Best interconnects & speaker cable? I don't get it

Liz, what does the Cardas Parsec IC offer that the less expensive Kimber Cable Hero does not?? I know each system is different. I was surprised that KK offers such reasonably priced IC's

Broadstone and I own the same Rogue integrated amp which I have not yet reached a final opinion. However, ML Odyssey speakers may require a IC for his Shandling/DAC setup that offers a broad soundstage to offset the narrow sweetspot effect that ML speakers are notorious.

Speaker cables: Mapleshade internet store's "Double Helix" ; Clearday's Double silver shotgun; KK's 12TC; or Crimson Cable( only one model)Mapleshade and Crimson have established return policies. Also, consider Audio Art SC5E. AA "may" have a newer model. Check their site for details.. Lastly, Signal Cable and Dave's Cable are supposed to be very good and are quite reasonable in price

Rpfef, I'm death.
You are dead wrong. What it proves is in a human brain sight and sound are interrelated , in a way/ways we have no knowledge of.
"Evidence" is for trials, human heart and soul are for music.
There are more things in heaven and on earth than we can dream of, to paraphrase an English gent.
And there are things worse than second-guessing yourself,
but not many.

No need to warn any of us about our spending habits, any "phile knows in his heart of hearts we all have more than a touch of OCD.
I took up audio to kick heroin myself .

Adding to my last post, I too hear and have always heard phenomena such as Schubert describes. Once I noticed that the system sounded 'better' when I switched around some particular cables . Then I noticed it sounded better again when I returned the cables to their original positions. Huh? This is known as psycho-acoustics, a well known phenomenon in which auditory perceptions are influenced by non-acoustic factors. I learned over the 55 years since I assembled my first system that any number of things, known and apparently unknown, can affect my sense of what I am hearing. That alone meant that I would be foolish to accept necessarily as true whatever I hear. If my system sounds better or has 'more detail' or a 'deeper soundstage' with my eyes closed ( so I KNOW that nothing has physically changed but the orientation of my eyelids) why should I believe that I am hearing real difference without the kind of objective verification available (admittedly only approximately) through blind testing.
This pursuit of sound is an expensive habit, potentially causing some people serious financial difficulties. Obsessing over a set of wires you can't afford to the point of blowing the kids' lunch money on it since you think they 'improve' your sound is a sure sign of addiction and that alone can seriously color your perceptions.
If you want to have at least a little basis for trusting (or not) what you hear the simple single-blind test I have described is not only fun but it might seriously symplify your life.

Schubert (are you Death or are you The Maiden?) if your stereo 'seems' louder when it is dark in the room, surely you can see that as evidence that non-acoustic factors can seriously affect our auditory perceptions. That alone should make you at least wonder how 'real' any of the subtle differences you, and others, hear are. As long as you know what's playing, self-deceptive desires and prejudices can easily enter the equation. Blind testing is the only known method for removing listener prejudgments.
I suggest, especially if the amounts of money involved are substantial, that you actually grab a friend and have him or her switch components as I have outlined in my first post above. If you pass the test, if you find you can, without knowing what you are listening to, reliably tell the difference, then you will have reason to feel confident you are not just 'believing what you think' against the evidence.
But if you fail, as has virtually everyone who has ever tried this experiment, you will have gained important insight into not just audiomania but also into the workings of the human mind.

My personal experience is that A/B tests often show little difference, but differences do become apparent with extended listening.

For years I couldn't tell the difference between wire - until I sorted out the rest of the system. That includes the room, vibration, recordings, system quality and system synergy. Once everything got working, cables had a much bigger impact. Some are more involving, others less. Not saying it justifies the expense for everyone, just sayin'.

I don't know about anyone else, not having ever been anyone else, but things sound different to me with my eyes open or shut.
If I turn the lights off at night, the volume seems to go up as well.

Thanks, Rpfef, for sharing this. It is in step with suspicions that I have gradually developed on my own over my 50+ years of involvement in this hobby. A few years ago I tried a less comprehensive listening test which was inspired by a friend who is an avid and dedicated hobbyist. He claimed that I would easily be able to tell the difference between my $400 speaker wires and his "high end" $3000 + cables.

We used his system because it was easy to walk around and, while listening to my music selections, he switched wires between the speakers. We started with my wires and switched to his and my first impression was that, although subtle, his seemed to be a bit warmer, a quality that I prefer. We then went to blind testing and, not having the psychological influence and expectation that these more esoteric wires should be better, I could not tell the difference; we switched places and the results were the same.

We didn't try comparing interconnects but I suspect the results would be similar. Granted, we did not use the worst or best wires available if price is a significant factor in this evaluation, and, maybe if we had compared something like tiny gauge telephone wire to even my wires, some difference could be heard and I expect that this would be the case.

In the end I don't want to give the impression that I believe, as I've read here on Audiogon posts by others, that speaker wire should be considered nothing more than an electrical conduit. I'm simply saying that what I believe to be quite subtle differences between wires of various size, composition and construction, is beyond my ability to discern and, as I said previously and commentated on by Jmcgrogan2, this "deficiency" in my ability to do so makes my choices much less expensive.

