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why premium cable costs so much


Daddy Dee

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Keep in mind there are (IMHO) two different kinds of ridiculously expensive speaker cable - cable that's relatively low cost to manufacture and carries a high price because people will pay it (not gonna name names but the cables carry Nothing But Signal) and cable that is hugely difficult to make and costs a small fortune in labor to manufacture, so with any reasonable markup winds up very, very expensive (Nordost Valhalla.)

Now regarding the second type, you can argue that it's insane to spend $$$$ on speaker cables, and that stuff like the Valhalla doesn't sound any different / better than decent spec'd Belden from Blue Jean, and I might even agree with you. But that doesn't mean it's a ripoff. If you look at the process they go through to make the stuff, it's no wonder it costs what it does. I'm not gonna be buying any even if I win a PowerBall lottery (of course, you can't win if you don't play, so that's a problem...) but at least I think they're justified in charging what they do for it based on how much it costs them to make it. Whether it's stupid to pay for it is another question.

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All I know is : Monster is replacing wire I bought back in the mid-80's, that has turned green, No sales receipt, just send in the wires. Not very many companies would do that, in this day and age that says alot to me. Monster Cable can be found on sale alot. I got a 100' roll, 16 gauge Monster Wire, DELIVERED to my door for $20.00 from Amazon ............. I'll buy Monster every time for that price, so would you !!!!!!!!

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Some guy called you oldbucket on another thread. Did you see that? I wouldn't buy it at that price every time, because I don't use 16 guage, I use 14 or 12, usally 14. And I use any offbrand spool of 14 guage I can find in the wal-mart automotive sound section. $12 for 50 ft of 14 guage.

A friend of mine loaned me a set of $800 bi-wired Kimber Kables to try with my system. It sounded noticably different than my basic 14 guage zip cord, but I didn't prefer the sound. I took away alot of the live 'edge' sound of the speakers, almost like the cable was rounding off the corners on the dynamic transitions. It might have been doing something appropriate like removing reflections due to impedance mismatch or something, but I prefered it the "wrong" way.

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Some guy called you oldbucket on another thread. Did you see that

Sticks and Stones will break my bones, but Names will never hurt Me ! .............. That's not the worst thing I've been called on here ! ....$12. for 50 Ft., that's still $24.00, plus sales tax, plus time to go get it, for 100' ............... Whatever is best for you, ...... You trying to start something? ... [:D]

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Some guy called you oldbucket on another thread. Did you see that? I wouldn't buy it at that price every time, because I don't use 16 guage, I use 14 or 12, usally 14. And I use any offbrand spool of 14 guage I can find in the wal-mart automotive sound section. $12 for 50 ft of 14 guage.

A friend of mine loaned me a set of $800 bi-wired Kimber Kables to try with my system. It sounded noticably different than my basic 14 guage zip cord, but I didn't prefer the sound. I took away alot of the live 'edge' sound of the speakers, almost like the cable was rounding off the corners on the dynamic transitions. It might have been doing something appropriate like removing reflections due to impedance mismatch or something, but I prefered it the "wrong" way.

thanks for your take on biwire. never have tried it myself, but it is interesting that it sounded different.

Of course, different is not the same as better.

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If you want "different", simply insert various values of inductance and capacitance in the signal chain. Its allot easier and cheaper than running cable and you have plenty more combinations to play with.

This topic is OLD.

Warranties on wires. Now that's a business I need to start, and all it requires is a soldering iron and some solder ... Let's see...the odds of copper losing its conductivity.....[*-)]

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important part, some fancy marketing brochures with some half-baked physics BS mentioning obtuse out of context fancy terms like skin effect and frequency balanced and velocities of electron movement - wait - that gives me an idea! Electron vitamins! Guaranteed to impart more pep in to your electrons as the actual inches per minute rate is nothing to get excited about! As if electron travel was what mattered anyway - but hey, it only has toseem feasible - and after all, what do the stupid consumers know!? Right?

There's an audiophile born every minute!

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No older than 54 pages of .. PWK BS Button .. Crown amp review, that really kinda' wasn't a review !!!!

Is this where I refer to you as "Ole-Bucky" or "Ole-Bucknutz" or "Ole-numbnuts"??? [:|]

I think most here would cringe if you saw the wires I'm using... my "best" interconnects are diskwasher brand that I purchased back in ... maybe 1980's? The ones that are not the 'goldends' by diskwasher are the generic IC's that you get when you open a box of something (like CD player).

I even have one IC who's outer jacket comes off the contact pins if I don't hold it right...now, to be clear, the WIRES on the contacts are fine, it's just the outer jacket that will slide off...

speaker wire? I've got some 12G that I bought at HD and that's about it.

I just can't pull my wallet out when it would be time to seperate myself with real cash to pay for some of these expensive wires.

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Jay, I want companies like this to be successful too. If he drives a xyz car, good for him...

There are companies with 10k wire for like 6 feet? Do you really need that too?

Jay Leno has a car worth over a MILLION dollars... Lots and LOTS of cars lots of mororcycles.. gives away millions... is he a bad person too?

I just dislike how monstercable has no science in their claim that their wires are superior opposed to the competition.

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I'm still trying to figure out why the special length coax cables I purchased have arrows printed on the wire showing which way the sound travels. I did follow the arrows but I didn't want too just to be contrary. Do they have arrows on coat hangers?

JJK

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