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The Cost of Cables

We all know that there have been countless posts with endless debates about cables on every audio forum available. The reason I start this post is to garner thoughts from others on the cost of cables, not necessarily whether they make a difference or not. I find the prices for cables staggering and I (me personally) do not understand where the cost comes from. Some will say R&D, ok, I can go for that to a point, but can the manufacturing of wire really cost much? (In thinking about this, the discussion could be applied to audio as a whole.)

Obviously cable companies survive because we purchase their products, I include myself. But if we quit paying these large prices, would prices fall dramatically or would they just quit making cables such as we know it and/or close their doors?
brianmgrarcom
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Regardless of the price of the cables, it is neither financially or psychologically the main purchase,

Cwlondon


Actually, look around this site some more, you may be surprised. Some are using cables as expensive, if not more expensive, than their equipment.

Is it determed by most then that cables simply are marked up much more than other audio componants or is there actually something to the cost?

Brian
Brianmgrarcom


Yes, there is more mark up in cables than other gear. Again though, blame the consumers, not the manufacturers. If you found folks dying to give you more money, wouldn't you take it?

John
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eldartford
4,262 posts
 
I have a grandson who makes a good living importing stuff, mostly from China. One kind of stuff is audio equipment. He tells me that he buys some decent-sounding speakers for $50, but had a hard time selling them for $200. He raised his price to $400, and now they sell well. "Who wants a $200 speaker?" is how he explains it.
gs5556
1,235 posts
 
When you see a set of cables that cost over twenty grand, what runs through your head? Is it a)ridiculous, or b) well, they HAVE to be the best, so no matter what I buy, I will never reach near perfection unless I have them. Sadly, I think the latter is what audiophiles assume and such products create their own demand.

My opinion, yes cable manufacturing process plays a big role in the cost. But you have to ask - is that process really achieving anything? If you make a toothpick from a tree trunk and a pocketknife, you can say a lot of work and one tree went into the process (hence the exhorbitant price), but is it better than the ones you can buy in a box?
snofun3
601 posts
 
[Using a "high test" gasoline, higher octane, can actually be bad for a car if it doesn't call for an octane that high. The octane ratings correlates to when the gas detonates, so an octane too high can cause wrong detonation.]

There is no such thing as "wrong detonation" by using an unnnecesarily high octane for a particular engine, you just use up unnecessary $.

If you use too low an octane for a vehicle it will preignite and "diesel" (ie compression ignition), or pre-ignition, in advance of the spark, but using a higher octane has no negative effect.
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