Now this brings up an interesting point. First I do have some Audioquest cables but nothing really "high end". I have never personally done comparisons with my system to see if I could hear any difference. This may be a weak analogy but lets suppose that one a scale from 1 to 10 that 10 is the best system we can afford. At what point do I pay for better speaker cables (assuming they do make a difference) vs. upgrading my CD player. Which will bring me closest to the 10 at my spending limit? Is a better cartridge a better investment to get to a 10? Is a better set of speakers best? Speaker cables?I think with people who want to just assume and follow others online with preconceived views without trying for themselves tend to make huge assumptions as to what's needed.
Some people will spend a ton of money on big components buying far more than they need stacking it all together.
It's kinda like phono cartridges that are small and really not seen. Some will buy $500 tables every few months looking for a sound change and owning 4 decks. Meanwhile when you tell them to go buy a $1000 cartridge and put it on their $500 table they say the table isn't worth that and keep using the same $200 MM cart.
They don't find value in small components even though what I mentioned would have brought far more SQ change and cost less in the long run.
I also find it funny with this preconceived thought on cables, the naysayer makes hug leaps. They go right to prices in the $10,000 and up generalizing the whole topic. I have a pretty nice system but my cables and IC are all below $300 a pair. Now that's still expensive for the guy that thinks more than $25 is a wast, but no they don't want to think about everything in between.
My thought has been that cables may be the last investment. No idea if this is right or not. How do YOU decide where to put the money to make your system sound better? At what point to cables enter in?