Interconnects and non-believers

And this, from my ARC REF 210 Owner's Manual:  

IMPORTANT: Use the best available speaker wires and interconnects. Audio Research cannot emphasize this enough. As better components and systems are developed, it becomes increasingly important to avoid the limitations of inferior system interconnections.

If Audio Research cannot emphasize this enough, I will listen to their advice, and I do.  I have always heard significantly better sound when placing higher purity copper, plugs, etc.  

A problem with accepting that cords and cables improve sound are the exorbitant costs of the major brands.  The benefit/cost ratio is very suspicious for what you are holding in your hands--the cost of the materials and the construction costs are not that much compared to the components you have, yet the retail price can easily exceed your components--a bad good situation that invites a lot of pushback, and it should, but if you ignore costs and consider just the better cables, you would be impressed with the differences in clarity, etc.  

Along with the high costs of cables, another big obstruction is the ego---have to get it out of the way in favor of some humility.  Many attach themselves to someone else's dogma and just camp there, thinking the debate is solved: cables are just cables.  
  
"He who knows that he does not know, knows."  
Enough, Grasshopper........ 

Cables and cords are often the afterthoughts of building a system.  You finally make that speaker and amp purchase, etc, and the audio sales person says, "What are you using for cables?"  I once replied that I had some old, large-gauge Monster speaker cables and would reuse those.  A bit alarmed, my retailer said, "Well--those would be a MINIMUM."
  
Over time and with changes in gear,  I realized he was right. I wasn't happy with the sound of my Maggie 2.5's and had saved enough for the lower end of a high-end brand, and I was hooked.  I have made two upgrades along that line since and have built my own power cords with the excellent DIY cable and connectors now out there.  

Along with a clean power supply, quality connections are an absolute necessity to keep you from chasing after different components to get where you want to be.  In the end, they save you money. Again, from the owner's manual for ARC REF 210's:     

IMPORTANT: Use the best available speaker wires and interconnects.
Audio Research cannot emphasize this enough. As better components and systems are developed, it becomes increasingly important to avoid the limitations of inferior system interconnections.

 

Elizabeth, I agree that you will not feel you got your money's worth by spending that much.  You can build one for a lot less using, e.g., Furutech plugs (screw-clamp terminations) and UP-OCC bulk cable.   

Prof,  I agree that the big names in cable are way too expensive.  I don't think I would spend the same amount again on my Transparent cables.  Good thing is, they have remained in place during the evolution of my system, so I now consider them a good value over time.  
Yes, the newbie should not be thrown off their goals by daunting prices but should also be aware of "...the limitations of inferior system interconnections."  Common advice is to "nail down the speakers", or "nail down your front end".  Connections tend to come in last, but not least--I consider the total of my interconnections as important as a component, in that, everything is additive.  
Not sure of what Belden offers in grain-free copper, but not sure what Transparent uses, either.  With today's ultra-pure copper available in DIY, I would also construct a speaker cable before buying.  I did find that OCC copper in bulk AC cable gave me the sweet clarity I was looking for and would recommend building before buying.  Interconnects are more complex but would be a good project.