cable reviews?


I read the forums and the online magazines and always wonder about the cable reviews. How can I discover what all of the hype is about. I have read promising reviews about cable brands such as Cardas, TARA Labs, and Transparent. I admit I’m leaning towards TARA due to many awards I’ve seen in AbsoluteSound magazine. Cardas also seems to be pretty good also. Any advice on which cables would best suit my system. I have a modest system, with the new Sony Digital front end (brilliant), Bryston electronics and B&W loudspeakers. Thank you
fschulz
Audioquest Type 4 speaker cable and Audioquest King Cobra are good mates for modest systems. Kimber's PBJ is still a great budget IC if you don't need shielding.

Get comfortable with some modestly priced cables and let them settle for a month of listening before considering any of the 'spensive stuff because you are going to be having to evaluate trade-offs.
I agree, cables are so system dependent, you can not generalise. They have to work in your system. I can really see no reason to buy cables new. As long as they have'nt been mistreated, how can they go wrong and if you buy second hand you can resell at no or low cost. The to buy section on the Gon is loaded with cables.

I havegone through a good number of companies Kimber, Nordost and Acoustic Zen and found all of them good. I have tended to graduate to the small companies with low or no marketing budget. Currently and for a couple of years, I have been using Silnote, Wywires and Sablon audio for power cables. All are pretty good value cables, in my view.

As an aside, many people recommend sticking to one manufacturer, in your cable loom. It may be a good idea, but I have never managed it
professional reviews of cables or speakers or components are all the same and all positive and good for yer reference to think'bout. not good reviews are usually not professional. so choose between good and good. it's eeazzie.
Don't forget that USED cables are among the best deals in hifi out there, and unless the cables were used on a lobster boat or in a greasy diner kitchen you can't really go wrong and you'll save a pile over new stuff (if you buy something that sucks, sell it if you can't return it)...I have mostly AQ cables that are all well made solid core fancy-schmantsy blahblah bought for less than half the cost of new wires, and all of these work perfectly and sound great. A good example is a VDM5 coax digital solid silver cable I would NEVER pay retail for (expensive) I bought used for a fraction of the list price...I could melt it and sell the silver!
"Thousans of dollars for actual materials that i would assume cost under $100 . granted they should be paid for going through the hassle of sifting through what all the suppliers have to offer , ect ... but cmon !"

Google search the word Cardas. Once the search results load, click of the images filter. Not too far down you'll see 2 side by side photos of a Cardas cable stripped down so you can see the internal layout. The image is resolution 912x358 and its an actual picture, not a drawing. You should have no problem finding the pic I'm talking about.

To me, it looks like making that cable is very labor intensive, and the price may be justified.