How do you feel about cables? - Page 2

Quality cables, not $40 ones

Cables can (and do) make a major difference in the sound!

Put a "Master Lock" on a $1000 chain, and the chain won't matter.

One comment I must make about these polls: The program allows you to see the votes before you place yours. I think this makes the survey much less accurate because people will have a tendacy to vote with the popular vote. I state this because I have yet to see any leading votes on any kind of poll be beaten on this site. If one catagory is leading from the beginning it is always leading. This is the same weather it is a cable poll or music poll. The mediators of this board should change the program so that any previous votes are not seen until a vote has be posted. I hope this didn't sound too harsh because it wasn't ment to be at all. It's just my two cents.

Many? No, but a few. Is my personal experience with this fairly limited? Sure, but I have my reasons for my opinion, just as others have theirs. But this would be going dangerously close to the forbidden DBT realm, which I've discovered on other threads just isn't worth it here.

So, in the interest of not making this heated, let's just say that I think the marginal return on extra $ spent on cables, past a fairly moderate minimum threshold, would be better spent on improving other aspects of the system.

I would certainly agree with itza2mer that the difference between a very cheapo freebie RCA interconnect and even $13 Acoustic Research interconnects is both real and worth it--I'm not quite either completely deaf or completely skeptical.

Well I consider they will not make more than a 5% of the difference, and then a voted for the second choice, I consider the cables part of the setup, so they play a roll on it, they should be, like the arteries of our body, they take the sound signal (blood) to any place, so they for sure make an important roll, but once you reach certain level, like a good IC, the difference begin to be every time smaller, so IMO is the time to stop and begin to upgrade other parts of the system if you want major improvements, IMHE they will not make a bad system sound good, and they can't make a killer system sound bad neither, just minor differences is subjective preferences, unless we were talking of a horrible cable, not the case here, right?

This is very simple Tom M, just don't take a look at the votes before you post yours, and period, anyway I don't care if they had voted for one, or the other, my opinion, is just my opinion, regardless if it concurs with the majority or not

The problem is that some people think that a cable is a cable and that's all there is too it, and that the higher the price, the bigger the ripoff. Obviously it can be, and when a system doesn't match well or isn't up to the level where an IC change makes a big difference, it is even for people who try comparing cheap cables with high end ones. I think one needs to get a decent system before auditioning cables in the hundreds of dollars range, but I don't think that it places them as the least important component. Some might say the difference is the last %1-%5, but there are things that one won't get out of their system, no matter how nice the source and headpones are, if they are using using RS cables. If a large chunk of cash is spend on the source, amp, and headphones, and the cables are just RS ICs, the system won't sound nearly as good as it is capable of sounding. That seems obvious to me, but perhaps there are still some who believe that a cable is simply a cable no matter what the price or material. The price paid for a cable isn't what decides the quality of sound, it's the material, workmanship, and quality of the material that make the difference.

what is a horrible cable? Many people on this site would say that other than their top of the line stuff, Monster makes the "Most Horrible cable".

Consider This:

I really think it depends on the individual system. Using $2000 VD Masters between a 963A and Meta42 won't yield much more improvement than a $50 Magwire IC would. However, a source like the Linn Sondek CD12 will see significant improvement from cables like the VD Nites & Masters. It's almost wrong to use a simple Monster IC on a Linn CD12/EAR HP4 combo; you really are limiting the system's potential. Some think price shouldn't enter the picture at all (ideally it shouldn't, but let's be practical here), but I have a simple rule: the cables should constitute about 20% of the source's price. Example: My dad recently bought the Accuphase DP-85 for $16,000. His amps are the Max, RKV and HP4. I told him he was limiting his experience by using the Zu Varial IC and Zu Mother PC. This is not an attack on the Zus; in fact, the Varial and Mother were the best cables I've ever heard (my own system is exclusively Zu right now). The Zus are true giant-killers. However, they just weren't up to the task. I told my dad about my 20% rule, and after some discussion we settled on the VD Masters. These are said to have the lushness of the Nites with no loss of detail that the Nites are said to exhibit sometimes. A full VD Master set (IC, PC and Speaker cables) is around 20% of the cost of the DP-85. My dad just upgraded today and he called me from Israel and exclaimed "Wow. There is a huge difference!" If he was using some $200 CDP and my Creek OBH-11, I don't think the difference would have been nearly as evident or powerful. He said the difference between the Zu setup (total cost ~ $600) and the much more expensive VD Masters was easily night and day (even my mom commented on the improvement)! For my humble system, the Zus are more than amazing, and they'll continue to grow with me as my system does - however, when it does reach that threshold, my cables will be upgraded. I’m not saying that cables costing more than the source won’t matter at all; it may not be completely justified and their potential may not be fully realized. Cables can have a major impact on the sound in one’s system, but I like to maintain a pragmatic approach when spending my money on audio equipment.

No monsters, I refering to the stock cables or the like, the ones included with the equipment....

"Cables make little/no difference in sound, but build quality is important."

regardless of the cost of the system in my opinion.

Any well built cable over $25 is as good as it gets.

I didn't see a "it depends on the rest of your system" choice, so I voted 1-5%, which is roughly where I usually see the results.

Cables Can make a huge differance, I have tried some very good cables in my systems and it was like changing a main component not just a cable. I have found speaker cable can show more of a differance then interconnects.

It appears everyone ignored this post reguarding how votes are placed.

i think that DIY cables using canare parts are just about overkill for everyone

I have never done diy cables. I'm not to handy with tools. It would be nice if I could find someone on the forum who could possible make me some homemade cables. I would pay for the parts and the work. Please feel free to send me a PM with an offer.