Cable Costs Relative to System

IMO cables are the biggest racket in audio. It all depends on what cables work in a given system. You don't need to spend a lot of money to get great sound. In fact, there are many low priced stuff that outperform the expensive ones. Years ago my system retailed for $36,000, $7,000 of that was in cables. I sold those and replaced them with $1,500 worth of cables and got better sound. Today, my system isn't a third of what it used to be and I'm still using the same "cheap" cables.

Sometimes when you find the right cable it unfortunately costs a lot. Assuming that you can afford it, what do you do? Buy this cable or a cheaper one that doesn't sound quite right? Of course, you have to try many if not all cables before spending $5k on a pair of 1.0 M interconnects.
In my modest system the speaker cables retailed for as much as the speakers, and interconnects for half the price of either integrated amp or cd player. I bought everything used so the real figures not percentage were tolerable. I can understand that in some situations cables can cost half the entire system though usually when it gets that expensive it is better to replace the components. But usually doesn't mean always. In my system it is about 30% including power cords.

I've just cruised this thread and found some very reasonable opinions. However, the focus is around the cost of cables relative to the cost of the system they support.

Yes - That is the title of this thread, but I did not find any responses indicating that anyone had considred anything else - other than PRICE!

How about the quality of the conductors, whether they are copper only, silver coated copper, silver, carbon etc...

How about the capacitance of the cable - which is directly related to dialectric properties and cable construction geometries.

Price has very little to do with how a cable will perform -YES - generally, the more expensive the the cable the better "we expect it to perform" - BUT, it all boils down to a cable's technical spec!

To cite an example - I just built a power cable from DH Labs Power Plus cable and it performed as well (maybe better) than a higher end (read more expensive) Furutech DIY power cord with the same connectors

The Furutech cable was 4 times the cost of the DH Labs - yet there was no perceivable difference i.e. on my system!

I had the same results with DH Labs BL-1 inerconect ay 1/3 the cost - which performed as well as my Van Den Hul D-102 III.

The technical spec of the cables were in fact very similar - hence the same audible performance.

The difference was in contruction - the Furutech and Van Den Hul are "industrial grade" and the DH Labs are more suited to home audio applications, electing to use high quality conductors, but forgoing some of the more rigorous industrial design features of the higher priced cables.

So - what do I look for in a cable
- low Capacitance
- low inductance
- low ressitance
- very high quality copper or silver coated or silver conductors
- shielded - multiple braided shields preferred
- good quality connectors - copper/copper alloy or silver

As it turns out - the resolution of ALL your cables is as important as each component, so you should know the spec's of your cables - in the same way you know the specs of your amp/cd/DAC/etc...

There are a lot of companies out there that do not publish their cable specs - so how do YOU know what you are buying?

If the specs are not published - contact them and ask for the spec - if they do not provide them - LOOK ELSEWHERE!

I, like most people probably, have spent money on Hi-Fi that could have been avoided, if I had done a little homework up front. I used to buy based on reviews, but then got nto the science behind good cables - thanks to some very imformative web sites - like the Van Del Hul web site that has extensive specs and cable details.

What does matter in a hi-fi system is the resolution abilities of every component (ncluding cables) - not the cost of the components. Granted cost is loosely related to resolution.

However - I have a couple of very affordable components that perform way past their "price point", simply because I replaced their power supply and power cables. The improvements were easily heard due to the good interconnects and speaker cables I had.

So, back to the thread title - My cables make up about 18% of my total system cost and they allow me to extract every last morsel of resolution from the various components.

I didn't consiously apply a cost rule - I simply considered the specs of the cables.

I could have gone with a $7000 power cable or a $2000 interconnect, but the resolution of some of those cables would have been way beyond that of the components in my system.

So now - just like choosing a new component - I do my homework and find a cable that I think will provide a benefit, based on it's technical spec - not its cost!

Asking what percentage of your system cost should you spend on cables makes as much sense as asking...
- what percentage of my system cost should I spend on my CD player!

Audio stores simply use that percentage figure to sell you higher priced cables - what they sell you is often not what's really needed!

Do your homework and save $$$!

Alternately - find a store that will loan you cables to try.

I have found that the knowledgeable stores will probably offer you several to try out, since they are confident in your findings and their future sales!

regards...

After being a so called audiophile for 10 years and owning different equipment i cant see buying expensive cables anymore. If you have a good digital or vinyl front end then cables have less of an impact IMO. If you have a bad front end then the cables will either mask or enhance that sound, thats why some people hear such dramatic differences. Just like the post above says its really the spec of the cable that matters most, if you listen to 2 cables that have similar spec they will have similar sonic signatures. I dont care if its a 1k cable vs a $200 one. I think money is better spent on the front end because thats where your signal starts if you have distortion there it doesnt magically disappear going down the chain. The amp and speakers would be the next thing i would upgrade. After trying so much equipment what it comes down to is system synergy. The cables will make only subtle changes when you have a good front end and your preamp/amp and speakers have that synergy going on. My cables are about 8% of my system cost. All diy cables except the power cables which i use pangea which cost $40 each. I got off the cable gravy train 3 years ago after doing some blind listening test with different cables. Me and my friends were all over the board when it came to hearing any major differences. Not listening to the cables and coming back the next day yielded different result. I think its a psycoacoustic effect that our ears get trained to a certain type of cable sound. What sounded a little flat one day didnt sound the same way the next. This is just my opinion after owning so much gear. What matters most is getting the sound you like if that means expensive cable than kudos to you. I just think money is better spent elsewhere.

I do agree somewhat with post above, in that a good front end will achieve a higher level of resolution in a system.

The benefit of good components is that they are designed with plenty of "headroom" in their circuits - i.e. they have a great power supply, parts that are conservatively rated and extremely tight tolerances.

However, a more moderately priced component is often capable of performing much better if supplied with the required power.

Every component is designed to a specific price point - and often the parts used in todays electronics perform exceptionally well. However, the part that often gets overlooked is the power transformer. A good transformer will react to transient voltage and current demands extremely fast. But if the mains cable is less than adequate the transformers ability to react is compromised.

When transient demands cannot be met the internal voltages fluctuate and cause slight variations in the signal.

In a two channel system the transients affect each channel differently, which can effect the phase of the signals - this causes a "smearing" of the image and affects the details heard and the stereo image.

A good power cable will allow the component to react to transients and affectively improve the stereo image - but the real benefit is that details never before heard will be quite noticeable.

I too was once a skeptic regarding the importance of cables, until I tried them after reading several articles. The results I attained were very noticeable.

The most recent upgrades have been my power cables. I did not have to shell out thousands. One power cord cost less than $100 with a couple of nice rhodium plated connectors and it has made a significant improvement.

Now, if I can get great results with my modest little system, I have to wonder what kind of results can be attained with high-end audio components.

Perhaps there is a point at which the effect of good cables is less evident due to a components ability to deal with transients as the quality level increases.

All I know is the my system has never sounded better and most of that is due to cables that I have purchased and an upgraded power supply for two of the components.

If interested take a look at my system - http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vdone&1327073984

Or for lots of details on my entire hi-fi journey visit my blog at http://www.image99.net/blog/index.html