Cable Costs Relative to System

To answer the original question, in general I believe you can get the job done pretty good at about 10 percent of system cost, and no higher than 25 percent. Beyond that, I would probably start replacing components or speakers. Of course the "cost no object" crowd can spend as much as they like, and DIYers can do it much less expensively.

Kijanki, you say;
"I re trimmed my Satoris with new spades and discovered that wire has inside isolated strands (9 I think) + 1 strand that is not solid but has inside again 9 very small strands."
and I found from the AZ website;
“An incrementally layered, multiple strand, non-extruded, pure "zero crystal" copper cable designed for amplified signal delivery in perfect phase with absolute spectral and tonal coherence..."
AZ seems a little vague compared to other manufacturers who more specifically report their cable construction or even provide pictures, so I have been curious to their construction. Are saying you found the Satori's use both solid core and stranded PCOCC copper wire?
I am finding a number of well-respected cable manufacturers using stranded wire for both IC's and speaker cables. To my ears, there seem to be trade-offs with stranded wire being maybe a bit more dynamic and solid core being maybe a bit more clear/pure sounding. Maybe Robert Lee has found a good sonic trade-off? I have been recently using and enjoying his Double Barrel speaker cables in 5 ft. length. I have been considering DIY speaker cables, but it is hard to justify when the Double Barrel's sound so good.
I am using DIY IC's of solid silver, some made from the raw Jupiter wire, and others made from bulk premanufactured wire with a 23awg twisted pair and foamed Teflon tape dielectric. My total cable expenditure with that set-up is about 6.5 percent of equipment cost and my system sounds as good or better than ever.

Elizabeth, in 2005 I posted;

To answer the original question, in general I believe you can get the job done pretty good at about 10 percent of system cost, and no higher than 25 percent. Beyond that, I would probably start replacing components or speakers.

I just calculated the retail value of my system at around $50,000, of which the cables are about $4,000, or just about 8 percent. I have gone to DIY mostly made with high quality bulk cable and some of the best connectors available. I also have some DIY made with raw materials but, I generally like the bulk cable variety better. My only remaining manufactured cables are two Isoclean PC's I picked up with an amp purchase. In comparison, I do not believe the DIY cables are at all inferior to some of the better manufactured cables I have tried, by Cardas, Purist, Acoustic Zen, Harmonic Technology, Audioquest and others (no, I haven't tried them all). I still believe the bigger bang for your buck is in the components and speakers, and would allocate maybe 10 to 15 percent for cables, and another 5 to 10 percent for isolation and room treatment. Of course, buying used and DIY can reduce those numbers.

Aintitgr8, you say,

My common sense proof of when you are done with wire comes when the given cost of a wire upgrade that makes a discernable difference is still under what a better component can do that costs more.

IMO, for me at least, that point still falls at "about 10 percent of system cost, and no higher than 25 percent," as I posted in 2005.

Wire comes first then equipment upgrades.

I see your point with this and suggest the important thing is to have an idea of the system price range where you expect to end up (at least with each step forward), and then settle in on cables that makes sense for that price range while you try different equipment. My experience with a variety of cables is that I can meet that goal relatively inexpensively, for my $50K list system, with simple DIY projects using very good quality bulk cables and top level connectors. I also have a Cable Cooker to condition them initially and periodically. I have found the resulting cables to be suitably balanced between neutrality, smoothness, detail, tonality, extension and dynamics when compared with other brand name cables I have tried, which sometimes do well in some areas but not so well in others. I can easily discern the effect of changes in my equipment. Using these cables has allowed me to get away from the expense and time required to constantly buy and try a variety of different cables.

BTW, do you care to share what cable you are speaking of when you say,

the best interconnect I know of that outperforms those costing thousands is a modest $800

Some might say "funny" is all the money you made off of democrats by selling them cables.