Reviews of $10k plus ics, speaker wires, and pcs

There is nothing wrong to know what the references are in each category but if half of a popular magazine or website is dedicated to audio gear that serves only the 1% of the audiophile audience, we need to start asking ourselves if this adds any real value. Another indirect effect of the sota-centric approach is that some turn up on forums just to show off their newest bling (some even almost do hourly updates). My interest here on the Gon is to know how I get sonic wise close to cloud number nine whilst remaining with my feet (and head) on the ground.

Very well put Mcondon!

The implied question could be: how much is it worth to you to have the London Philharmonic playing in your room w/o the coughs of your neighbor or the Carnegie Hall w/o the squeaking of (some) of their chairs? How much worth is having Diana Krall singing right before you? IME, no el cheapo wires can facilitate a mid level or even some high end system close to that level of realism. Believe me, I have tried "giant killers" in each category and am constant on look out for them. Hopefully someone will offer wires with magnets for the price of a set of CDs.

So if a high priced (all is relative) infrastructure - as I regard the cables are - can help your system to move in that direction of audio nirvana, why not? The margins on some cable are indeed higher than on some gear but the educated listener should know which emperor has cloths on and how much it is worth market wise.

To those who claim cables do not make a difference: good for you, money saved! Some day you may end up arguing with a friend who says amplifiers does not make a difference, they're just a bunch of parts and transformers, only speakers do... some day.

>> I often write very fast and normally I do not read it back!!

I hope you are more Precise with your Listening. Anyway, just my overwhole Impression.

>>How much those cables actually cost to make?

About $300-500 max after start up phase, the rest goes to sales/marketing and some to R&D (10-15% for small companies, less than 10% for larger companies), the numbers are derived from discussions, observations and my experience in the high tech industry. So the one company that sells wires with some magnets is having a ball of their life; some overzealous commentators keep on promoting those magnets. No doubt, I know first hand how good they but we don't want fan boys only thread on the Gon, do we?

Having said that, I still buy expensive cables (yes, those too) as they take my system to a higher level but am constant lookout for cheaper alternatives and once in a while I perform an auto- sanity check.

Norm, yes, I am well aware of the 5x parts&labor and it is business 101 in niche electronics markets and I have been involved in some companies. I used to work for Cisco and they had 85% gross margin on their gear in the good years, everybody was happy: investors/shareholders, employees, customers so good margin is needed as reward/goal.

I sincerely hope the number of audiophile users grow exponentially, so that competition and the economy of scale will enable the average audiophile to be equipped with great infrastructure (cabling, isolation, etc) w/o taking another mortgage.

Bo, have you not gotten enough warnings to stop rambling?!? Don't you have customers to look after? And...
>>Those who sell these products which are not worth it make audio in general unreliable.
You are part of that food chain, right? So why spit on it?