Cables and cords are often the afterthoughts of building a system. You finally make that speaker and amp purchase, etc, and the audio sales person says, "What are you using for cables?" I once replied that I had some old, large-gauge Monster speaker cables and would reuse those. A bit alarmed, my retailer said, "Well--those would be a MINIMUM."
Over time and with changes in gear, I realized he was right. I wasn't happy with the sound of my Maggie 2.5's and had saved enough for the lower end of a high-end brand, and I was hooked. I have made two upgrades along that line since and have built my own power cords with the excellent DIY cable and connectors now out there.
Along with a clean power supply, quality connections are an absolute necessity to keep you from chasing after different components to get where you want to be. In the end, they save you money. Again, from the owner's manual for ARC REF 210's:
IMPORTANT: Use the best available speaker wires and interconnects.
Audio Research cannot emphasize this enough. As better components and systems are developed, it becomes increasingly important to avoid the limitations of inferior system interconnections.
Over time and with changes in gear, I realized he was right. I wasn't happy with the sound of my Maggie 2.5's and had saved enough for the lower end of a high-end brand, and I was hooked. I have made two upgrades along that line since and have built my own power cords with the excellent DIY cable and connectors now out there.
Along with a clean power supply, quality connections are an absolute necessity to keep you from chasing after different components to get where you want to be. In the end, they save you money. Again, from the owner's manual for ARC REF 210's:
IMPORTANT: Use the best available speaker wires and interconnects.
Audio Research cannot emphasize this enough. As better components and systems are developed, it becomes increasingly important to avoid the limitations of inferior system interconnections.