What do $2500 speaker cables sound like?


Sooo curious about this.  I now use cables costing about $200 and 20 yrs old.

dont want to throw out brands, but its well known.

what can someone expect?




jumia
It strongly depends on your system. Typically cabling is chosen for a level of equipment. For instance I had purchased some Transparent cables ($1,800?) about 25 years ago... they sounded terrible... because they passed through the harsh trebly signal to the very revealing ribbon speakers I owned. I ended up going with Cardas Gold Cross... probably cost $2K. Warmed the system up. Then I upgraded to much better speakers and electronics... immediately the treble was almost lost... too golden. I pulled out the old Transparent... instantly balance was perfect... clean, natural, perfect balance (like my electronics), silent background.

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Since then I upgraded to Transparent Ultra Gen 8 ~ $4,500 (my speakers are ~$32K). I don’t hear the cables.. they get out of the way. That is the way of high end cables... they don’t pick up noice from the environment... they don’t accentuate any frequency... they make for as dead a silent background as your equipment will provide. So, high end cables from highly reputable companies like Audio Quest, WireWorld, and of course Transparent. They are wonderful if you have wonderful equipment. If your equipment isn’t so wonderful then some of the many highly rated intermediate cables can be synergistic with your system by emphasizing something that is underperforming in your electronics or de-emphasizing something. I spent years matching very good quality cables and interconnects to the benefit of my system overall. My system is of caliber now I just go up the Transparent hierarchy to match the value of my equipment, simple, easy and each level simply sounds better. Most of my components are around $20K and interconnects ~$2,800.
I have the MIT EVO One bi-wire speaker cables in two of my systems and they are beyond what one could imagine. Image solidity down into the bass and limitless highs. A real soundstage with not only left and right imaging but back to front and height as well. Of course, one does not purchase cables in this price range to put in an average system which goes to say that one has put some real thought into component/system matching and has spent considerable time on the room and acoustics of said room. The payoff is tremendous and well worth it and yes some will scoff at MIT but Bruce has never pulled any punches and is only using his knowledge in the service of music.
From Noel Lee promoting Monster Cable back in the late Seventies to today's Cult of Wire Believers ... with zero hard engineering evidence to back up a company's claims that their product is somehow "better" than the competition!