost every day, and have played in many others all over the world, so I have an unusually large frame of reference which no audio equipment will ever truly live up to, of course. Sure is a fun hobby, though I am really much more interested in comparing recordings than equipment. It's all about the music for me, the equipment being merely a means to that end.

Right on! - one of the better posts I've seen in a while.
Kudos! I can concur and sympathize with your angst and inner turmoil here...
Um, yes to all of the above. And, I'm sure performance would likely improve if we could change every connection, flow-path, electrical connection, power-source down the chain, and have a perfect acoustical environment. Yep, you take your best shot, hope for the best, and sit back and enjoy the journey for what all it offers...and hopefully take it all in with a friend at your side.

Douglas-Schroeder Your point on Anti-Cable does not hold true in my system. I have chosen anti-Cables after an intensive search for the best cable for my system...money was not a consideration. I experimented with Cardas, Wireworld, Purist, Audioquest, Kimber, and others...all with their top end silver, etc. offerings. None sounded as good as the Anti-Calbles, though Audioquest SKY was very good indeed. They ranked second behind Anti-Cables with Cardas being the very worst. My dealer then told me of a supercable made by Audioquest...many times the cost of Sky. I tried that cable as well...my wife thought I broke something in the system after swapping out an Anti-Cable interconnect with the super Audioquest.