Cable Costs Relative to System

I believe the cable cost shouldn't be more than 15% of your total system cost. I've done many comparisons over the past 3 years ( over 2 dozen cables.) and only found less than 5 cable makers that made my "acceptable" list regardless of the price. Even from these companies, only certain model and above made the list. I even tried DIY interconnects but just doesn't sound as good as the ones made by professionals.
It is really up to the listener to figure out if it is worth the extra 100% to 300% to get that extra 5 to 15% improvement. Most importantly is system matching.

Here is my favorite cable manufature list:

Audio Note AN-Vx and AN-Vz
Stealth Audio Cable M-21 special
NBS King Serpent and higher
Nordost SPM and higher

I tried to get cable for $500 as my cap. I would pay a little bit more if there is enough improvement to my system.

Let me chime in my two bits, for what's it worth. I agree with Trelja's sentiments but I feel he doesn't go far enough. I recently purchased a pair of HG Silver Lace IC's (beloved by Gonphiles and 47 reviewers on Audioreview) and they sound fine. The problem is that so did my cheap Audio Advisor house brand IC's which are 10 years old.

I noticed no difference in my system with the HG's. If you think my system is not revealing enough, guess again: my speakers are Hales T8's with CJ and Threshold front end.

I do not doubt that there are some of you that hear concrete, definable differences in cables. However, there IS a lot of smoke and mirrors with cables and purchase of ANY cable is frought with pitfalls. I really wonder what percentage of cable 'benefit' falls into the pycho-acoustic realm. As the adage goes, buyer beware.

Russellrcncom, I agree with you. The only problem with all of these testimonials is that they all have to be believed by faith. We hear over and over how much better people's systems sound with inclusion of cable brand X.

My disbelief stems from me being confident that I have maximized my listening pleasures without reliance on cable swapping.

If you accept that Malcolm Hawksford's definitive work The Essex Echo manages to hit the nail on the head (and few have argued with it) then one of the key issues (there are definitely others) with cables is so-called 'skin effect'. While there are various strategies to deal with skin effect, the problem has probably not been eliminated in any real world design (yet).

Skin effect causes phase distortions. It seems to be accepted that while some people are very bothered by phase distortions, others are not. That may mean the latter have tin ears, but alternatively it may mean that those that are not bothered by phase distortions simply have superior brains that are capable of adjusting these phase distortions out of what they are hearing (since that is one of the functions of how the ear and brain interact).

Whatever. My point is that some people may hear little difference between cables, while others may hear significant differences, based on their sensitivities to phase distortions.

I don't care what one calls distortion, it is all unacceptable. That is, if you can hear it.

It will sound like bragging, but like I have said it before, my hearing measures way beyond normal hearing. I hate distortion of any sort. If it is there, I will pick it up.

I use short, pure copper cables and interconnects.

I don't trust proactive cables. Once, I was sharing a Pass Labs X150 with a friend. He plugged it into his system as is. I agreed it sounded terrible. Then, I asked him to switch out his MIT cables with some Cardas he had on hand. Immediately, there was a great improvement.

With my straight forward cables, the Pass amp performed brilliantly.

My speakers are among the most revealing speakers ever divised. My pass amps have the purest circuitry of all high power amps.

My front ends are to my liking, and that is all they need to be.

Some people need the latest and greatest tweak, be it cable science, isolation devices, or conditioners. If they are using frequency mashing cables, I can see why. I would sense something wrong too.