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What's your investment threshold?

This question only goes out to those like myself who enjoy the system gains running better cables bring.  Non-believers can save their money and comments for another thread.

Do you impose on yourself a percentage range for cable spending relative to other components?

Speaking for myself, I do consider cables to be a component decision worthy of budget, but I seem to have stayed in the 10-30% range of what I've spent on other components.  I can't see spending $1k for a cable on a $1k component for example.  I have spent $1,500 for speaker cables for a $6k amp.  That seems nearer the high end of my range but it still fits. 

I realized I haven't planned this as a hard rule, but that's kind of how this has worked out for me over time.  Anyone out there think a much higher percentage is justified?  I won't argue because these improvements are worth all the enjoyment you can get, so more power to you.

jsm71

Showing 1 response by williewonka

williewonka
3,072 posts
 
So, if you simply sink money into your cables, you are giving those companies that are good at marketing exactly whet they want - YOUR CASH!

This is the easy route and given a infinite amount of money and an infinite amount of time - even a chimpanzee can build a great sounding system!

But if YOU take the time to educate yourself on the complexities of cable design you will end up with a great sounding system, spending substantially less cash in a shorter period of time.

To answer the original post - the % of my total system cost that I spent on the cables I CURRENTLY have in my system equates to about 6%
  • but if I factor in the various cables I tried in order to get to where I am today - that number is probably closer to 40%-50%
  • that journey cost me a significant amount of time !
  • AND a significant amount of money !
So I decided to stop simply throwing cash at even more cables
  • I took time to learn about how companies fabricated their cables and the science they believe make their cables sound better
  • What I learned on THAT journey is priceless

Cable Science is a complex topic but it saves you CA$H in the long run AND gets you THE BEST sounding system much quicker

So one approach.. 
- if you get your jollies continually shuffling cables and you have an endless supply of cash - go for it
OR...
- take the time to learn and put the cash you save towards something else :-)

Regards - Steve




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