Who thinks $5K speaker cable really better than generic 14AWG cable?


I recently ordered high end speaker, power amp, and preamp to be installed in couple more weeks. So the next search are interconnect and speaker cable. After challenging the dealer and 3 of my so called audiophile friends, I think the only reason I would buy expensive cable is for its appearance to match with the high end gears but not for sound performance. I personally found out that $5K cable vs $10 cable are no difference, at least not to our ears. Prior to this, I was totally believe that cable makes a difference but not after this and reading few articles online.

Here is how I found out.

After the purchase of my system, I went to another dealer to ask for cable opinion (because the original dealer doesn't carry the brand I want) and once I told him my gears, he suggested me the high end expensive cable ranging from $5 - 10K pair, depending on length. He also suggested the minimum length must be 8-12ft. If longer than 12ft, I should upgrade to even more expensive series. So I challenged him that if he can show me the difference, I would purchase all 7 AQ Redwood cables from him.

It's a blind test and I would connect 3 different cables - 1 is the Audioquest Redwood, 1 is Cardas Audio Clear, and 1 my own generic 14AWG about 7ft. Same gears, same source, same song..... he started saying the first cable sound much better, wide, deep, bla...bla...bla......and second is decently good...bla...bla...bla.. and the last one sounded crappy and bla...bla...bla... BUT THE REALITY, I NEVER CHANGED THE CABLE, its the same 14AWG cable. I didn't disclosed and move on to second test. I told him I connected audioquest redwood but actually 14AWG and he started to praise the sound quality and next one I am connected the 14awg but actually is Redwood and he started to give negative comment. WOW!!!! Just blew me right off.

I did the same test with 3 of my audiophile friends and they all have difference inputs but no one really got it right. Especially the part where I use same generic 14awg cable and they all start to give different feedback!!!

SO WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? OR I AM THE LAST PERSON TO FIND OUT THAT EXPENSIVE CABLE JUST A RIP OFF?
sautan904
Geoff stuttered:
most high end wire is 99.9999 pure. Do the math. That’s more than 100 times purer than 99.95% pure copper. Hel-loo

Let say the high end wire was 100% pure.  The monoprice wire at 99.95% pure is 5 one hundredths of a percent purer.  In multiplication that amounts to .05 of 1%(.01) purer.
Jitter
Geoff stuttered:
most high end wire is 99.9999 pure. Do the math. That’s more than 100 times purer than 99.95% pure copper. Hel-loo

to which jitter replied,

"Let say the high end wire was 100% pure. The monoprice wire at 99.95% pure is 5 one hundredths of a percent purer. In multiplication that amounts to .05 of 1%(.01) purer."

Gee whiz, I must have had more math than you, jitter. Your numbers don’t make any sense. I have to assume you're pulling my leg.

Geoff, you are trying to be persuasive by making your argument implying that 100 times this or that might be meaningful, and not explaining that 100 times a tiny fraction of 1% is still not a material number, is it not so?
213runnin, I do agree with your other points.  The only thing that I meant to bring up is that for a lot of our gear, while it is very expensive, we can look inside and see from the build quality some of the reasons why.

But for the cables, who knows what it costs to produce them, plain as well as exotic.  You ask me if I know, and I was trying to say I have no idea, but starting at a base case wire such as Canare, Belden, Mogami, it can get way expensive quick. It may well cost that much more to manufacture it, I was just bringing up the void in knowledge and you can't take the top off and see why, one way or the other. . 
From the Acrolink website (Japan)

"There is a strong demand in the market for high purity copper with a purity level of 6N or more, which is used to produce the wire material of highly integrated semiconductors. It had been developed and put in practical use in 1997. As a matter of fact, the only companies in the world today producing high purity raw copper in large quantities are none other than Nikko Materials Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Materials Co. Ltd. The business circles of integrated semiconductors demand a guarantee of high quality for raw materials, and in fact no enterprise is satisfied with the copper that has less purity than 6N copper for the purposes of mass production of their products. ACROLINK, the only cable-maker in the world that uses 6N copper and copper of higher purity receives a guarantee of analyzed values through a tie-up with the aforementioned two companies.

There is a strong demand in the market for high purity copper with a purity level of 6N or more, which is used to produce the wire material of highly integrated semiconductors. It had been developed and put in practical use in 1997. As a matter of fact, the only companies in the world today producing high purity raw copper in large quantities are none other than Nikko Materials Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Materials Co. Ltd. The business circles of integrated semiconductors demand a guarantee of high quality for raw materials, and in fact no enterprise is satisfied with the copper that has less purity than 6N copper for the purposes of mass production of their products. ACROLINK, the only cable-maker in the world that uses 6N copper and copper of higher purity receives a guarantee of analyzed values through a tie-up with the aforementioned two companies.

Currently in the field of audio cables, representation of the purity degree of raw materials has been offered in the form of 6N, 7N, 8N, etc. However, from the viewpoint of scientific reality, the percentage of raw materials should be calculated by the differential value method. Strictly speaking, the purity of copper should be shown in the form of numerical numbers, after the total amount of the quantitative measurements of the other metallic elements( impure materials )other than pure gold on the periodic table, are subtracted from 100. Under the current situation where there is no agreement to show quality standards, the values of the amounts of the raw material( indication of purity) will vary according to each case where some impurities can be counted and others can not. In other words, it is even possible to remove intentionally a certain impurity, i.e. a certain metallic element with a higher value, from the measurement. For instance, general purpose Japanese copper metal has a purity degree of 4N5 with a purity of 99.995% but there are several impurities such as Ag that have very high degrees of impurity. If it is excluded from the targets for the differential value method, it immediately enables you to publicize the data that the copper has a high degree of purity, i.e. a higher degree than 5N because Ag has the purity degree of 10ppm or so.

Cables produced by ACROLINK, use self-stipulated 6N copper constructed using the same process as is used with wires for semiconductor devices, which requires a guarantee of high quality. More precisely, the purity of the copper needs to be over 99.9999% and the total of any impurity metals must be less than 1 ppm.

Impurity metals in over 6N purity copper are measured mostly with highly precise measuring instruments called GD-Ms (GD-Mass), and this type of analysis work requires advanced know-how. Leading other brands, ACROLINK has disclosed to the public the analyzed values of representative elements that may affect sound qualities. These were selected out of the whole body of elements consisting of fifty or sixty items."