Synergy - SO Important

Again I will say that if you add something new to your stereo and concentrate really hard, you very probably will hear a difference during an A/B test. Perhaps even an improvement. If you leave the house for a few hours or perhaps even a weekend, would you notice the cable change? In most cases, I would guess no. 

All this being said, I have heard the difference in sound between cables, but I doubt that I would notice a change in interconnect and speaker cables from my mid-tier Audiquest to high-tier anything, if I were to take a weekend vacation and come back to my stereo. It's not just a blind test I'm talking about. You must add duration. I think that is fair because there is always a duration between one listening session and another.

Now, let's say that I could hear the difference after a duration if I put the most expensive cables on my stereo. I'm guessing that even used, trading my cables in, it would be well over $10,000. Would the difference in very expensive cables be worth it? Say, if I took that money and bought a new amp instead.

Audiophile trade-offs. How fun.

Synergy is important.  Just trying to save you all some money, that’s all.


Amazon Basics 12-Gauge Speaker Wire Cable for Audio Applications, 99.9% Oxygen-Free Copper, Red and Black Color Coded, 100-Foot, White  $52.99

Cabling should be next to free, almost an afterthought in the budget, not a major component.  But then, this is 2026...

"Just trying to save you all some money, that’s all."  you don’t say!

Thank you for your all words of wisdom.

@ghedger42 On the surface it seems simple, but cable design is a mix of art and science. I have been through quite a few pairs of speaker cables, both on the low and higher end of things, and wire gauge is not an indicator of results. I recently upgraded to some Audience speaker cables which are quite thin, and they do everything that my previous firehoses did, and more. Keep an open mind and conduct your own experiments. 

I once saw a documentary about water fountains. the science to make water behave in a desired fashion was amazing. I’m sure that braiding, twisting and flattening of cable will have a conductive difference. I guess they don’t teach that in electrical engineering school.