Inexpensive,ugly and wonderful sounding.....

Warren, even though I have no experience with Lat cables or your gear, it seems to me that there have been some significant advances is cable designs over the last 6 years. It is not unreasonable to try out some newer designs and compare for yourself. If they turn out to be as good as the newer ones, Hey, thats Great!

Inexpensive/ugly sounds like a description of my mother in law---not the wonderful sounding part tho.

Hi Warren,

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! The interconnects of which you speak, I do believe have been upgraded since you purchased yours. I have owned the latest version, the IC-200 Mk II, and I don't think they are ugly and I think their quality is quite nice.

Ironically I replaced my last LAT IC-200 Mk II with the afore mentioned Cardas GR and the Cardas was a nice improvement. (I replaced the Cardas with an Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference and that was a nice improvement over the Cardas in my system.)

My experience with the LAT cables has been interesting; when I purchased my first one, it outperformed a more expensive JPS SC2, so I felt their claims may be true. But, as you have just read prior, I have replaced the LAT's with cables that do excel.

IMO, they are a good cable at their price, but I wouldn't say they are a giant killer, unless they have a certain synergy in your system where they specifically outperform a more expensive cable, like with my case w/the JPS.

I also own LAT's top speaker cable and I feel these are a quality cable and worth their money. I again had a case where I feel they outperformed more expensive cables; I had JPS SC2 speaker cables as well and preferred the LAT's' and I later compared them to Cardas Golden Cross and though the Cardas had a smoother top end that I liked, the bass was to boomy and I preferred the LAT's overall. I am now using Audio Tekne speaker cables, the LAT's are for sale, and the AT's are better, but they are much more expensive also, as the others I compared.

My 2 cents:

- I have owned the IC-200D (mk 1 & 2) in the past, thought they were OK, not great. For budget cables, I liked several better (DH Lab's Silver Sonic, Van den Hul D-102 Mk 3 Hybrid, Luminous Audio Monarch Sig's, ZCable Jazz4, Zu cable, and more).

- There are some AMAZING cables out there for cheap $$. IMO, you don't need to spend a lot to get great sound. For many, the extra $$ will get better sound, but the margin of return on the investment goes down more quickly these days (IE, you get 80% or so within the first $150-$200 prhaps)

- If you can borrow some cables to try, do so. Don't spend variably just to try things out (it CAN be fun, but also expensive)

- Otherwise, if you're happy, why change ? Enjoy your bliss !

Good luck, and good listening.

I know what ya all keep saying: "if you're happy why change?" I want to be happier. There's always room for more happiness. 80% is nothing. That leaves a whole lot left over. 20% of a million dollars isn't small potatoes. 20%?--5% IS A LOT!!
Happy Thanksgiving guys,
warren