fordgtlover
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2006
- Posts
- 2,777
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- 108
Whether cables are worth the money you pay for them is a value question that each of us must justify to ourselves - not each other. I very much appreciated the support, advice and guidance I received from one guy in particular at my local high end stereo store some 20 odd years ago - a bit like bigshot is offering here.
He taught me how to listen to music and equipment, and allowed me to listen to some of the best gear on the market at the time. When I asked him about cables he simply said that I would work out whether expensive cables were for me or not, but he personally believed in them. He never told me about 'night and day' differences between Van den Hul cables and radio shack ones. In fact he suggested that the ones that came in the box were poor quality (I think he described them as strips of plastic with a breath of copper inside), and I should go and get some new ones from radio shack.
Some years later I did buy some VdH cables - I couldn't tell the difference. I think they're sitting in a drawer here somewhere.
We need those sort of people to act as a counter-point for the masses of marketing dollars thrown at the uninformed consumer and hype that surrounds this topic.
I recently bought a DVD recorder for my TV. When I asked the sales guy about reasonably priced cables he gave me the whole bit about their fancy cables and that anything less was junk and would make the picture unwatchable on a decent sized TV. I told Him that I had a projector with a 2.5M screen and the cables in my walls carrying the signal cost about $1 per metre (Belden). The picture is fine thanks for asking.
My point is, that it is easy for newbies to get the impression that you must buy expensive kit to get good sound, and it will scare them off. I see in other threads on this board where people comment that if you don't buy the best and most expensive that you will have a lower level of enjoyment, and perhaps by their own subjective assessment it's true.
There is currently a thread running here where many people are raving about a $69 pocket amp - more power to them.
This hobby should be about enjoyment of the music, and access to that simple pleasure by all.
He taught me how to listen to music and equipment, and allowed me to listen to some of the best gear on the market at the time. When I asked him about cables he simply said that I would work out whether expensive cables were for me or not, but he personally believed in them. He never told me about 'night and day' differences between Van den Hul cables and radio shack ones. In fact he suggested that the ones that came in the box were poor quality (I think he described them as strips of plastic with a breath of copper inside), and I should go and get some new ones from radio shack.
Some years later I did buy some VdH cables - I couldn't tell the difference. I think they're sitting in a drawer here somewhere.
We need those sort of people to act as a counter-point for the masses of marketing dollars thrown at the uninformed consumer and hype that surrounds this topic.
I recently bought a DVD recorder for my TV. When I asked the sales guy about reasonably priced cables he gave me the whole bit about their fancy cables and that anything less was junk and would make the picture unwatchable on a decent sized TV. I told Him that I had a projector with a 2.5M screen and the cables in my walls carrying the signal cost about $1 per metre (Belden). The picture is fine thanks for asking.
My point is, that it is easy for newbies to get the impression that you must buy expensive kit to get good sound, and it will scare them off. I see in other threads on this board where people comment that if you don't buy the best and most expensive that you will have a lower level of enjoyment, and perhaps by their own subjective assessment it's true.
There is currently a thread running here where many people are raving about a $69 pocket amp - more power to them.
This hobby should be about enjoyment of the music, and access to that simple pleasure by all.