whats the difference between a 12 dollar component cable vs a 120 dollar one?

[pctower]

I don't lose sleep at night because my cables are low priced, I lose sleep because there are people in this world that believe in what is written above.

You know why there are so many people (i.e. "audiophiles") who think more expensive cables are beneficial? Firstly, it's because they only get their information from two sources: companies who sell expensive cables and each other. Secondly, audio listening evaluations are subjective, regardless of how much effort is put forth trying to make them objective, and that means results vary. But they vary on emotion and not reality. If it looks good, feels heavy and is expensive, it has to sound better.

And I don't loose any sleep because I didn't listen to anyone, including you. I just listened to a bunch of different stuff, including cables, and put together what sounded best to me.

So every night before I lay myself down to sleep, I spin a platter (for tone deaf people - that's a vinyl record), soak my placebo infested brain with a glass of milk (non-fat, of course) and I'm off to the land of winkem, blinkem and nod.

[corwin99]

I've been doing a tremendous amount of cable testing recently because i've started making cable... One thing i've learned is that i know i can hear a difference at least between 2 of the cables i made since i made a DBT between them.. 5 times in a row i nailed the correct cable.

I have not been able to hear the difference between some of the others, but certain cables sound different.

[geostott]

After reading so much about cables on this and other boards I fought the urge to buy the "Monster" and went to Home Depot and bought a 500' spool of Carol 14 gauge in-wall speaker wire. I paid $84.00 for the whole roll. I was going to get the 12 gauge from PartsExpress but I didn't want to wait for them. Home Depot didn't carry the 12 gauge. I just ran all the cable today. I couldn't believe how easy it was. I was dreading doing the rear wall where the two surrounds are being mounted. It is an outside wall with insulation and the snake went right up with no problem! I've been putting that of for 4 years. I had the Bose Acoustimass 10 but never put up the two rear surrounds when we moved to our current home because I thought it would be grueling. I just replaced the Bose with 5 Mirage Omnisats and the Velodyne DLS3750R sub. Yamaha RX-V750 receiver.
Just ran the wire today and patched some holes. In the morning I'll clean up the patched holes and hook up the speakers by the afternoon. As long as it is done in time to watch the Philadelphia Eagles kick Washington's butt at 8:30 PM. Can't wait to hear what this all sounds like in my home, especially with these cheap wires!
George Stott

[Tony_Montana]

I just listened to a bunch of different stuff, including cables.....

The concept of "best cables are soundless" is so easy to understand, but yet so hard to grasp. Sometimes it is so hard to convince some people that if a cable have a signature of their own (even for better) that one can "listen" to or distinguish, then cable is not doing its job right.
When one understand fully the above concept, then they realized how silly this cable debate have become.

And by the way, the above post was written in the spirit of Mtry since he is not here

[meephis]

Exactly! The best cables are transperent. If you can't hear a difference between a transparent cable and a cheap piece of crap then get the heck out of audio, I mean seriously I keep reading posts from people saying they can't hear a difference, so I keep retesting this and every time there is an audible difference.(I am comparing Monster THX with Monster Z2) The Z2 ($200 for 2-15') simply gets out of the way of the signal, while the THX ($20 for a 50' spool) sounds a little degraded when compared side by side. I don't care if you think I'm crazy but everyone has a different sense of hearing and maybe your ear just isn't keen enough to pick out the difference.(even though THIS comparison was night and day) In fact my friend used to say he was all set on wire and had no desire to spend anymore until we did the comparason in his theater room. He doesn't have the money for Z series but he says he will be looking at M series or similar price. I had no idea it was going to be that big of a differece but we were both plesantly surprised that there was another noticable aspect of our systems to improve upon.

[Monstrous Mike]

...so I keep retesting this and every time there is an audible difference.

I realize you have a point in not understanding people who consistently say they hear no cable differences. BTW, most mean differences between an "elite, expensive, audiophile" cable and an inexpensive properly constructed cable (not the cheapo dental floss kind which can sound different or using the wrong type of cable which can also sound different).

I am one of those people and this is what I don't understand about people like you. There have been offers for substantial cash to show your ability. You have the system and the cables and can consistently hear the difference. You might even be able to get some money out of James Randi. At the very least, if you were ever properly test and could show your hearing ability, you would be a hero in the audiophile world while at the same time shutting up all of us skeptics for good.

For example, pitch a proposal to the electrical engineering department of your local college. Some fourth year students could set up your equipment for you and come up with a good, methodical double blind testing as their thesis.

You see, many people will continue to remain skeptical when all these audiophiles claim to hear differences but can never prove it. I know most don't need to prove it because they are happy with their musical results but the one guy who can prove it will likely make some cash, be a hero and shut a lot of people up.

[meephis]

look, all I know is that I CAN hear a difference, and to tell you the truth this discussion is going nowhere and I'm done with it, I SERIOUSLY don't care if you believe me or not because I know there's a difference, I didn't believe it untill I tried it but I did hear a difference, so you use the cheap stuff, I'll use the more expensive stuff, and we'll go our seperate ways.

[kexodusc]

Good lord, I thought we were done with these discussions when the new Moderators/Administrator came along this summer.

FWIW, I don't deny the possibility that cables sound different...I'm sure they do. I will, however, echo Monstrous Mike's sentiments that despite hundreds, if not thousands, of scientific tests over the last 30 years offering substantial cash rewards as high as $20000, there has not been one successful case proving that cables of the same guage etc, do sound different. That means something.

I can't wait for the day when someone does finally prove definitively, one way or the other, what the unbiased truth is.

BTW: Does anyone have a link to the infamous coat hanger experiment?