Cables that make no sense...

Perhaps you misunderstood me. I would never state that cables do not make a difference when I have clearly heard that they make a major difference.

However I have found that their difference only justifies about 10% of the system cost being spent on cables. So if you have a 100k system then spend 10k on cables (I have no experience at this stratospheric price point), but if you have a $3k system (like mine) then spend about $300 on cables. Putting a $1k cable in a $3k system will not make a $1k difference, but putting a $100 cable in a $3k system could well make a $100 difference.

See what I'm saying ? What I really wanted to know was whether people think my 10% figure is about right, or too high or too low.

Sean...sounds about right, but it's not a musically relevant rule. Sort of like saying socks should only cost about 10% of the shoes you're wearing...or 1% of your best suit. Who cares? The cable market is wildly non-linear and non-correlated with performance, so yeah it's helpful to cite a guideline to keep us from totally irrational lopsidedness, but I can imagine a scenario where a detailed, linear, resolving affordable 2 way monitor that's relatively cheap, used with a low-powered affordable amp and a good source benefiting from one of the better ICs that itself might cost as much as one of the components.
OTOH you could make your own excellent IC for $50 and it'd sound great on $15k speakers, and the 10% rule would similarly be only cognitive dissonance.
Pick your transducers, then power them, then voice em with cables. Sorry to be so pedantic. Good night.

Although cables vary in sound based on manufacturer I think the benefit is basically more about allowing your equipment to perform at its best then adding anything themselves. A four thousand dollar set of speaker cables will do nothing for the cheaper systems but it will make an over the top system shine by allowing you to hear more of the equipment.

I recently added a high end digital cable to my system and it didnt do anything for my DVD player but the same cable put on my transport made a huge difference. The DVD player was already topped out but it allowed the transport to show me more of what it had.

Cables are probably the most marked up product there is in high end audio but I also beleive they are one of the biggest bangs for the buck. Yes you can over do it to the point where it makes no difference but matching the quality and signature sound of cables is as important as matching a dac to a transport.

Perfectimage - I have read that at CES, Nordost used its cable on a cheap "boom box" gradually working their way up the line from Flatline to Valhalla. With every step in their product line, those in the audience heard better sound from the boom box. When the Valhalla finally met the boom box, people stood, cheered and applauded with joy.

I sure hope we're talking real boom box here. What is the best boom box/high end cable combination? I am dissatisfied with my current set-up as it takes an inordinate amount of space in my home. The boom box being portable could also be used outside the home, on my shoulder. Besides providing me with great sound, it would be a fashion statement. Does anyone know which batteries are best sound wise? Once I hit the road with my boom box and (sorry I didn't get the name, is that Nordost?) cable, I will be on battery power, my worry is that the juice out of those batteries being somewhat suspect DC, maybe it should be changed to AC and back to DC, so that it really is pure battery DC, know what I mean? I sure hope the manufacturers of line conditioners are listening. I don't want to lose out on the inner detail while out on outer detail.