I have a $100K system and bought $400 cables. Yes, not a typo. :) I bought and sold my Transparent Reference, FMS, NBS, Wireworld and NBS. I currently (after a trial period) bought all Frost Audio BlackFrost cables. In short, spectacular! Forward 6 months later, they close up shop. Go figure. Sucks for re-sale, but these cables are so good and for the price (even if they were $8k) I am keeping them for quite awhile and am happy. Moral of story, do your research, listen to as many cables in your own system, and pick what you like, not what the idiot magazine writers raves about (and gets paid to).
Cable Costs Relative to System
Since making a spread sheet with my audio system prices, I have been thinking(shocked) about my total investment in cables. My total system retails at $67,000 (Digital and analog front ends included). I purchased all of it here on Audiogon so my investment is about 50%. Of that I have about 10% invested in interconnects and cables and another 10% in Power Cables (Shunyata Hydra included). That's $13,000 worth of wire. I'm starting to question whether it might be more effective to put some of this budget into acitve components. It would take forever to listen to all possible combinations, but would like to hear others experiences with relatively high end systems and cable selection. It would seem to me that the point of diminishing returns would be reached sooner with cables than with speakers and amps. Do most of you follow the 10% "rule" for cabling? How do PCs fit into this rule? Are there any super bargain cables capable of keeping up with highly resolving electronics?
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- 329 posts total
- 329 posts total