I like classic rock. I was fully vested in Valhalla cabling all around, including PC's, and pretty happy. I bought it all used on Audiogon. The Valhalla's were the high point of my system, to be sure. I knew instinctively early on that I wouldn't really know what I had, component-wise, unless I had good juice from the wall, and proper cabling.
I ended up getting an Aural Symphonics loaner from a dealer who sent me damaged demo Valhalla XLR's, to use while the Valhalla's were in the shop. I took the opportunity to A/B the two. The Valhallas were "rolling off" almost the entire midbass in Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"! The Aurals were playing music that was quite obviously just not there through the Valhallas. Valhalla's are like the SET's of cabling (the XLR's, anyway). If you listen to a lot of acoustic with vocals, there may be nothing better than Valhalla's, however (except Odin).
...And maybe Crystal Dreamline.
I still think used Valhallas are a great place to start your journey. They are better than most, more neutral than most, and easy to sell when you find that cable that suits your system even better due to synergy. You're not losing money; just putting it in your system.
You can make some expensive mistakes in audio. Used Valhalla's isn't one of them.
I ended up getting an Aural Symphonics loaner from a dealer who sent me damaged demo Valhalla XLR's, to use while the Valhalla's were in the shop. I took the opportunity to A/B the two. The Valhallas were "rolling off" almost the entire midbass in Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"! The Aurals were playing music that was quite obviously just not there through the Valhallas. Valhalla's are like the SET's of cabling (the XLR's, anyway). If you listen to a lot of acoustic with vocals, there may be nothing better than Valhalla's, however (except Odin).
...And maybe Crystal Dreamline.
I still think used Valhallas are a great place to start your journey. They are better than most, more neutral than most, and easy to sell when you find that cable that suits your system even better due to synergy. You're not losing money; just putting it in your system.
You can make some expensive mistakes in audio. Used Valhalla's isn't one of them.