Cable Costs Relative to System

DIY cable is good value. 10-15% spend on DIY cable is great value :)

The correct answer depends on the following list of factors, and once you plug them into the formula you should be able to find out if you've spent too much (or too little) on your cables for the optimal sounding results.

I * D +(I/O) = T

T (%)- this is the answer, and it is very important that your budget is within +/- 0.5% (this formula works only in USD). For those rare cases where you've either spent too much or too little, please stay calm and do not panic (*refer to below for additional instructions).

I - This is a whole number which represents the number of cables used in your system.

D - Dimitri's factor. This is a critical number which is based on the extensive market research (performed by the IGOR Geneva Consortium for Profit) that takes into account exchange rate volatility (among other things that cannot be shared due to international trade secret -- patent pending) of countries where the components were manufactured. Take the price that you have paid and multiply by corresponding manufacturer number: UK = 1.0, China = 2.7, Germany = 0.7, USA = 4.0, Japan = 0.6, Others = 0.74

O - Oscillation value. If you believe that cables make a meaningful difference in your system's performance, use 1. If not, use 0 for this value. And, multiply that by percentage of the components that you purchased used (including demos). For those who only buy used equipments, divide by 0.2 if you think you usually get the best prices on your components. If not, use 0.5

I realize that I should have responded to this thread (and saved everyone their precious time to listen to music). Still, it is never too late.

*If you are either above or below the correct T%, please trade your items on Audiogon and comfirm the optimal system configuration by using the formula again.

Stik

The answer is the value of any component is only perceptible by the system owner.

That given, I can truthfully say, on my system, no 10k speaker cable was worth looking at. The cabling I have is is worth .01 the worth of my system.

MIT, Cardas, Jena, and Kimber among others failed miserably.

Obviously, I am a lucky audiophile to spend so little on wires, for a sound I love.

Imo, audiophile-grade equipment and decent source material need good cables to preserve the signal quality by adding as little distortion as possible. Unfortunately this doesn't usually doesn't come cheap, even with used cables. I find it hard to believe that anybody would claim they can't hear the difference between RadioShack wire and a decent set of cables, unless they've blown their ear drums and/or mind out...

I'll say this again, one of the best finds in cabling is the Monster Z200i IC. The shame is they are discontinueing it. It allows a huge soundstage with extremely pure and grain free highs, open warm and detailed mids with killer fast bass. I am currently trying to best it with A/B listening off of my CDP which has XLR and RCA outs with the same line level signal output.