Highest component/cable ratio?

Your ear's must rule, not the price tag. Is that not the first rule of this hobby?

I have and use interconnect cables that are rather inexpensive, some are 25 year old Discwasher and some are newer Sonic Link. The Disc cables have separate ground wires and were purchased directly from Disc. Most of them did not cost more then $15 a pair. They still sound great. I have had many different ss and tube units in my system over the years. The most expensive unit I owned was a $15K pre amp. Different cables did not improve its sound.

Over the years I have had dealers loan me many different cables (interconnects and speaker) to try, never measured up to the Discwasher and 12 gauge copper. Some of the loaner cables were in the $1K meter class, most were well broken in. Most dealers do not loan any more, and I think you know why.

I advise anybody who is thinking of getting more expensive cables then they have not to do so unless the dealer gives you a loan pair to first try. Otherwise you are just chasing air.

The one part of my system that I cannot change is the speaker cable. My speaker cable runs through the concrete floor from one side of my living room to the other. When my house was built, I had wanted the electrician to install conduit so that the speaker cables could be exchanged, but he did not. Instead, he used Radioshack 12G speakerwire trapping it in the concrete. On the positive side, this prevents me from expensive experimenting since the the current run is 40-45' in length.

Hey Paul, I want to hear the difference, but just plain can't. I'm an early adopter of the Volex $8 power cables and I've been using VH Audio Pulsar ICs for over 5 years now. Paul Speltz Anti Cable speaker wires are as good as any I've tried. So, I'm with you, luck I suppose to have this stuff work for me. I'm always surfing looking for that next best thing. I'd love to find a cable (any) that gets me there, but for now I'm content.

The money I've saved by buying relatively inexpensive interconnects and speaker cables has allowed me to buy better components/speakers...a far better way to allocate your budget.

For example, I'm using speaker cables that cost me $300 for an 8-foot pair, hooked to speakers that cost me $15K. Only an idiot would split that budget $5K/$10K for cables/speakers and expect to have something that sounds 'better'.

The same goes for my interconnects...about $100/pair (and I think that's maybe a little overboard).

Speaker cables/interconnects must have the greatest diminishing returns of any component in a system, with speakers the least.

If using zip cord allows you to buy better speakers, then I think that's the way to go.