why do people feel the need to buy expensive cable

Just mention the T word and wait to see who shows up. It’s uncanny! 😛 It’s like they have ESP.

Thanks, Geoff.  Being you I knew you would be the first to chime in.

This site is where I first heard the term ’troll’ - I made what admittedly was a controversial point - but there was no attempt to "sow discord/stir things up"- I was simply stating my opinion.

My point is be careful using the "troll" term - not everybody who says something you disagree with is trying to start a ’fight’ if you will, just putting an opinion out there.

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About Cables - I do believe (but with no experience so it really doesn't mean anything) that in a quality system, high $ cables can make a difference. BUT for me personally, there is absoutely no @#$% way I would spend $'s on high dollar cables. 

(Note: this opinion is not the same one as mentioned above. The above one involved Mozart.)

I expressed my views in this thread just about two years ago, in a lengthy post dated 3-15-2016. I won’t repeat them here, but suffice it to say that I believe they represent a more balanced and nuanced perspective than most of the views that are commonly expressed in these kinds of debates.

What I want to add now is a statement I recently made in the following thread:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/it-s-simple

Several of the early responses to the OP in that thread, which involved comments he made about cables, leveled accusations of trolling against him. It subsequently became clear that nothing could be further from the truth. I then said as follows:

Almarg 2-27-2018
Another thing your post does [referring to a subsequent post by the OP, which went into more detail than his original post], when juxtaposed with the responses by some others earlier in the thread, is to reinforce a perception I’ve had for some time that some here are much too quick to hurl accusations of trolling. Which can often turn what might have been a constructive and informative thread into a series of pointless exchanges of insults and ugliness.

Regards,
-- Al

Edit:  +1 Joeylawn36111.  The rest of this post was composed and submitted before seeing your post just above.

I have tried to prove guys' contention that inexpensive cables sound as good or very nearly as good as pricier wires BUT i have wasted money constructing speaker wires and ic's with variously ...Radio Shack wires ( several ) ....Monoprice, Dayton Audio from Parts Express etc.  They remained in my system a few days at most while waiting for them to burn in.....during which time I tried not to hear the deficiencies in the sound - a lifelessness that made music sound BLAH.  

Hey I'm a cheap guy and love a bargain.  Yet more than a bargain I NEED music that soars, that makes you get lost in a performance, hearing the space it was recorded in, feeling the force of pianos, tympani's, a basso profound voice.  That has required better-than-lampcord wires.  Not stratospheric but in the used price $100 to $400 range.  Used Tara RSC and Decade ic, 75 ohm coax and speaker wires from around the years 2000 to 2010 make my system sing nowadays.    

Trust your ears...borrow better wires than you have from friends for a day or two...and see if you hear more beautiful music from your system - that the best way to explore upgrades.