Opening a can of worms


Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
gillatgh
I don't think I have ever seen the issue of old (older) age that we all are living, and how that affects what we hear, or think we hesr?  I have been in this game for a long time, back to the Sansui and Fisher days. I have had my hearing test done at work every year for 44 years.  There has been a gradual decline in my hearing.  I know some is from the loud music, cars, shooting guns, and of course the work environment.  The getting older is also a part of that, but I don't see anyone addressing that here when talking about what they hear from their systems.  I believe you reach a point where the differences that you think you hear, are pretty minute.  To each his own.  I don't know how cables can be truely tested, without have them on a true A/B test switch, where you flip from one cable to another.  Better audio shops used to alwsys have their better speakers set up so that you could sit and A/B them instantly on the same music.  That way always got me to the best sounding spesker, IMO, that I could afford at that time.  I did once have a shop loan me three speakers for a home two week demo in my own home, so that was good for me to do.  I just hope all of the people here don't get too old the hear these improvements in their systems.
Just got me a pair of Caddock resistors for my preamp.  Probably make more of an improvement than any cable, but that is just IMO.  Happy Listening.
Good advice Randy.  Plus I am slowly learning about tweaks. The best tweak so far is a SR Black Fuse. Another can of worms lol ;)
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I do believe that cables make a difference to some degree, but the law of diminish returns is an immutable law. I think I perceived some improvement in the low frequency response of my main system cabling it with Supra Ply 3.4 speaker cable and a more open sound using vintage WE 16 ga. cloth-covered tin-clad copper wire in my bedroom system.  Neither set of cables cost over $150.  Purchasing a run of speaker cable that cost more than a new car is unfathomable, yet many do it.  And then there are the astral travelers like GK that tapes rocks to his cables and puts crystals the top of his gear in a feeble attempt to improve the sound quality.  It would only be laughable, but I suspect he does a fair trade peddling these foolish tweaks to an undiscerning public.  In the same vein are the "fuse-heads" who tie themselves in knots over the directionality outrageously expensive fuses.  This is purely "confirmation bias".    The level of self-deception that audiophiles will indulge in is shocking.  High anxiety runs rampantly through our ranks.  Frankly, Blue Jeans cable is more than good enough, but there is better wire if you have the dough.  Just give it a listen and decide for yourself.   And make sure you can get your money back if you don't fancy its performance.