Tired of Expensive Speaker Cable. Alternatives?

Viridian, stop stringing him along :-)

Mechans

Wow I thought expensive meant $1,000 for speaker cable. You as a group seem to think it's reasonable. And all I had to drink was coffee.

Was it Starbucks coffee? Just goes to show that beauty (and expense) is in the eye of the beholder :-)

To further clarify, there are good systems, reference systems, and SOTA [State of the Art] systems.

Although there are no hard and fast rules, I would say that a Ref. system will cost $50,000+, while a SOTA system is $100,000+! An audiophile reaching this level will spend copious amounts of time, trial, and trade-ins to reach audio nirvana. And they will use plenty of tweaks and ROOM TREATMENTS [if not even a specially built audio room]...you've all seen a few of these systems listed here.

Also, just dumping a bunch of money won't get you a Ref. or SOTA system. You can have a system that will be bettered by a system costing half as much!

To further complicate things, there are no absolutes in audio. In racing, the fastest car wins. In audio, we all have particular biases regarding what sonic signature we enjoy. It's like trying to judge the best flavor of pie!

Tweaks and cables will produce a much greater sonic change in a Ref. or SOTA system. And of course, there are audiophiles who spend more time fooling around and adjusting their systems than they do listening to music...there is nothing wrong with that. How many car enthusiasts do you know who spend more time in their garage than driving? Just enjoy, knowing that you are a member of a small, select group who is blessed [cursed?] and can appreciate the passion and magic of good sound!

Stringreen, but I'll bet that picking up women is easier with the Mercedes, rather than the Honda :-)