True that a cable can only detract, but that can be a useful tuning device.
As an example, I would choose to use silver cabling with a vandersteen/tube system. Why ? Because a system like that needs all the detail and upper frequencies it can get. On the opposing side I would tend to use copper for a midprice solid state system and a revealing speaker such as audio physic. Why ? Because they tune out the solid state nasties, and may tune out high frequency stridency. Part of that is my taste in sound too. I hate bright sounding systems. I like an emphasized midrange. This is why cable matching is so important.
I do feel that as you head up to expensive components and cables, the matching becomes a little less relevent. It seems that all equipment/cables in the top shelf realm are very revealing and very low noise. Once I chose my reference grade ic's I have changed components around them. Occasionally I'll tune with a rounded vs bright speaker cable.
The effectiveness of cables does depend on the way your system is voiced, and your preferences. As an example, my home system is voiced to have a very revealing midrange, tremendous imaging, fast high-definition bass, and a slightly rolled off top. If I remove one of my $700 (used) interconnects and put in a $75 cable, much of the system's magic go away. The ic's are an essential part of the system's performance.
By comparison, when I had a less expensive system I could indeed hear a performance improvement but it was not nearly so substantial. I've seen some excellent midprice cables come on the market - Audioquest Quartz, Cardas Neutral ref, harmonic tech truthlink. You can go a long way with $125/ea truthlinks.
Back to the original post, I have found that once you get to the 3-4K per component level (a 15K system), cables start to become very cost effective. You can buy a 2 cable set of midlin i/c's for $500, or top shelf ic's for ~2000. That 1500 cost difference should be seen as a component.
As an example, I would choose to use silver cabling with a vandersteen/tube system. Why ? Because a system like that needs all the detail and upper frequencies it can get. On the opposing side I would tend to use copper for a midprice solid state system and a revealing speaker such as audio physic. Why ? Because they tune out the solid state nasties, and may tune out high frequency stridency. Part of that is my taste in sound too. I hate bright sounding systems. I like an emphasized midrange. This is why cable matching is so important.
I do feel that as you head up to expensive components and cables, the matching becomes a little less relevent. It seems that all equipment/cables in the top shelf realm are very revealing and very low noise. Once I chose my reference grade ic's I have changed components around them. Occasionally I'll tune with a rounded vs bright speaker cable.
The effectiveness of cables does depend on the way your system is voiced, and your preferences. As an example, my home system is voiced to have a very revealing midrange, tremendous imaging, fast high-definition bass, and a slightly rolled off top. If I remove one of my $700 (used) interconnects and put in a $75 cable, much of the system's magic go away. The ic's are an essential part of the system's performance.
By comparison, when I had a less expensive system I could indeed hear a performance improvement but it was not nearly so substantial. I've seen some excellent midprice cables come on the market - Audioquest Quartz, Cardas Neutral ref, harmonic tech truthlink. You can go a long way with $125/ea truthlinks.
Back to the original post, I have found that once you get to the 3-4K per component level (a 15K system), cables start to become very cost effective. You can buy a 2 cable set of midlin i/c's for $500, or top shelf ic's for ~2000. That 1500 cost difference should be seen as a component.