Spending lots in cables makes no sense for me, because:
Thank you.
I’ve calculated that I have spent around £2000 on a mixture of speaker cables, hiline, 2 powerline lites, 2 x chord power cables, 1 x HB labs power cable, blue jeans internet cables.
I don’t think this is unreasonable as I have spent around £30k overall on my system, including servicing, upgrades. Most of it has been bought used, including the cables.
All fair points, and the case against cable excess (and silly claims) looks clear.
On the other hand, if you had (say) £30K speakers, would you still use the QED79 you had when you were 18, or would you think something better might let you ‘hear a difference’ and so try it for yourself?
A year ago, all my cables were standard ‘out of the box’, as they had been over the last 30+ years. During that time, my system’s ‘new for old’ value has gone up by some factor between 5 and 10 - mainly showing how broke I was in the 80s and 90s. The box count has also gone from 3 to 11, with the obvious effect on the knitting behind the rack.
I joined the forum fairly recently because I wanted input and was thinking of changing several things in my hi-fi. Since then: -
LP - still LP12, Kore, Krystal, Ekos, Superline. Now L4 (not L1), Karousel and SRM baseboard and platform.
CD - still CDS II and will be so until it dies.
Streaming - still NDX2/ XPSDR.
Preamp - still 52 & olive (well, more brown) Supercap.
Power amp - changed this week from 250 (used for 30 years, serviced twice) to 300DR.
Speakers - still B&W 804 D3 with 18M TQB2 cables. I needed longer runs so had to replace the A5 anyway, and this bent round doors better.
I have also tried WH Morgana cables & Isoacoustics Gaia IIs, and had a radial mains supply added, as my existing mains and my bouncy floor were suspected weak areas. And I tried some rubbery feet from HRS under various Naim boxes, as well as lots of more DIY support experimentation.
Literally all of the above changes were I think supported by most who commented here, though every one had naysayers too. Somewhat to my annoyance, conventional wisdom or the consensus view has yet to be wrong - I’d be delighted to say ‘You are all mad! This £4.50 device from Argos does exactly the same, you mugs’ or words to that general effect, but it wouldn’t be true.
To my ears, and those of people who have helped out with ‘as blind as we can make it’ tests, every one of these changes ‘worked’ for SQ. On the same basis, the best VFM in that list was getting an electrician to add the radial mains, rather ahead of the L4/ Karousel combo.
Worst VFM is probably the 300DR, but that reflects that I have not sold the 250 it replaced yet. Alternatively, it might well be the change in speaker cable - though I didn’t do that for SQ.
Fortunately, the 300R’s price means that my cable % (on a new-for-old basis) has fallen to a bit over 3% for 2 speaker cables and nearly 3% for the other 9.
I realise that a 6% total will still offend some here, irrespective of how it sounds, but hope the opportunity to sneer makes someone’s day. On the other hand, I still insist on listening to music with my unreliable/ subjective ears instead of looking at a nice objective FR chart, so I am probably irredeemable.
Finally, I thought again about the understandable view that upgrading cables must be meaningless because we don’t upgrade the cables inside the speakers (notwithstanding different lengths).
By this argument, surely it makes no sense for me to ‘upgrade’ my mains supply from meter to hi-fi socket without also changing the cables (Hydra in my case) taking power to the boxes and also getting the street rewired? Why has no-one called any of us who have done the same ridiculous for getting the radial or suggested that ‘squandering’ money in this way was a sign of ‘sheer madness’?
Cables do provide the opportunity to tweak - and hence have an appeal for most men - let’s face it, most (male) hobbies are about the gear to some extent… 
I forget to mention my best VFM upgrade to my hifi.
A 30mts direct cable between my main electric box and a power strip where the VDH power clabes connect for each Naim equipment. 20€ the cable, 250€ the strip/box w/ Furutech, 50€ the electric guy that managed to pass the cable in the existant tubes between 3 floors of my house…
That was a big upgrade.
The ‘investment’ (extra to the supplied cables) is around £600.
G
Putting my head above the parapet here… I’m a broadcast audio professional. If there were any value in the cables that some people spend silly money on the we would use them. We obviously use good quality cables but spending £1000’s on cables is to my ears and that of my esteemed colleagues a nonsense. It’s the last bastion for Snake Oil salesmen.
It’s a very strong argument indeed.
Is it possible that the many boxes you need to wire together are better shielded and get better mains supply than some domestic hi-fis in some houses?
Well I believe so, I have borrowed other types of fancy cables over the years and not noted any differences.
Always ended up with what i have.
Fair enough but not what they believe in Abbey Road.
It’s starting to add up. Maybe 3k with my Morganas that are on order. I could knock 500 to 750 off
by selling some redundant items due to upgrades.
Plenty of Preloved and there is some very good value gear out there. I have recently added Kudos KS1 speaker cables. I’m somewhat in shock as to the improvement. At a sensible price…about the same as the Phantoms they have replaced. This was a change required by needing longer cables. Wonder if being longer helps ?
How short were the old speaker cables?
3.5m.
These are 5.0m
I’ve had TQ blue, Naca5, TQ Black 2, Phantom. All 3.5m.
All incremental improvements. This is umm, very incremental.
Maybe just a good match for my room, system etc.
Hi there!
How do you find the Kudos compared with the Mogami for your Obelisks?
I’ve just switched to the KS-1. Trounced a number of significantly more expensive cables I demoed. It’s quite hard to believe how good it is especially for the price. I had no hesitation ordering it.
Which cables did it trounce? 
Others know better than I, but I think Naim used to suggest an absolute minimum of 3.5m and preferably 5m+, so that could be relevant.
On the other hand, there seem to be many who (like me) have serious difficulty distinguishing between TQ Blue, TQ Black and A5 except by sight/ bending - FWIW I thought Black clearest and Blue warmest and vaguest at the time, but it’s all very much the same flavour IMHO.
Many of those similarly unsure on those cables’ relative merits seem to be very sure that KS-1 is audibly better than the lot of them.
TQ Black and Ultra Black. I preferred it to NAC A5 and SL as well.
Hi Mike,
Hope you are well.
Good timing for that question as I’m right now auditioning the KS-1 again, this time in my new room in Somerset. I think it’s really good. I’ve not been in any rush to try it again because I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Mogami 2972. I Still don’t, but the KS-1 does sound different and it’s a case of swings and roundabouts in my book.
Mogami has a very wide and even tone, good atmosphere and sense of acoustic, very natural, but by comparison does sound just a touch grainy and very slightly grey. KS-1 is fuller, more colourful and brighter (not bright as the HiFi lexicon would have it) perhaps narrower in frequency range (emphasises mids a bit, but certainly delivers slam when it’s in the recording).
Most importantly, it’s always engaging and has a knack of making the music a moving and very involving event.
Bottom line: I’m still not 100% sure, but I’m sufficiently impressed to order a set of the KS-1 safe in the knowledge that if it doesn’t work out in the long term then I can sell them on again with little loss. They are not expensive after all.
For you, with the wider range Diapasons, the results may be different, or maybe not. Worth a punt as I’m doing and move them on if not to your taste? Alternatively, borrow the set I’m about to return to Peter in Leicester and see what you think.
All the very best,
Kevin