Cable Costs Relative to System


Since making a spread sheet with my audio system prices, I have been thinking(shocked) about my total investment in cables. My total system retails at $67,000 (Digital and analog front ends included). I purchased all of it here on Audiogon so my investment is about 50%. Of that I have about 10% invested in interconnects and cables and another 10% in Power Cables (Shunyata Hydra included). That's $13,000 worth of wire. I'm starting to question whether it might be more effective to put some of this budget into acitve components. It would take forever to listen to all possible combinations, but would like to hear others experiences with relatively high end systems and cable selection. It would seem to me that the point of diminishing returns would be reached sooner with cables than with speakers and amps. Do most of you follow the 10% "rule" for cabling? How do PCs fit into this rule? Are there any super bargain cables capable of keeping up with highly resolving electronics?
metaphysics
Kijanki........ Wow......... You know your stuff. I don't know anything about cable science. I just know by experience what works, and what doesn't. My stand on insulation is not total. I am open to anything that will prove me wrong. It has to make sense, that's all. Foamed Teflon has piqued my interest, and cotton too. I am not satisfied with the interconnect I am using. I will be making my own. Mylar is not on my shelf.

You rhetorically asked if skin effect in solid wire is audible. If you allow me to answer, yes, very much so on my system.

I hope you don't think I am arguing with you. From what I read, we agree on points of common experience. I had the pleasure of listening to Shunyata SCs in comparison with solid wire. The Shunyata brought frequency extremes in focus. The solid wire held superior in the mids to my ears.

This paradox troubled me no end. It taught me cable science is more complicated than I wanted to believe. That is of what you wrote on your post.

One thing was for sure. I am happy to have mono amps. That allows me to keep my SCs very short - 18". That way, inductance, and capacitance are kept to an inaudible minimum.
Muralman - I said I'm not sure why we need thick speaker wires. My Acoustic Zen Satori Shotguns have gauge 7 each (about 1" dia.) and I think it is overkill but I trust AZ designer Robert Lee and bought the cable. The reason for doubt is simple - why do we need very thick wire or huge damping factor if inductor in series with the woofer has about 0.1 Ohm? Inductance of the wire improves but very little so why to go to such thick wires?

I read on the DIY forum about good results with cotton ,that you mentioned, as a dielectric. Making it pretty is secondary issue but obtaining high quality copper or silver wire is difficult.

I re trimmed my Satoris with new spades and discovered that wire has inside isolated strands (9 I think) + 1 strand that is not solid but has inside again 9 very small strands. More complicated than I expected.

I understand that making cables in small quantities and exotic technologies (zero crystals - means cooling metal very slowly in hot forms so that crystals can not form) but price of some excellent wires (like Stealth Indra) are reaching price of a small car. When I hear no comments from my non-audiophile friends it means they think I'm crazy. For them spending more than $100 on an amp or $500 on speakers is a sin (or madness).
My speakers average .8 ohm, and dip to .3 ohm. My SCs are 12 gauge and are .003" thick.
In my $16K system of new and used components, all the wire adds up to a hair under 10%. This wasn't by design, but I just happened to come across this posts and did the math. I was surprised by how close to 10% I was without even knowing it!

Krell/Focal/Nordost system.

gherrera1
Gherrea1 - I ended up 18.6% Now I have to upgrade equipment to bring ratio down to recommended 10% (at least that's what I'm going to tell my wife)