Which Cables Are of Most Importance?

The system is as good a it's weakest link. Spend lots of dough on components and use crappy wires ...
I under estimated PC's at the beginning and was not happy with the sound, was replacing other component but the real problem was still there , the PC. Lamp cord , or computer cord can ruin the whole picture.
I've played with shelves under CD player lately. My equipment sits on Finite Elemente audio rack, on Finite Elemente Ceraballs and Cerapucks (one of the best if not the best stuff when it comes to vibration control). I put additional shelf between the player and the rack. Actually I experimented with a couple of shelves made of playwood, wood, MDF, glass..... Again, changes in sound were significant from almost unbearable to much better sound. The best was glass shelf!! (8 mm thick) in my particular system. And the difference is bigger then changing interconnects!, even replacement of stock tube with a very good NOS tube in the amp didn't bring bigger change. A single glass shelf!

Not surprisingly, many responded with the power cords as the most important one. Very possible because most of the homes are far from the ITU-T compliance, one the main culprit having no or a very bad grounding.

In terms of best return on investment, I would suggest having, whenever possible, a dedicated 20A line and have the grounding checked. Then spend the money downstream, starting with the ICs (staying within your comfort zone of your budget, upgrading slowing till you don’t hear the improvement). In my particular case, after installing a dedicated line and improving the grounding, the difference between having a good power conditioner like the PS Audio PPP and without one is so minimal that I got rid of it; the overall performance on the system (using the same IC/SC) is very noticeable with the new AC line/improved grounding.

As for how much the allocation of the total budget should be I rely on the experience on fellow Goners. The systems section is very useful to checkout those with similar gear (say the same amp and/or the same speakers that you own) what type of IC/SC/etc they use in order to have a magnitude of the (extra) spending.

Just revisiting this thread. Almarg, you said:

****the converse is also true. Any information that is lost or distortion that is added by a downstream component or cable cannot be corrected by anything further upstream!****

Absolutely true. But the reasoning behind my comment, and it's suggestion that if a compromise must be made (budget-wise), it makes more sense to keep the signal as pure as possible, for as long as possible, by using the best possible IC. IOW, assuming that NONE of the cables in the system are total garbage (unlikely these days; thankfully), and barring any gross technical incompatibilities, it seems to make sense that the end result will be better if the speaker cables are asked to pass a signal that is less distorted by the IC (better IC), than to have a better (more revealing) speaker cable revealing the problems of a lesser quality IC.

I welcome your thoughts.

Hi Frogman,

The question is reminiscent of the age-old debate about "speakers first" vs. "source first." As many past threads have made clear, a reconciliation between the two opposing positions seems unachievable.

FWIW, I happen to be in the camp that believes that a chain is as strong as its weakest link, regardless of where in the chain that link may be located. In the case of speakers vs. source, I believe that in general the choice of speakers will make a greater difference in the character and quality of the sound that is heard than the source component, which I believe means in turn that the speakers are more likely than not to be the link that should be given the most focus, and the higher priority. I recognize that there is an opposing philosophy, with which I agree to disagree.

In the case of cables, the issue is further muddled by the dependence of many cable effects on the design characteristics of the components the cable is connecting, and the unpredictability that results in. And that dependence, in turn, is one reason (among others) for what IMO is a considerably lower degree of correlation between price and performance in the case of cables, in comparison with the degree of correlation that exists in the case of components and speakers. Which muddles the issue still further.

The bottom line, as I see it, is what I said in my previous post:

IMO the lack of consensus in this thread confirms what Philjolet said early on: "There are too many variables in personal stereos to have a fair consensus for comparison."

Many technical factors could be cited in support of that position, including the dependency of many cable effects on the input and output impedances of the components that are being connected, balanced vs. unbalanced interconnections, ground loop susceptibility of the components, the rfi/emi environment, use of feedback in the components, power supply design, AC power characteristics, the lengths of the cables, etc., etc.

The reasoning you stated in your last post, while perhaps appealing in the abstract, does not take into account this multitude of variables and dependencies, and also seems to make what I consider to be the incorrect presumption that there will be a high degree of correlation between cable performance in a given system and cable price.

IMO. I recognize that other opinions can and will differ.

Best regards,
-- Al

I have been blind testing cables with 5 other guys for over 30 years with a scoring system and truthfully there are less than 10 cable manufacturers that make a cable that evokes emotion. In my opinion the best thing you can do is just stay within one reputable cable manufacturer when replacing cables. If the manufacturer makes his cable in a garage than there will be no professional R&D afforded by that person so find a manufacturer that is real. Also remember cables are like car tires; if you use several different makes of tires on 1 car you will never really know how any one of those tires actually performs unless you try the same tire on each corner. In my opinion change all the cables and if you are not emotionally connected to the artist after the change than move on. After testing over 400 different brands I do not know of 1 cable you can change in a system will leaving other average cables in your system that will evoke an emotional experience.