speaker cable prices


I read plenty of articles on the demise of high end audio and have been an enthusiast for 40 years and worked at a high end retail chain for ten years back in the 90's. I still own several systems and buy and sell gear to keep tweaking my systems. Nonetheless I'm pretty shocked at the prices of cables in particular- I look for a decent pair of speaker cables to run from a Pass amp to a good pair of speakers and can hardly find a pair of 8 ft cables for less than $1000- most are commonly 2-3k for a pair of cables. 

Is it me or is this ludicrous? 

What are people buying for an average pair of cables ? Can a pair be had for $300?
cowan217
Hmm, i’m not following you because you are mixing AC & DC & the rules of physics. If what you suggest was true all AC circuits would be wrong 50% of the time because the current goes both ways, if it didn’t the circuit would not work, period.

What you are suggesting is that ALL wire, including the wire in your home, inside your speakers, your amp, your pre-amp, etc for example has little arrows on it so the electricians know which way to wire your home, god forbid they have a "oh crap" we put the wires in backwards! The little arrows don’t exist because there is NO directionality in wire, electrons don’t know the difference!

abzrd, now I think you’re starting to see what I mean. Wires would be wrong 50% of the time. As regards the sound. That’s why Audioquest controls directionality for all their cables including their new line of power cords. Follow?

But let me correct you on one point. It’s not electrons that don’t know the difference (at least according to you), it’s the photons. Am I loosing you?


Back around 1990, I had a local cable builder make a set of speaker cables for me. He had a workshop out back of his house, and in it, were every connector made and sold (at the time) and looms of wire of varying gauge.

He simply laid out one cable, measured it, and then reversed the cable and measured it again. He did the same for the next leg and laid them so that they both measured similarly, in the same direction.

He then sleeved them and attached the connectors and the whole process was repeated again. He then applied the heat shrink and marked directionality on the cables.

He told me he was just making sure they oriented in the right direction.
He measured, and read, enough of a difference to justify what he did. I never gave it a second thought until I joined A'gon.

All the best,
Nonoise


Ok, so you have an speaker wire (2 wires to be simple), 50% of the time current is going one direction and then the other on both wires, not just 1 wire.  So i ask you which way would you point the arrows when 1/2 the time the direction is wrong?  

Please share with us what physical characteristic of a wire makes it directional?  What is the secret to determining which way electrons prefer to go on a wire?  


From what I've read, it's the signal that goes to the speaker that matters, so go for the direction that best facilitates that, no matter how small the discrepancy.

As for what can possibly make a cable, any cable, directional? It seems to be that all cable are drawn through a die, and that impresses the structure enough to give directionality. 

All the best,
Nonoise