AudiogoN Forums: Cable vs. Electronics: biggest bang for the buck

Cable vs. Electronics: biggest bang for the buck

I recently chronicled in a review here, my experience with a very expensive interconnect. The cables cost nearly $7000 and are well beyond my reach. The issue is, the Pursit Dominus sound fantastic. Nothing in my stereo has ever sounded so good. I have been wondering during and since the review how much I would have to spend to get the same level of improvement. I'm sure I could double the value of my amp or switch to monoblocks of my own amps and not obtain this level of improvement.
So, in your opinion what is the better value, assuming the relative value of your componants being about equal? Is it cheaper to buy, great cables or great electronics? Then, which would provide the biggest improvement?

Nrchy (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

08-24-02

Responses (1-50 of 284)

Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.

08-25-02 The system is worth more then the sum of its parts. i used ... Tireguy

08-25-02 The chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Jdubusc

08-25-02 You have to balance both cables and electronics. a great ca ... Sugarbrie

08-25-02 Hi all, jdubusc, to some extent this analogy is useful, but ... Tacs

08-25-02 Spend your dollars on better gear before you think about bet ... Rcrump

08-25-02 The whole point of the review and the subsequent comments is ... Nrchy

08-25-02 Nrchy, the synergy between a cable and the components it con ... Sidssp

08-25-02 A cable can only color or subtract from the quality of your ... Thsalmon

08-25-02 I have to agree with mr crump. knowing that bob crump marke ... Sean

08-25-02 True that a cable can only detract, but that can be a useful ... John_l

08-25-02 Thsalmon---never a more appropriate truth spoken. cables can ... Bigtee

08-25-02 I'm confident that nrchy is well aware of the standard diat ... Wmcmanus

08-25-02 Here is an interesting article on speaker cables from a grea ... Whocares73

08-25-02 Let me clarify my response a bit. changing from cable a to ... Sean

08-25-02 I believe cables and components are equally important in ord ... Hawaiikid

08-25-02 Sean, you bring up some interesting points. however, you're ... Thsalmon

08-25-02 I have great respect for nelson pass and his regular posts ... Clueless

08-25-02 Thsalmon, we are probably just looking at it from different ... Sean

08-26-02 Sean, what is the difference between a "better preserve ... Bigtee

08-26-02 Biggest bang for the buck? argh! tough question but - i wou ... Bwhite

08-26-02 Using any type of wire based cables, we will never have &quo ... Sean

08-25-02 I'd guess that if a cable made that big a difference in your ... Bomarc

08-26-02 Sean, i agree with you as far as signal degradation. we are ... Bigtee

08-26-02 One of the factors in my review that i think perhaps gives i ... Nrchy

08-26-02 Bigtee: actually "we" are closer to good measureme ... Bomarc

08-26-02 Agree with rcrump. in fact 10% was my rule of thumb. i mak ... Seandtaylor99

08-26-02 Bomarc, one tiny little problem. in the floyd toole article, ... Bigtee

08-26-02 Bigtee: well, toole is justifying his own (well-regarded) ap ... Bomarc

08-27-02 biggest bang for the buck... kimber and 6500.00 worth of vi ... Gumbydammit

08-27-02 Nah, gumby. home depot and $7495 worth of xrcds. Bomarc

08-27-02 I guess there's a lot of places to spend your money if you d ... Nrchy

08-27-02 Sean, the quote is all wire is crap, but some are less crapp ... Rcrump

09-07-02 There have been many comments made about how the cables are ... Nrchy

09-07-02 Nrchy - it seems to me that you're really beginning to get a ... Bwhite

09-07-02 In my experience, i have seen customers go two ways, dependi ... Audioengr

09-07-02 Ah... but if inferior cables (less expensive) can benefit th ... Bwhite

09-08-02 Bwhite there is a huge gap in your logic. not to mention th ... Nrchy

09-08-02 What i have learned through personal experience is that with ... Pops

09-08-02: Bwhite
Nrchy - it seems you just don't get it. I was referring to the statement made by Audioengr where he wrote,

"...are tempted to use inferior cables designs as "tone controls" to the get "sound" they are looking for."

What is superior and what is inferior are relative to the application in which they are being used and not always governed by measurement. If a cable noted as "inferior" sounds better than one deemed "superior", wouldn't that make the inferior cable superior in this instance? Guess that depends on what's important to you as a listener. To me - sound is what's important. I don't give a hoot what the electrical properties are...I only care that it sounds good.

There is a lot more to the sound of a cable than the electrical properties. Unfortunately at the level most of our systems are at, this usually equates to more expensive and hence perceived as "superior".

The PAD Dominus you tried is a great cable - sounds great! but I seriously doubt it has the best measurements of any cable out there. So does that make it inferior? Some would say yes because they believe that measurement and electrical properties are the silver bullet of audio. Likewise - very few (if any) cables that measure better than the Dominus will actually sound better.

Why do you suppose that is?
Bwhite (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

09-08-02 Bwhite wrote: "if a cable noted as "inferior" ... Audioengr

09-08-02 Audioengr - butting connectors together in a system is not p ... Bwhite

09-08-02 Okay.. i just went to a couple websites which i knew had ind ... Bwhite

09-08-02 My brain instantly reacts with "electronics" but o ... Unsound

09-09-02 Bwhite wrote: "heck... each module within a component h ... Audioengr

09-09-02 Bwhite wrote: "interesting enough, the cheapest cable ... Audioengr

09-09-02 Cable-butting is obviously unrealistic, but it makes the poi ... Audioengr

09-09-02 Audioengr - you are totally overlooking the fact that each m ... Bwhite

09-09-02 Bwhite, i think you are missing audioengr's point about the ... Hshapiro

09-09-02 "audioengr - you are totally overlooking the fact that ... Audioengr

09-09-02 Okay guys we are getting way off track from the original pos ... Bwhite

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