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
 
I never said all weren't engineers.  There are cables that are made with proven engineering practice by engineers. Whether they sound good to you or not is a different matter.

"I never worry about the guys who spend a fortune on new cables. if not for them, we couldn’t buy used cables." Well, you have a point there. Let the suckers buy them first, and you reap the benefits later.

"I had Transparent XL and Super MM2 for 8 years, at a $50 total cost after I sold them" So you do know the business model. Crazy markup.

jl35
4,017 posts
 
Transparent Ultra XL I meant to say. Yes, I am aware of the great markup in general terms. I also found these expensive cables to sound better than the dozen less expensive ones I compared them to. I wanted to like the cheap ones better. I thought of it as giving myself a loan, enjoying the cables, then getting my money back. That's the great thing about used cables, the price goes down steep and fast, then holds value for years. So encourage those that don't care about the cost to keep buying expensive new cables...
jl35
4,017 posts
 
Curious as to which cheap cables you felt sounded as good as your Ridge Streets 
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
The only profit I’m hoping for is to steer some newbie audiophile away from these high priced high end cables, which are complete sham.

@dracule1 , did you used to post on Audio Review forums decades ago under the moniker eyespy or mtrycrafts?

I ask because you come off the same way as those blokes back in the day (1990's?).
Acting as if you are out trying to save the world, when inside it seems like all you really desire is a good tussle.
You live for the antagonism, it gives you a natural high.
You are reveling in this troll thread.......ahhh good bait!!!
wattsperchannel
142 posts
 
dracule1 OP894 posts06-10-2016 5:29pmwattsperchannel,

" Certain individuals find $100,000 wires cheap, some do not; where is the profit in belittling one or the other. It all seams so trite, wreaks of jealousy, and ignorance.

Get over it, accept your lot in life and enjoy it for what it is; we only get one. You may find the whole journey a little more enjoyable."

Hmm, and your comment isn’t belittling and a little self serving like you have it all together in life? Your type of attitude feeds into the justification of ludicrously priced wires. It seems you are the one ignorant of the cable industry with its crazy markup and backhanded deals between dealers and manufacturers where the markup can be easily over 10x and customers get ripped off. I know because I have insider friends who deal with cable manufacturers. Find me an individual who thinks $100k wire is cheap. Or are you just pulling that out of your nether region?

Me jealous of $100K cables? I have no choice but to laugh at this nonsense.

The only profit I’m hoping for is to steer some newbie audiophile away from these high priced high end cables, which are complete sham.

Thank you for such an enlightening response. I guess just have to accept my life isn’t perfect like yours.
Dude how about you go back and re-read my words and this time try to think about their meaning. I do not believe you understood what I said. I am sorry if I was not clear.

All of your comments about price are meaningless. You are trying to instill your very simple, very narrow (mis)understanding of the such things on the masses.

Why do you insist on thinking your interpretation of a wholly subjective matter like relative-value is the right one? Maybe spend some time evaluating the pathology of such behavior as opposed to defacing innocent bystanders. Like I said above, you might find the journey a little more enjoyable.
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