What if the cable is too cheap that it cannot be that good?


I am a huge..HUGE fan of the cables from Chris Sommovigo---the Black Cat cables.
Yesterday, I was at a store that has some excellent gear, most of it very pricey! The conversation got around to cables...and the pricing that some of them demand. The point that was brought up was: the value ( price) of some of the cables just cannot be justified...not only in the construction aspect, but also in the performance aspect. Couple of examples were floated ( we all know the usual suspects) and I mentioned that the Black Cat cables could easily compete ( and in most instances- surpass) with these examples. As some of you know, Chris’s cables are priced more than fairly---and if you take into consideration the performance that they give...should be an absolute nightmare to the folks who are trying to sell multi thousand $$ cable. ( never mind the fact that they are at least as well made, if not more so!)
Black cat cables are maybe an exception here--as their price to value equation is off the charts IME, but the question becomes...what ( besides bragging rights) does the ultra pricey cable buy you...if it is not necessarily a performance increase due to?
128x128daveyf
The difference is how the amp adjusts to wire not vice-versa .
That's why a wire that sounds great in one system sucks in another. Only advice worth anything is from someone who has the same amp as you .
I remember Chinese knock-offs from Harmonic tech and Synergistic research for less than 10 times cheaper original just because only looks is what you get them for, not really performance.
@millercarbon Many folks have replaced Synergistic cables with other brands..often times more resolving across the board and less costly...Albeit, Ted Denney wouldn’t want you to believe that...but there it is.
millercarbon, do you have any clue who actually manufactured the SR cables you speak about frequently?  Do you think they were made in the back of the warehouse facility you see on their You Tube video?  Sellers like Blue Jean cables at least tell you who manufactured the wire they are assembling.  
I have never really investigated it, but it is my understanding that Canare and Mogami are actually manufacturers of cables. Again, I have not looked into it, but I wonder how many other brands of cables actually have their own manufacturing facilities to create the cable, versus those that outsource their production to third parties?  Who are these third parties who made your cables???
what ( besides bragging rights) does the ultra pricey cable buy you...

Bring yours over. I'll show you.
I took the following post to heart and seem to agree with this poster, who is a highly respected audio designer.

balanced operation- immunity to cables, longer distances possible, lower noise even in short runs and so on.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/3-great-tube-preamps-which-would-you-purchase/post?highlight=AES48&postid=1741581#1741581

My frame of reference was the Benchmark DAC/preamp that supported the AES48 standard. I could not tell any difference with different price ranges of XLR interconnects to my Benchmark AHB2 amp. I had some other preamps and they did sound better with the more expensive Audience AU XLR I used over the Canare. Maybe they did not support the AES48 standard. I need to do some research on that.

So now when I get my next system I will check for a preamp that supports the AES48 standard and also go with something like the Canare XLR. This will be going a long distance from my preamp to amp. This also gives me the flexibility to move the gear far away from the speakers.


The 25 foot speaker cables (Groneberg Quattro Reference) in my main rig were 2K. I recently replaced them with a 25 foot pair of Canare 4S11 speaker cables which cost me 130.00 for the pair professionally terminated. Right now I am very much leaning towards keeping the Canare cables in the main rig at 93% cheaper than the expensive ones. To me that proves that price is irrelevant to quality of sound.
@czarivey   I don’t think that all expensive cables don’t deliver performance...that’s not what I am saying at all. (This does seem to be your position, however). What I am noticing is that there are certain cable manufacturers who can somehow compete with these very same manufacturers— and can do so while at the same time pricing their wares at far lower prices.
In the world of cables, money do not really reflect quality. You can get better sound with $20 than with $2k cables depending on your equipment so you really never know. Obviously placebo will really kick in after you spend a fortune on fancy looking cable, but the fact will remain. I still question myself (being crazy rational freak) why go for high buck cable at all at all??
I guess marketing professionals are able to convince portions of population, but really not me, because I don't invest unless I expect return.
@douglas_schroeder   While what you say may be true for a number of different less expensive ( cheap is a relative term) cables....it sure isn't correct for all of them. The Black Cat cables are a perfect example of this. Plus, the alternative is also true, there are a large number of supposed wonder cables that are anything but inexpensive ( cheap)- and are actually poor....which is what this thread is all about!
I have no audiophile friends.

And self-deception has never worked anyway.
Well, almost never.
Talk is big, but comparison usually shows quickly that many supposed wonder cables - meaning, the supposedly wondrous cheap ones - are actually poor.  


@ bdp24 That’s what I would suspect...in most cases. But how many would still make the same buying decision if they had exposure to a type of cable like Black Cat...and where then having to pony up tens of thousands of $$’s just for what you stated?