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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 3 responses by shadorne

shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
10% rule is way too much for something that has such little audible effect on sound (electronics engineers will predict that after a minimum basic size of copper cable is met then it has zero audible effect and ABX testing of ordinary cables against costly cables seems to support this view...)

A few hundred dollars is all you should typically need for all cables. If you are continuously tweaking around with cables then very likely you are not quite happy with the overall sound of your system or your room acoustics => changing speakers will have the biggest impact => cables may make you feel better but they are unlikely to make a significant audible difference 9 unless you have a problem)
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Ojgalli,

There is a lot of science behind the claims made on the links you quoted. The problem is that science is not always trusted and fear of missing out on a potential performance improvement continues to drive people to try things.

Another thing not mentioned in these links is that some audio gear is very much more susceptible to cables than others. For example, the principle of a high input impedance and a low output impedance is desirable for audio components...this minimizes the effect of a coupling cable (often to a point of being audibly negligible when sufficiently high contrasts are employed)

However, not all audio components are designed according to these principles.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
blow you away for a budget price of around $200 to $600 FYI, I've had $20K plus cables from Transparent and MIT...these are better

I wish I could be blown away so easily as one piece of wire versus another. My tin ears I guess.
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