Cable vs. Electronics: biggest bang for the buck

Sean, What is the difference between a "Better preserved" and a "Degradation" of a signal? If it is not perfectly preserved, then it is a degradation. The point remains that a cable cannot improve upon a signal irrespective of impedence, capacitance or whatever. It can pass the signal as is or it degrades it. The "Perfect" cable would be one that passes a signal with no change (something we have not achieved.) I do believe in a synergy with certain cables with certain equipment. I'm sure that the interaction of electrical factors does account for this and forms a closer picture of the source(maybe.) A system is not going to be any better than its pieces parts. A bright CD player with "Good" cables will sound worse than it would with less accurate cables masking some of the brightness. Where the bad link is, it will have to be corrected or the sound will degrade through the rest of the chain. Each component is going to put its on signature on it for better or worse.
Obviously, the accurate thing is out the door. Accurate to what and by who's standard. With all the gear on the market (Including cables), the definition of accurate is really up for grabs.

Biggest bang for the buck? Argh! Tough question but - I would have to say the right cables can make a sad system sing and a great system sound utterly magnificent.

The margin of improvement by a single component in any system is far less - regardless of the quality of the component. Dumping a pair of Tenor's in a system comprised of a first generation CD player, radio shack preamp, and cheezy speakers is not going to provide the same results dollar for dollar as if the problems of the system were addressed with better suited cables. How much are the tenors? 20K? That's one heck of a cable budget! We may have money left over for better speakers!

There are many reasons for this - most of which *I* cannot explain. We often read how the electrical properties of cables, the preservation of signal, the capacitance, reactance and inductance all work to make it "better" but focusing on this is like looking at only one piece of the puzzle.

Here is an example. The new BMI Shark power cord is made of platinum. We know Platinum is a crappy conductor but people claim the Shark is an awesome "sounding" power cord. Likewise there are other cables (and components) which measure poorly yet sound very musical.

Why is this?

To get a better understanding of why cables make such a difference, one must first better understand the world around them. Everything is in play. While the preservation of a signal is important - there is truly so much more. Take a look at HyperPhysics to get a grasp.

Did I say cables can give you the biggest bang for the buck?

Using any type of wire based cables, we will never have "perfectly preserved" transfer of signal as far as i can tell. As such, i was saying that cables should be measured in the amount of "damage" that they do i.e. some cables are "better" because they do less "damage". As such, the one that does "less damage" is actually doing more to preserve the signal than the one that does more damage and degrades the signal to a greater extent. As Bob Crump stated, all wires are bad. Some are just "less bad" than others, in effect making them "better". I hope that you can follow my explanation and understand where i'm coming from.

Bare in mind that signals have MANY various aspects to them. While one cable might offer linear frequency response, the actual transient or phase response of the source trying to load into this cable could be quite poor. You can reverse that situation and have good transient or phase response with a non-linear frequency response. Juggling these and other variables is but a part of what finding what cable works best in a specific place within a system is all about.

As to "accuracy" being "out the door", i think that one can actually measure a good portion of what is "accurate" and what isn't. I'm not saying that we can take ALL of our cues from test bench measurements, but i do think that science and nature work hand in hand when done properly. Sean
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I'd guess that if a cable made that big a difference in your system, there is something very wrong with the cable you are using, and it could be improved upon for a lot less than $7K.

Sean, I agree with you as far as signal degradation. We are on the same page with a few semantics. However, I don't believe we are to the point where we can measure performance with any amount of true certainty. Just read a couple of issues of Sterophile.
I will use the example of Vandersteen speakers. They measure about as perfect as any loudspeaker that you will find at any price. I personally am bias towards the speakers. My 3A Sigs. and 2WQ's sound so good its scary. Yet, look how many people say they are laid back, rolled off, poor transparency and etc. (I must be deaf because I have used many a speaker and I can't agree with this assessment.) Now look at the number of people who rave over proven inaccurate loud speakers as shown in test results. We accept +- 10 db as accurate? I still believe that accuracy is in the ears of the beholder. If not, explain these inconsistences away. What defining piece of equipment do we have? What cables? Etc. Etc. Look at tubes. They really test pretty poor vs. a transistor amp. Spec. wise, which would you buy? But how many people think they sound better? By the way, I'm not picking on you, I just feel very strongly that this industry has lost its roots and is pushing whatever they can sell by whatever means(mostly by propagada.) They are forcing us poor neurotic souls to purchase that perfection which is not obtainable. I for one cringe at the amount of money I have spent over the last 35 years in search of the Holy Grail. Of course on the opposite end, we have done this to ourselves by buying some of this stuff. Its like buying a Polo shirt vs. one sold at Walmart. They all cover your back. Maybe we should turn the tag out. I paid $10,000 for cable XYZ and had to add $750 for the connectors! Look what I bought for $10,750 Don't it sound great! Now do you really think that someone who just purchased these would say these things suck?