That being said, although I'm pretty happy with my system overall, I will probably not completely abandon the quest. I just won't be obsessed by it.

Every cable sounds different in every system and every room.
I've changed tuners and made the IC on my CD sound worse.

The most important variables, IMO, are unknown and most likely
unknowable. Cut and paste, ladies.

Broadstone, yours is probably the most reasonable, evenhanded and non-judgmental post that I have read from someone not sure of the benefits of cables. As has been pointed out don't sweat it too much and "don't force the issue". My suggestion would simply be that if you do want to experiment try the various cables for extended periods of time and not switch back and forth quickly and frequently. Then, see if patterns emerge as far as your enjoyment of the music. Did you notice a particular lyric that you never paid attention to before? Do you find yourself tapping your foot to a particular tune more than usual? "Hey, I never heard that background vocal? Etc... If you can answer yes to any of those questions in relation to a particular cable, then you have found the better cable.

Hey, if you can't hear any differences between cables, count your blessings and save your money, I envy you.

You're trying too hard. Experimenting with the Niles isn't helping any either. Putting that in changes the sound of the system. Most people can hear some differences between cables but it doesn't always happen right away. I couldn't for a long time but now I can easily hear differences. Its one of those things that once you hear it the first time, it becomes easier.

Whatever you do, don't force the issue. Reading reviews and comments by other people is tempting, but if you're not sure, don't make any investments in cables. The safest way to do it is use The Cable Co. I mentioned them in your other thread. They will send you a bunch of cables to demo. If you don't see the value, you don't have to buy anything.

Either way, you have a really nice system. As long as you cables are OK and working, it should sound pretty good.

This is a response to the original question.
I have done the following with a friend a few times and afterward we both felt we had learned a great deal:
Using my system (at a retail cost of $30k it's probably at least adequate for this experiment) we inserted one pair of ICs of 'inferior' reputation and cost into the system and listened for several minutes with a small variety of variously instrumented music.
Then we replaced the first set of cables with another set of more costly type and listened to the same material all over again. We tried to identify the differences we perceived and took note of them. If one or both of us decided he preferred one set over the other, this too was duly noted.
Now the critical part of the experiment:
One of us left the room and the other inserted one set of ICs and the other auditioner auditioned, trying to identify which set of cables was in play. Then the same was repeated with the cables switched, the listener again leaving the room while the switch was made. (This only works if the test subject cannot eyeball the cables, which is cheating.) Again, listener tries to decide which cable is which.
We then repeated this whole rigamarole with the experimenter positions reversed. Now the second subject listens to both sets of ICs and tries to identify the 'better' cable or, at the least, what the differences are.
Last of all, one fellow either changes cables or not and the other one tries to decide if the cables in a pair of 'switches' are the same or different.
This, of course, is a classic 'single blind' test setup. If it seems a bit grueling, spread the tests out over a few sessions to avoid fatigue.
I think your results may be illuminating and have the potential to save you a lot of money over the years.
My friend and I, both experienced listeners and one, myself, a musician who has performed on both rock bass and classical clarinet with 50 years of 'hi-fi' listening experience, agreed that we COULD NOT, with any regularity AT ALL, be certain even that the cables had been switched in the last step, much less that differences between them were possible to detect no matter how often we tried the experiment.
Admittedly, the 'cheap' cables we have used are usually not that cheap (about $80/meter pair) so you could say maybe there is a baseline. True enough; but it seems, if that's the case, there may be nothing to gain from spending more than the baseline.

I know that many people (who refuse either to participate in blinded tests or refuse to accept the clear results of the tests of others) claim they can hear reliable and sometimes extremely subtle differences in cables and we know that some folks can, for instance, identify with dead accuracy the difference between, say, a 1948 Gibson Jumbo and the 1949 version; but such folks are very rare and as a rule have outstanding and well known musical skills. When Audie O. Phile claims his $10K gold plated ICs have, for instance, greater detail than the $100 copper ones, and you have to decide if his head is in the right place, how do you judge? If Ry Cooder says he wants that 1948 Jumbo and not the 1949 Jumbo, well, maybe he's kidding himself--but he's Ry Cooder so I tend to want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Even then, though, I'm not so sure I'd pay more for one than the other without trying out both of them myself. But what about Audiobill from Omaha? If you actually performed the experiment I described and, without cheating, actually found you could hear a difference and preferred one over the other, then I say you are not wrong to spend more money.
BUT--you have performed a different experiment already and have come up with useful results (after all, it is not bloody likely that you would be able to hear a difference in blind testing that you couldn't hear when you actually knew you had changed cables). If you ever hear something that makes you think you have detected a difference, try my experiment with the involved cables (or components, for that matter) and see what happens.

My favorite saying, with I believe much greater wisdom and usefulness than most other capsule guides to life, is, "Don't believe everything you think!"
It is not only a handy tool for self-correction but, in the long run, its judicious application could save you a lot of money.

One last note: Admittedly it is more fun, if you love audio, to believe in subtle meaningful differences so you can forever play the improvement game. And I don't want people not to have fun. But fun combined with knowledge is all the better.

I would suggest reading some of the cable articles on Blue Jeans Cable website and also TNT Audio.