Opening a can of worms


Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
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I myself have discovered MG Audio Design interconnects, at first from comments made by Arnie Nudell about them-that he himself found them to be he best avaliable at any price.  Latr I found out that Paul McGown of PSAudio also uses them, and also that at a meeting of the Colorado Audio Society, that the members present for a demonstration favored the MG Audio Design interconnects over top of the line Nordhost Odin 2 models.  That the MG Audio Design top of the line interconnects are $1600 for a one foot pair helped.  But still they were too much for my budget.  Then I found out that a half meter pair of them goes for only $900 a pair.  To cut to the chase, they are easily the best interconnects that I have ever used.  Far superior to my pair of Audience 24AUse pair.  Anyway, these are not just good interconnects.  They are easily state of the art.  I presently ue an McIntosh MR74 tuner for most of my music.  The audio reproduction that I am able to achieve listning to local FM rdio broadcasts in Boulder Colordo is simply incredible.  I do not need to use my OPPO players or phonoplayback system to achieve audio nirvana.  That is a simple truth.  Of course one must have the power cord, power conditioning plus speaker wire combination to be able to achieve the total effect.  Overall it can end up to be a costly endeavor but with careful selection it can be achieved.  I am also using a bunch of Audioquest power cords, a JPS power cord for my 2 OPPO's and two  Audioquest Niagara strips.  Fortunatly I am able to use a one foot pair of MG Audio Design's top of the line speaker wires-which go for $900, combined with runs of Jenna Lab's 18 gage hook up wires for my speaker wire configuration.  In total, my modest audio system is able to achieve results much greater than could be expected otherwise.  Anyway, overall I have spent a lot of money on my wire-power conditioning combination, but at a level of audio reproduction simply amazing.  Simply, if one could hear my present audio system just on FM radio, they would be easily impressed.  To be able to get the quality of audio reproduction from FM radio-you would have tohear it to believe it.  I have found out over the decades that if one is able to get a superior sound quality from ones audio system using FM radio as the audio surce, then the higher resplution audio sources themself will truly be able to do their stuff to truly exceptional levels.
After many years of changes and upgrades I ended up with all cables (interconnects, speaker’s and coax) of Tellurium Q Ultra Black ,fortunately my dealer had some second hand ones which I bought with a substantial discount, this cables are very expensive and I couldn’t afford to buy new ones .It’s realy a nirvana with this cables in my system which sounds now as many times more expensive systems than mine .
So do cables matter ? - Yes !!!

There is little doubt that some cables can make some speakers sound better.

Example: If your speakers are laid back or muffled then perhaps cheaper rougher, courser sounding cables can bring them to life. 

My preference is to have speakers that are extremely transparent and cables that are not bright or nosey. 

There are cables like that. 

Jim
Dealer 
I myself found out about MG Audio Design interconnects from an article appearing in TAS by Arnie Nudell.  Later I learned that not only did Paul McGowan of PS Audio use them, but that members of the Colorado Society preferred them to top of the line Nordhost in a direct comparison.  But even though the top of the line MG Audio Design top of the line interonnects went for $1600 a one meter pair, still they were above my reach.  Then I found out they sell their half meter pairs for just $900 prt pair.  Even though the best pair I have to compare them to is my Audience AU24se's, their differences are great in ultimate capabilities.  I am also using for my speaker wires a combination of a one foot pair of MG Audio Design's top end speaker wires-which also go for $900 a pair, plus runs of Jenna Labs's 18 gage hook up wires.  Again, the results are simply spectacular.  I can only compare the MG Audio Design speaker wires themself to a 7 year old pair of Shunyata's top of the line speaker wires and the results are not even close.  Adding a bunch of Audioquest power cords, a JPS digital power cord for my 2 Oppo players as well as 2 Audioquest Niagara 1000 strips completes the wire-power conditioning system.  To get the best results one must complete the whole combination.  Put in one truly inferrior wire produt in the system and the whole effect can be easily lost.  But I truly believe that the combination of the above mentioned products in my audio system results in audio playback far, far above that of other alternatives for the price.  In fact, not even close.  That my 20 year old Martin/Logan SL-3 speakers never, ever sounded better.  That my 35-40 year old Mcintosh MR74 tuner, Marants 20 FM Tuner sound simply amazing.  In fact I believe my McIntosh MR74 tuner is possibly the best audio source avaliable today for the money.  At least if you live in Boulder Colorado.  
I myself am using MG Audio Design's top of the line interconnects.  I first learned about them from Arnie Nudell when he stated that he himself was using them.  I later learned from Paul McGowan of PS Audio that he also uses them, and lastly that at a meeting of the Colorado Audio Society that they preferred them to top of the line Nordhost.  Even so at $1600for a pme meter pair, they were still too much for me.  And then I learned that they will sell half meter pairs for only $900 a pair.  I believe a .6 meter pair of Nordhost goes gor #20,000.  The results are simply amazing.  As I can only compare them to a pair of Audience Au24se's, I can not directly compare them to the much more costly alternatives oit there, but even so I believe them to truly be state of the art, irreguartless of their cost.  I have also over the last few years, by combining a one foot pair of the top of the MG Audio Designs top end speaker wires, which also goes for $900, with connecting runs of Jenna Lab's 18 gage speaker wires, which themself go for $6 a foot.  The result is clearly a truly superior speaker eire, which when combined with the MG Audio Design's interconnects.  The results are truly amazing.  Adding 7 Audioquest power cords, a JPS digital power cord as well as 2 Audioquest Niagara 1000's, well the results are out of sight.  And even though the overall costs have not been cheap, for the money that I have spent overall are tiny compared to attempting to duplicate te present results, let alone improving them.