Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

Thank you, Bill. Interconnects seem to be an emotional topic and was concerned I might be bashed on one level or the other. Everybody has an opinion and I respect that!

I have introduced Audiogon to a number of friends who share in this hobby. I turn to my system often, be it either background music while doing homework, or if I need a lift when troubled. And then the most fun, just to listen to my favorite music and loose myself into it...

Hello all,
College student still very new to Audiogon. Found this forum interesting and I wanted to contribute to the question of Interconnects. The thoughts I would like to share:
1. I believe in symmetry, my whole system is Kimber Silver Streak both balanced and single ended.
2. I do not believe in drinking by the label, I listen and give every cable a chance regardless of price.
3. I believe that there is a diminishing point of return, Its akin to a parabolic curve.
4. Yes, I believe interconnects can have a significant influence on sound reproduction quality. (but more expensive vs improved SQ has a loose correlation at best IMO)
5. I believe that many/most cables have a huge markup in price to the point of some being an all out theft. Come on, are 10K single ended cables hand made in every way by Monks thinking only pure thoughts? Though I can not say I ever auditioned a 10K cable, I can say unless I win the lottery I will not.
6. I have learned through my own experience that going Balanced in my system was the best option in terms of SQ and seems to be more forgiving with respect to Interconnects.

Going back to point 4, the best IC I have auditioned were the Kimber KS series with their "Black Pearl" silver. Going back to point 5, from an engineering standpoint, I do not see where in their UMC of this cable are they able to justify the retail price. Please don't get me wrong, I really like Kimber, I just do not have the $$ to delve into their top-shelf hooch!

Hey, thank you for reading this, I guess I just had to get this off my chest and in some way positively contribute.     

Hi,
What is the definition of a genuine Audiophile? I'm new to this hobby and entered it believing its about the music and to a lesser degree the playback hardware and wires. I have spent more on my music collection than on my system. I definitely get more excited about a great recording than on a new piece of wire, not that wire and hardware is not important, as I also believe it important for a system be able to resolve a great recording from a lousy one. For example, I just recently purchased a "Ultra HD 32-bit PureFlection" Miles Davis, Kind of Blue CD. I found the SQ of my system has been significantly upgraded simply by owning a great recording. What is unfortunate is how many lousy recordings there are out there. I also believe that if you are one who can spend a $100k on a system, a lousy recording will still sound lousy.

Thanks! Am interested in reading responses regarding the definition of what a genuine Audiophile is! 

Thank you, AL. I would never have guessed!

What is the definition of an Audiophile? I should have thought about this before as Wikipedia seems to do a nice job with the definition below:

An audiophile is a person enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction.[1]

Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting.

A key goal of audiophiles is to capture the experience of a live musical performance in a room with good acoustics, and reproduce it at home. It is widely agreed that this is very difficult and that even the best-regarded recording and playback systems rarely, if ever, achieve it.[2][3]

Hi,
Silly question and am embarrassed to ask, but what does "TL" mean?