2. cables
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Cable Costs Relative to System

Since making a spread sheet with my audio system prices, I have been thinking(shocked) about my total investment in cables. My total system retails at $67,000 (Digital and analog front ends included). I purchased all of it here on Audiogon so my investment is about 50%. Of that I have about 10% invested in interconnects and cables and another 10% in Power Cables (Shunyata Hydra included). That's $13,000 worth of wire. I'm starting to question whether it might be more effective to put some of this budget into acitve components. It would take forever to listen to all possible combinations, but would like to hear others experiences with relatively high end systems and cable selection. It would seem to me that the point of diminishing returns would be reached sooner with cables than with speakers and amps. Do most of you follow the 10% "rule" for cabling? How do PCs fit into this rule? Are there any super bargain cables capable of keeping up with highly resolving electronics?
metaphysics

Showing 2 responses by ps

ps
769 posts
 
Tbg:
I'm puzzled why you would get into economic systems within the context of this thread but since you went there, I would venture a guess that if Karl Marx, et al, had been audiophiles, astronomically (silly) priced wires would not have been in their systems.
ps
769 posts
 
While I agree that cables can and do make a difference, I am increasingly amused by the cost of many high end cables relative to the cost of all the other stuff that goes into this crazy hobby, and relative to the cost of pretty much everything else.

I would guess that the margin of profit on wire far, far exceeds that of virtually every other aspect of high end audio for both the manufacturer and seller. I recently auditioned a pair of Maggie 1.7's at a dealer who was using speaker cables which retailed for SIXTY THOUSAND dollars. Really? Yes, really.

While I will say that these $2000 dollars speakers sounded very good, the take away for me was the audition was a waste of time and that I should have brought my own damn cable had I been warned. I also wondered if twenty thousand dollar cables would have made the Magnepans sound forty thousand dollars worse. How about speaker cables that cost a "mere" 5K? What then?
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