$35K for Speaker Cables!

[nightflier]

Perhaps not the most expensive out there, but quite a chunk of change for cables:


MIT Oracle MA-X loudspeaker cable

So, can someone tell me what's happening in that little box dangling off these cables? Does it turn sound into gold? Gee I wonder if they really sound $34,781.50 better than these cables:


Mapleshade Clearview Double Helix Plus Speaker Cables (also their top-of-the-line)

[audio amateur]

Nope, the inside is lined with diamonds

Sick, I know...

[Ajani]

So what else would you use with $350K Speakers, if not $35K Cables?

[audio amateur]

$350?

[nightflier]

$350K? I'd put a down-payment on a house - much better investment.

[Tarheel_]

I'd buy a pair, twice over....to power my HTIB

[E-Stat]

$350?

Listen to a carefully matched $350k system and you'll understand. The one I heard used Nordost Odin cabling throughout.

rw

[Ajani]

$350K? I'd put a down-payment on a house - much better investment.

The Audiophile with $350K to spend on HiFi, probably already has a fantastic house (and maybe even has a Bentley in the driveway) so why shouldn't he drop $35K on some cables?

[bfalls]

For $35K they should bypass the ears altogether and direct connect to the brain. Imagine, no outside interference, no problems due to hearing loss, no large speakers taking up living space. You could do video the same way. Things that make you go Hmmmmm.

[Hyfi]

Listen to a carefully matched $350k system and you'll understand. The one I heard used Nordost Odin cabling throughout.

rw

Amen! Boy do I miss Room 1 at Soundex. I got to hear some pretty cool gear there. And your right, with a nicely matched mega buck system, you certainly would not use a Monster cable.

[Feanor]

$350K? I'd put a down-payment on a house - much better investment.

Downpayment, eh? Nice house, I guess. My house is worth considerably less than $350k total, but I'm sure lots of you high-rollers wouldn't deign to live in it.

[3LB]

Brilliant marketing...all they have to do is sell one or two pair to pay off any overhead. If they sell only four or five they'll be well off and you know some dudes will buy it...Pete Barnum says so.

I see guys commuting back and forth from their office jobs in 3/4 ton extended cab pick-up trucks and thats only because nobody makes a one-ton pick-up. $35K is nothing to spend on cables if a guy is willing to pay $50K for a truck he doesn't need and put up with the hassle that it is.

I guess in a way I admire the spunk of some of these exotic hi-fi snake oil salesman - the money is there for the taking and you won't find a more deserving clientel.

[audio amateur]

Downpayment, eh? Nice house, I guess. My house is worth considerably less than $350k total, but I'm sure lots of you high-rollers wouldn't deign to live in it.

I know that word in French, from the verb 'daigner' but I didn't know it existed in English. You learn something everyday I tell ya!

[audio amateur]

Listen to a carefully matched $350k system and you'll understand.
rw

Not sure I'll ever have the opportunity of doing so...

[E-Stat]

Not sure I'll ever have the opportunity of doing so...

It is like riding in a two seat F1. Walls disappear. You hear details from your favorite music that you had never before heard - even for stuff you've listened to countless times. You immediately hear rhythmic patterns that were never before rendered so plainly. I hope you are mistaken.

rw

[Feanor]

I know that word in French, from the verb 'daigner' but I didn't know it existed in English. You learn something everyday I tell ya!

According to Wiktionary it's from the French, "deignier". HERE's the link.

[audio amateur]

According to Wiktionary it's from the French, "deignier". HERE's the link.

If you read, it says that was the word in old french. I made a search for deignier which didn't yield anything. I'm pretty sure the verb is daigner.

[nightflier]

Oui, c'est daigner.

[JohnMichael]

$35K for speaker cables but that money would buy a nice swiss watch.

[E-Stat]

$35K for speaker cables but that money would buy a nice swiss watch.

There are quite a few, however, by companies like Patek Philipe, Brequet among others for which that wouldn't even begin to cover the cost.

Nice watches

Click the slide show at the end of the article.

rw

[Feanor]

If you read, it says that was the word in old french. I made a search for deignier which didn't yield anything. I'm pretty sure the verb is daigner.

Yep, it's 'daigner' which appears in Wiktionnaire; 'deignier' doesn't.

The English synonym is 'condescend', although of course, there will be vocabulary-challenged who don't know what that means either.

[JohnMichael]

There are quite a few, however, by companies like Patek Philipe, Brequet among others for which that wouldn't even begin to cover the cost.

Nice watches

Click the slide show at the end of the article.

rw

Very good article, thanks. I like when the Robb Report covers watches. I think for now I will stick with my Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic with ETA 2824 "Elabore" automatic movement.

If I ever had the money for one of those watches I would have to select carefully. I would hate to discover that I no longer liked that style of watch. $500,000 of buyers remorse. Of course might sell it at a profit.

[audio amateur]

It is like riding in a two seat F1. Walls disappear. You hear details from your favorite music that you had never before heard - even for stuff you've listened to countless times. You immediately hear rhythmic patterns that were never before rendered so plainly. I hope you are mistaken.

rw

I'm pretty sure riding in an F1 would be the (much) more thrilling experience.
In all honesty though, 350K? You could almost buy a lifetime of tickets to the real thing with that kind of money...

[contrapunctus]

$35K ... Carumbah.

Well, I am selling a pair of silver-plated Oxygen Free Copper 2m length new Supra EFF-IX audio interconnects on ebay ... they are currently at a ridiculous $9.90 (compared to about US$200 retail) and auction ends in about 48 hours, so if you know about Swedish Supra, and like a bargain ... it's here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=190375215706

[nightflier]

You could almost buy a lifetime of tickets to the real thing with that kind of money...

There is a point where the diminishing returns are outweighed by the lack of value that you're actually getting. If you can afford $350K, then why not go see the real orchestra every weekend for the rest of your life rather than try to reproduce it in your living room? These MIT cables are such a product, where the diminishing returns aren't even the issue anymore, compared to the absolute lunacy of spending that much on cables for fantasy technology, IMO.

And what is this technology anyhow? What can possibly be worth $35K in a cable? We're not talking about a piece of Lamm gear here, we're talking about a cable! Even if they were made of solid platinum and the box dangling off of them had a full PCB with the most expensive parts, I still fail to see how that would amount to $35K. Someone please explain to me what kind of magic these cables can produce that a top-of-the-line cable from a more realistic manufacturer can produce. What is MIT doing that the other guys are not? Do these cables really sound better or just an ever so slight nudge different? Or is that margin of supposed superiority just snake-oil?