[olblueyez]

What Percentage of your budge should you use for cables on your system?

 

[nick_charles]

You need to add a lower than 5% option. My daily use home rig is ~ $657. My current cables range from 9.1% to 0.12%

 

[883dave]

It really depends on your system and your budget.

Until you have 10,000 + (retail) into your system I would not spend anymore than 5% on cables (power, interconnect, transducer), spend the money on source material and equipment.

Cables are a "Tweak", tone control if you will, and therefore should be one of the last items on your list. If a cable drastically changes the sound of your system, there is a problem with your equipment.

 

[LeftyGorilla]

This is a much better way of thinking about this issue.

 

[nick_charles]

Perhaps it is worth mentioning that the laws of physics are utterly indifferent to someone's budget for a system

 

[olblueyez]

Its also worth mentioning that judging 300 dollar cables with a 500 dollar system isn't very smart.

 

[meat01]

There should be no set number to allot for cables, because cost of cables does not equate to better sound. Pick a cable you like and spend the money if you think it is worth it. Some have really nice systems with BJCs and others have mid-fi with expensive cables. It should be whatever the person is willing to pay to get the enjoyment out of their system.

Quote:

Its also worth mentioning that judging 300 dollar cables with a 500 dollar system isn't very smart.

I don't think it is ever smart to pay $300 for cables, even if you have a $10K system, just like it is not smart to pay for a $400 wood volume knob, just because you have an expensive system.

 

[tintin47]

My system was is around 850. (11 if the rs-1s were bought retail) and of that, $20 was on cables. My audio ICs are mid-range (not the tiny cheap ones, but probably about $20-25) radioshack cables that came with my DAC. The only money I actually spent on cables is $20 for a 10 foot phone extension cable off of ebay. It was custom built for me with Canare cable and neutrik connectors. Really nice.

Either way, the point is that I would spend about $40 on cables, a $40 that I would have spend whether I had a $200 system or a $3000 system. I would not buy better cables if I upgraded my system.

 

[XXII]

I've said this in the "other" thread but I'll say it again here: If you're undecided on the benefit of cables, you should find a company with a good returns policy and try some cables out. There's nothing to lose (except a few bucks on shipping). And you can make up your mind afterwards.

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meat01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif There should be no set number to allot for cables, because cost of cables does not equate to better sound. Pick a cable you like and spend the money if you think it is worth it. Some have really nice systems with BJCs and others have mid-fi with expensive cables. It should be whatever the person is willing to pay to get the enjoyment out of their system. I don't think it is ever smart to pay $300 for cables, even if you have a $10K system, just like it is not smart to pay for a $400 wood volume knob, just because you have an expensive system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tintin47 /img/forum/go_quote.gif My system was is around 850. (11 if the rs-1s were bought retail) and of that, $20 was on cables. My audio ICs are mid-range (not the tiny cheap ones, but probably about $20-25) radioshack cables that came with my DAC. The only money I actually spent on cables is $20 for a 10 foot phone extension cable off of ebay. It was custom built for me with Canare cable and neutrik connectors. Really nice. Either way, the point is that I would spend about $40 on cables, a $40 that I would have spend whether I had a $200 system or a $3000 system. I would not buy better cables if I upgraded my system.

What is 10 percent of your system value? If your going to address the cable thing then lets use real numbers. 10 percent is the going rate on the poll.

 

[Maxvla]

My XLR cables were $100, my headphone cable was $230. My entire rig is about $2000 so I'm at 16.5%. None of the cables were purchased for their sound quality.

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxvla /img/forum/go_quote.gif My XLR cables were $100, my headphone cable was $230. My entire rig is about $2000 so I'm at 16.5%. None of the cables were purchased for their sound quality.

So?

 

[csroc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif Its also worth mentioning that judging 300 dollar cables with a 500 dollar system isn't very smart.

It's also worth mentioning that the vast majority of people have never performed the proper tests to determine whether they can hear differences between cables/identify different cables.

Ultimately do what makes you happy. I like well made cables that look nice

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by csroc /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's also worth mentioning that the vast majority of people have never performed the proper tests to determine whether they can hear differences between cables/identify different cables. Ultimately do what makes you happy. I like well made cables that look nice

You dont really have to, ears is all you need. Thats why not much has been done with that whole thing.

 

[csroc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif You dont really have to, ears is all you need. Thats why not much has been done with that whole thing.

You may accept that to be true but many do not. Ears and in fact human perception is a very unreliable judge of performance and for comparison in many of these sorts of situations. Additionally our impression of something can be swayed by what we're told it should sound like, etc. It's even been proven that some of this exists in high end wine snobbery as well!

Of course perception is reality, but it's not necessarily fact.

Anyway, after having tried various cables myself in the past on my own system and experience the same on many others, I think I'm in the 5% neighborhood now and I'm certainly not using Monoprice (not that there's anything wrong with them). Just ordered a BJC digital coax cable because I needed another one, have never bought from them and am curious to see the quality of their product.