2. misc-audio
  3. 180386-176837

Cost break down of hifi system

Hello, just curious on what you guys recommend for the cost breakdown of a hifi system ? I have heard a lot about 15%-20% for cables and roughly 30% on speakers. Right now I am in the middle of building my new system. I currently have pass labs xp-12 demo model and an x250.8 NIB from Reno Hifi. I got a hell of a deal at $13500 for both. I also got a very light demo pair of Dynaudio contour 60i for 25% off. Based off what I have given, could you guys give me a breakdown on what I should spend on source and cables ? I was leaning at the Cardas cyngus cables. For dacs I was looking at the all in one lumin t3 or an aurender n200 with the chord qutest dac. I am also debating which audioquest niagra to get, the 1200 or 3000 ? Seems the me the 1200 does everything.  I’m open to suggestions so please tell me if I am off track. I wanna get it right the first time. 

shtr74sims

Showing 1 response by tk21

tk21
237 posts
 

I think of cables/interconnects as a more-or-less fixed cost, not as a percentage of the total system cost.  Blue Jeans Cables sells  Canare 4S11 speaker cables, terminated with locking bananas, for $5.90/foot. This might be 10% of a starter system, or less than 1% of your end game system.  

If you think you can hear a difference between the Canare 4S11 and something many times more expensive, well, maybe you can. I suspect all you're really hearing is a difference in gain resulting from a change in length, gauge, or termination quality,  Granted, a system may sound better (not just louder) at higher volumes. Usually, there's an app (or a knob) for that. 

 

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