Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

"We audiophiles often shoot ourselves in the foot with our own stupidity."

I certainly understand how that appears to be true but it is a value statement that only the buyer can resolve based on their own system, tastes and wallet.

I had a manufacturer once tell me about a new component they had released,

"I made the mistake of not pricing it high enough."

Thus raises the often debated question of whether the price of audio gear should be based on manufacturing costs (as many like to point out when arguing against high priced gear) or sound quality relative to other gear in a similar price range (which is an argument for purchasing high priced gear).

At the end of the day, manufacturers decide which niche of the market they are after and manufacture and price their gear accordingly.  The market decides whether they chose wisely or poorly.  

I jumped out of the cable game a long time ago and have found the WE wire to sound excellent as speaker cables and power cables in my system.  I was less impressed by the Belden wire used as ICs, instead choosing to use a high quality/purity copper-in-cotton wire that I have found to sound very good.

Geoff said,

"For sale on Audiogon as we speak SR Black Fuse...(lots of stuff edited)....250v Slow-Blow $89.95"

Sorry for my sluggishness today but was there a point buried somewhere in the quoted post?
 

One notable point. Most of the legendary designers of high end audio like Neson Pass, Bob Carver, Arney Nudell, Peter Walker, etc do or did not use or believe in these fairy dust audiophile cables.

They probably don't believe in "audiophile" fuses either.

However, there are well-respected manufacturers who do believe in high end/priced cables being different/better so courses for horses, just like with the folks on this thread.

I figured it wouldn’t be too long before blind testing raised its ugly head. 

"ugly head?"
Geeze Geoff, you can be more creative than pulling that page from your well-worn playbook.

What I don't understand is how you and others can support the miraculous effects of cables, fuses, wire direction and other minutia, by saying the differences can obviously be heard, but then discount a method that provides listeners the opportunity to judge what sounds best based on the differences they hear, in the absence of other sensory and social influences.  When challenged, many say the DBT method is not perfect but then neither is dropping some expensive item, or the "latest and greatest" version of something, into your system and heralding the positive effects without considering cognitive bias, golden halo effects, social reality and other psychological phenomena that could have a larger effect on influencing listeners than the potential drawbacks to DBT.

Pretty much agree with your last post Geoff.

Which leaves us with jl35's wise post

fortunately we each get to listen to cables and other products and buy the ones we want to buy...

because, the only person we have to please is ourselves.  

The social and psychological content of this and several other threads going on now are fascinating.  drac, your post below is one of your most thoughtful in this thread.  The recent cultural disdain for folks who have accumulated wealth seems to have replaced what was once respect, then envy.  Sure, some inherit their wealth but many others are some of the hardest working people I know and many started with nothing more than an idea, fearlessness and perseverance.   Without the wealthy to drive our economy, who is going to provide jobs?  The government certainly cannot do it all since they are funded by all of us.  It would be interesting if the folks who complain about high-priced cables actually took a close look at what the government does with the money we pay them.....talk about waste and lack of value.  
To your question,

What is your reasoning behind justifying the cost of $10k ICs and $50k speaker cables? 

I would say, why do they have to be justified?  While I am happy with my WE wire from ebay, I have no problem with others who believe a $10K pair of interconnects, or a dozen $150 fuses, are necessary for their audio enjoyment.  I agree with jl35, 

if someone wants to build them and someone wants to buy them, so be it...

I would tell him to give me some of what he has been smoking.

Yeah, that approach was a lot more fun before they figured out how bad it is for our health.
Made our inexpensive systems sound awesome.
Here's to simpler times...

Resale prices over the long run are most likely the only reliable metric to bank on when it comes to determining value.

Mapman,
I understand your point but I look at it differently.  I guess it depends if you are going to keep stuff or resell stuff but if you plan to keep things for awhile, another measure of value could be considered the enjoyment something brings to the buyer/user.

I just finished auditioning two very good monoblock amplifiers in my system with the intent to keep one pair or the other.  One was designed and manufactured by a highly-regarded designer whose products command universally high resale prices.  The other was designed and manufactured by another well-regarded designer that mostly flies below the mainstream radar and whose products do not command anywhere near the resale prices (as a percentage of the new price) as the first designer.   I liked the "below the radar" amplifier better in my system and will keep that amplifier and sell the other.  In this case, the amplifier I enjoyed the most and kept provides the higher value to me.


Geoff,

The only opinion that matters is the person's who is selling the thing.

Replace the word "selling" with "buying"

grm said,

"What is the definition of a genuine Audiophile? I'm new to this hobby and entered it believing its about the music and to a lesser degree the playback hardware and wires. I have spent more on my music collection than on my system. I definitely get more excited about a great recording than on a new piece of wire"

grm, good for you.  Don't worry about becoming a "genuine Audiophile."  Instead, go listen to and/or buy some more music....you will be happier.