Cable Costs Relative to System

ASI Liveline Cables....
These are, I would call one of the best cables on the market today. They are neither cheap nor expensive. A pair of IC costs $995. But they just do everything right and sonically correct for most systems...regardless of price.
Most of the times people go for higher and higher in the cable chain because they do not want to under utilize their system. Cables do play their own trick in the final presentation of the sound but who knows what would have been the exact size of your soundstage if the electronics were all in one box (no cables in between)....basically if we can get a cable which brings out almost everything and presents it in a manner where there is not much to find flaw with (though one can still find some) you would be pretty much done. Getting to this point in general is a long and expensive process unless you have some 500 different cables from different price range to try out from.

This is when we start looking for a "GEM" which does that fine balancing act of doing everything to a level where you stop bothering further!!
I found the Livelines just that....
Very neutral, exceptionally fine tonal balance, nice presentation (soundstage width, depth, precision), Rich and detailed, fatless but full of body and texture, leading edge and trailing edge clarity, definition and decay...you name it!!!

What more can you ask for ? And they are priced in a bracket where its affordable but not cheap. When you hear them, you would not be able to take them off your mind..I can bet.

Go Active

This is a great thread of opinions from different people. I personally do not have a set ratio of cable vs equipment. i'll throw out my two cents of worth as well.

The material cost to make a 1M cable may be just a few pennies. This is well known. Though, I consider the following:

1: Can "I, other DIYers or other companies" make the same quality cable for how much it costs the high priced cable company to make it?

2: Even "I, other DIYers or other companies" have the skill and equipment to make it to the high priced factory's spec, will it sound the same as one coming out from that factory?

3: The only way to compare the cable made by "myself, other DIYers or other companies" and the cable made by the high priced cable company is to buy both and compare them in person. Why not just buy one at the first place in stead?

I personally can not make one. I would just let the cable company make my hard earnt money. I don't look at things with how much it costs to make. I look at it's value to me. when the price is below it's value to me, i'll pay for it.

Some people brought up a topic about a $500 cable sounds the same or out performs a $5000. It is their opinion in their system, not mine. The only way to find out whether they are the same or not is to buy both $500 and $5000 cable and compare them by myself. As the power cords i tried, I found the more I pay, the more detail is recovered from music. (I look at the whole audio system as a music recovery unit, degradation started as soon as it was recorded on the media. The whole system is just trying to recover as much detail as the original performance performed. There will not be an equipment performs better than a performer is performing in live.)

There's another topic about whether the price difference worth the performance difference. I would say it varies. It's all depends on how different people look at their money. There are people spending $10000 like spending a $100 bill. In that case, the little performance difference will be worth the price tag to them.

Buying audio gear means buying the experience to me. The more budget I have, the wider range of products I can experience with. While forum reviews provide a great communication interface between different players with different setups, I will only evaluate whether the experience is worth it's price tag or not when I can try it in person. I do not own any expensive cables non equipments but i'm willing to buy them as long as i can afford them. The reason is that it is my hobby. If this cable sounds good to me and I can afford it while i have the gut to take the risk of it sounding below my expectation, why not give it a try.

It is just how audio means to me and i'm working toward to experience as many different equipments as i can.

I have read 15 to 17% is not uncommon for cable

I have read that many have spent quite a bit in thier systems. My question is, What kind of transformers and power supplies are in these components? I am talking mainly about power cords and conditioners. Maybe a modification to the transformer ( better transformer) or power supply would render better results. It is hard to believe that with the amount invested that the components would not already have top notch discrete components inside. I can see why one would question the investment in power cords and conditioners. Speaker cables and interconnects are a different story.