High Fidelity Cables CT-1designed by Rick Schultz

I also collect watches , I have seen , over the last 15 years , the price point of some very nice pieces , like Patek Calatravas , rise from around $10K to almost 25K , for what is basically the same watch with some minor movement improvements plus a slightly larger , more cosmo case . My personal opinion ( everyone has one ) is that when you really interested in a particular pursuit/pastime/hobby , is that you can lose perspective of the effect of diminishing returns vs real world essential items , for me , the CT1E is the sweet spot in the range , and the sound of most hifi related items can be improved by a couple of glasses of good quality single malt , for me , the most cost effective upgrade of all ......

Ddraudt - How can you call me a friend if I am so negative and boring? But thanks, for the title.

No, my writings here have not been negative. If anything, they have been logical with questions of merit. But the only responses back are the same each time: if you don't own or care to audition the HF cables, you should not be in this thread.

As an engineer of 30+ years in both the electronics HW and SW worlds, i know of no engineer who's ideas or products downright put all the "competition" in second or third or whatever place. I do not question Ricks ability. I only point out that the 3 or 4 dominant writers here can't seem to imagine that other products are also candidates for consideration as top performers…..except the next model from Rick.

ARC has been notorious over the years with all the MK2 updates and then the next product that absolutely blows away the previous design. And my own experiences with ARC products over the years showed this to not at all be the case. But this was going on in 2-3 year increments. With the HF cables, this "greatest cable on the planet" is changing every few months. That was my point of the $100k PC is on the horizon if this "evolution" does not stop. This is not negative at all……it is a valid point. And I do not care if you pay $100k for PC's. More power to you, no pun intended. But don't get on my case that I am negative or boring for pointing this out or commenting a new cable design that time and time again results in the greatest audio orgasm of all time.

Rather than the same responses again and agin here, "wow, this latest HF cable is like nothing I have experienced before", take a little time and tell us what are the observations made to come to such a conclusion. Give us specific details such as you hear a third guitarist that before was not "present", or piano delineation is like never before, increased ambiance or harmonic overtones, greater dynamic contrast…..anything, just anything to educate people here what $8900 for an IC or $15k for a PC is bringing to the scene. But I don't see any such comments…just the same ol' things, "wow, wow, wow". Yawn indeed.

When I have written here of cable auditions, tube rolling experiences, preamp shootouts, etc., I go through such detail. And a lot of people reply here or send me many emails for further comments. The bottom line is that this thread totally lacks this kind of detail and sharing. It's just 3 or 4 guys patting each other on the back and sitting at the camp fire singing Kumbaya.

I will put something in perspective. I was a video and audiophile at one time. When i was into video I bought an outrageously expensive television at the time. It was the best in the market and it's picture and performance was amazing. 5 years later I'm still happy and I think I can get another 5 out if it without losing a lot. That television was the pioneer elite. I still own it today. I don't desire another television now and I won't for a while. High fidelity ultimate reference cables are that audio thing for me. It's next level and I think I can truly be happy with its performance for a very long time. If you get it and keep it for a long time. Then you enjoy it and it's worth it !!!

@Jafox , a very good post and quite articulate in your assertions/viewpoints , when I purchased my CT1 interconnects , it was the 1st time for a very long time that I simply sat there and silently said to myself ' wow , what a cable ' , but I lack the ability , I think , to express why the cable struck me that way . It was a sense of the electronics being removed from the signal path and it was just music flowing through the system , the immediacy of the sound , the dimensionality was something that had me in awe . When I later substituted the CT1E cable , I noticed an increase in micro detail ( if that is the correct expression ) and transient attack and decay seemed even better controlled that before . I have no interest in hearing anything up the range , nor the power cables , firstly , because I think an all CT1/CT1E system is as good as I could ever want and secondly , even if I had that much money ,I'd rather get a new kitchen for my house or upgrade my car , I would feel guilty and greedy to spend that much on something that was primarily for myself and not spend money for something that my wife would gain as much satisfaction from , yes , she likes my hifi system , but she also would like some house improvements more than another pair of CT1E's . And I know what you mean about ARC , back in the 1980's , when WJZ wrote the brochures , they concentrated on a primarily technical explanation of why the product had been improved/superceded , now you get expressions like ' improved by an order of magnitude , and then some ' .... btw , I have all ARC amplification , but I think the marketing guys need to be reined in before they loose credibility . My CT1 ' moment ' was very akin to when I first fired up an ARC SP8 in my system , that was the moment that I consider that I entered into the realm of high end audio .

Jafox..since trying to believe 3 or 4 guys here on the HF forum doesn't mean much to you,try reading the > 20 reviews by many established reviewers instead.it might help.