why do people feel the need to buy expensive cable

The only item in ones system that has a sound signature is ones speakers . The cables used are going to determine how the drivers move . Find the cable that moves the drivers to the speakers full potential and then you have "The best cable for your system" Same goes with amplifiers .

+1 agreement with Aintitgr8's last post.

Ainttitgr8,

One member here said they had thousands of dollars worth of cable and when they had made some DIY cable it sounded better than the expensive cable so they got rid of it.

No, the word expensive is relative to the highest cost of cables which is what $10-20K. It also depends on the person, what HE thinks is expensive for him. AND the word expensive reflects how much importance the person places on cables relative to the rest of the system. For example, just read the threads on High Fidelity Cables or Tara Labs Cables, you will find those folks who place extreme importance to cables. Fir them it's a paradigm shift, where most of the money on the system in some cases, I happen to know one case, is spent on cables. Thus cables become the overriding concern and cost. I myself eschew cables and have almost none in my system. You could say I went the other way. Ha ha ha

MGM wrote,

"The only item in ones system that has a sound signature is ones speakers . The cables used are going to determine how the drivers move . Find the cable that moves the drivers to the speakers full potential and then you have "The best cable for your system" Same goes with amplifiers."

Or put another way, the only thing in one's system WITHOUT a sound signature is the speakers, which output precisely the accumulated sound of the various components of the system, including the cables.

;-)