cable upgrades , real or rip off

Jrw40,
If you try them just watch out! You may remove the cable from its packaging, install it, and think "Damn, that's a good looking cable! It looks so cool in my system!" Subconsciously you will want to hear a difference for the better so you can just keep the cool looking cable in your system, or you may think that because it looks like it is of so much higher quality than the stock one that it must also make your stereo sound better... And you listen and you think it does.
I'm not anti-cables but I bet this scenario happens so much more than any of us would want to admit.

There are real improvements with thicker and different cable designs. Whether these improvements are significant enough depends on your hearing ability.

The trick I have often used is to raise my existing speaker cables in the middle with a high back chair (you need at least 3 feet for this test). This forces the electrons to go uphill and over a big bump in order to reach the speaker.

If you can hear the difference caused by this effect then it is probably worth upgrading your cables. Myself, I have such poor hearing that it is not worth the extra money.

;-)

IMO, popular opinion has it backwards, if your equipment is well designed and in good condition, the engineers will have built in significant power conditioning betwixt your incoming ac line & the dc buss immediatly downstream, power cord & other minute effects to incoming voltage will be minimal. If you have old equipment with worn out capacitors ,or the designer skimped on conditioning, you may hear more of a difference. If you are on good terms with a local repair shop, it is very easy to hook up an osciloscope to the dc buss in your equipment and detect any differences. There is no magic to this one, if you can't see a change in dc voltage level on a scope, your equipment can't see it either.

I agree, it is difficult to understand a manufacturer skimping on the power cord of a $3000.00 amp. Power cords and other tweaks are still relatively new to high end audio and their impact can't always be predicted or even understood, using the rigors of applied science. Engineers, like all scientists, like to build components using sound scientific principles. Throughout history, the greatest resistence to anything new, especially if it can't be proved, comes from the scientific community. No disrespect, but IMHO the thread by Jeff_jones demonstrates that thinking.
Due to the prodding of people I trusted, and over a period of time, I tried a number of cords in different configurations with little improvement, then one day everything clicked, the improvement was unmistakable, I was hearing subtleties and even instruments I had never heard before on my cds.

again thanks for the feedback, i can tell from the wide range of responces that this is not an open or closed debate. i did however find bigtee's blind test very intresting.