Do you consider cables to be a "component" of your system?

I guess it depends on your definition of a component. 

Does a component need to be powered so it does something?

Obviously pretty things sell, don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that.
 

Yeah, that must be it because if you think the crappy black PCs that come with most equipment sound good then the rest of us surely must be wrong and kidding ourselves if we hear improvements with more expensive cables. Silly us. 

@boxer12 

For many reasons…I’ve vintage, and have been selectively buying. Now own Pristine second owner last model run Infinity IRS Beta speakers. Yamaha power PC5002m mid’s / high panels, PC4002M woofer towers. 4 x infinitesimal 0.2’s, Yamaha Pc2002m power. Well treated 22x36x8 room electrically well engineered. Many hours fine tuning…it’s a hum and noise free absolutely Clean sounding system. I’m not naïve there is better out there but man would you have to pay to duplicate the quality of sound here. Cutting off the hardwired hefty Commercial PC’s would be horrible and why ? 
 

Cheers

@1971gto455ho -

You're certainly interested in good sound & are enjoying your system, cool... That is what it's about.

FWIW I wouldn't cut any of your PC's either. It may however be worthwhile to check out some used "Colorado" IC's from Audioquest, or even "Golden Presence" IC's from Cardas, just to see if you like the sound quality these bring to your system.  

@1971gto455ho ,

I can appreciate that you don’t think that AC cords (or any cables) can make a difference in a system and are just shiny audio jewelry.

I am a big fan of older Yamaha amplifiers myself.

The models you listed are PA amps from the 80’s. Hardwired AC cabling and those (unfortunately) little speaker connection screws that Yamaha always seemed so hell-bent on using.

They have cool VU meters. In terms of raw power, vintage Yamaha’s are beasts. But they’re certainly not what I would call refined (or transparent) by any stretch. And unless you have kept up on maintenance (being that they are from the 80’s), I’d be willing to bet they are so far out of original spec that they’re probably not worth refurbishing back to manufacturer’s original values.

Which is the problem with vintage gear.

So, I’m not surprised that you can’t hear a difference. It’s impossible for you to try a different AC cable. Unless you’ve modified the amplifier’s speaker terminals, it’s pretty much impossible for you to try any after-market pre-terminated high end speaker cables as well.

I’m glad you enjoy your system, but your continual denial and arguing that cables don’t make a difference for anyone else in the world doesn’t hold a whole lot of weight.

I would be willing to bet that if you popped in a newer, higher-end amp/preamp, etc...you would not only be able to tell a difference, you would be floored by the differences.

But until then, you do you, but please stop telling the rest of us what we can and can’t hear.

FWIW, I'm a Jaguar kind of guy. 😎