Reflections on cable pricing insanity

[Orb]

And with the mark-up on these cables you'd think the reps would be "johnny on the spot" if you asked to demo a pair. Not so with asking someone if I could try them with my new Alexia's.

I assume any cable demo pair would have to come from the main distributor rather than dealer, from my own experience with some other cable manufacturers.
Cheers
Orb

 

[rockitman]

Let me get this straight, she asked you the price and you told her the truth???????

I was drinking...the truth serum effect...

 

[microstrip]

Funny that almost all debates on expensive cables move around Transparent Audio and MIT, and Nordost Odin seems to escape the fury of posters. Are they the real cable bargain? I never managed to find a great deal on them in the used market .

 

[asiufy]

Got an Odin IC once on Audiogon, from a nice guy in NY.
Ended up selling it, as I got a deal on an all-Kubala Sosna Elation setup.
It's good, but it's not GOOD. The KS are cheaper, and offered similar performance.

And Ken, if you liked the Transparent speaker cables, prepare yourself for the power cords, that's their best cable (the MM2, that is). Not that impressed with speaker/ICs from them (same Ref XL series)...


alexandre

 

[andromedaaudio]

Okay lets say it this way , i ordered 5 tapes from tony / ed at lets say +- 900 euro incl shipping, bought a broken A 80 which costs me a 1000 euros and another +- 1000 to have it revised , but ..... i am gonna get transparency and a real audio deal ( at least i hope ), while most cable owners cant even put them apart in a AB doubleblind listening test .
But ... who cares anyway

 

[Bruce B]

Okay lets say it this way , i ordered 5 tapes from tony / ed at lets say +- 900 euro incl shipping, bought a broken A 80 which costs me a 1000 euros and another +- 1000 to have it revised , but ..... i am gonna get transparency and a real audio deal ( at least i hope ), while most cable owners cant even put them apart in a AB doubleblind listening test .
But ... who cares anyway

+1

 

[FrantzM]

Okay lets say it this way , i ordered 5 tapes from tony / ed at lets say +- 900 euro incl shipping, bought a broken A 80 which costs me a 1000 euros and another +- 1000 to have it revised , but ..... i am gonna get transparency and a real audio deal ( at least i hope ), while most cable owners cant even put them apart in a AB doubleblind listening test .
But ... who cares anyway

+2

 

[microstrip]

Okay lets say it this way , i ordered 5 tapes from tony / ed at lets say +- 900 euro incl shipping, bought a broken A 80 which costs me a 1000 euros and another +- 1000 to have it revised , but ..... i am gonna get transparency and a real audio deal ( at least i hope ), while most cable owners cant even put them apart in a AB doubleblind listening test .
But ... who cares anyway

Andromedaaudio,

I am happy that you entered the tape world - I own two A80's that I serviced myself along many years and a collection of tapes from the Tape Project - but I find your comment about cable owners and DBT strange in this thread about cables. A proper choice of cables in my system allow me to hear my tapes sounding great, however if I use inadequate cables in the system, it will not play better than a CD player in a decent system with good cables. Perhaps you should have added more smiles in more places in your post!

Did your technician replace the cables coming from the tape heads?

 

[andromedaaudio]

No i dont think so , but i am not sure , replaced or shortened ??, i dont think 25 cm of cables extra makes a lot of difference any way , or do they pick up so much noise ???
Indeed replacing a 35 year old cable would probably be a great idea



But yes indeed ,on audiocables we still dont agree .

 

[microstrip]

Got an Odin IC once on Audiogon, from a nice guy in NY.
Ended up selling it, as I got a deal on an all-Kubala Sosna Elation setup.
It's good, but it's not GOOD. The KS are cheaper, and offered similar performance.
alexandre

Alexandre,
My usual comment apply - if you did not try a full Odin system (IC's and speaker) you do not know how GOOD they are. I have now a complete setup of Elation's in my system and I have had a similar setup of borrowed Odin's. They sound very different, and if it was not for the insane price I would pick the Odin's.

 

[LL21]

Concurrent with following this thread since the beginning, I demoed a pair of Transparent Audio Reference XL speaker cables into my system. WOW! Not surprisingly the Rockport Aquila love them. The cables have found a home. In fact I have Reference XL interconnects and TA power cords on the way to try out.

Crazy expensive but sometimes you do get what you pay for.

congrats...use XLMM2 SC as well. I have now moved from TA Ref (13-yrs old) IC from source to pre...to TA RefMM (MM2), just below Opus. And am now considering XL or MM between pre and amp to complete. I was definitively NOT expecting the improvement in the IC. Staggering.

 

[JackD201]

I had to offset my Evolution Acoustics MM3's purchase with a new Toyota Sienna. No way would I mention the actual price I paid though. I did casually mention I sold my Avalon's at a profit to keep the peace.

LOL! My offset was an E350. LOL!

 

[MarinJim]

I do love Purist Audio (run by a real engineer), Jena Labs, and Stealth. Will be trying out Prana Wire soon (my neighbor).

 

[LL21]

I do love Purist Audio (run by a real engineer), Jena Labs, and Stealth. Will be trying out Prana Wire soon (my neighbor).

let us know what you think! I definitely like PAD power cables (Dominus and Ann Contego)

 

[Orb]

Funny that almost all debates on expensive cables move around Transparent Audio and MIT, and Nordost Odin seems to escape the fury of posters. Are they the real cable bargain? I never managed to find a great deal on them in the used market .

I must admit I think I made a mistake ages ago buying Nordost Heimdall, really bad call and should had spent a bit more.
Same as you Micro I also had the same problem finding a great deal on used Crystal Cable and Yter (although finally managed to complete the set this week finally finding and buying a used interconnect from authorised dealer hooray).
Although I notice some Crystal Cable Ultra Diamonds on sale since Dreamline released, oh to be so bling bling.

BTW just in case people are interested in outside the box ideas, I think these two products look incredibly interesting as high end cables:
Auditorium 23 - used by Art Dudley.
http://www.auditorium-23.de/Accessories/Cable.html

And Vertere Acoustics - from Touraj Moghaddam, Roksan founder (build pretty competitively priced products)
http://www.vertereacoustics.com/products prices shown here: http://www.custom-cable.co.uk/hifi-...eatures_hash=V73&sort_by=price&sort_order=asc

Both of these companies are interesting in their approach with regards to different conductor sizes used within the cable, and seem pretty well received.
Cheers
Orb

 

[Bruce B]

I was on the upgrade path years ago with TA. I had the lower end and worked my way all the way up to Reference XL.... then it hit me.... another divorce! At least it wasn't over cable!!

 

[dallasjustice]

The funny thing is that you can suggest less expensive cable alternatives in comparison to the so called top end, back it up with valuable personal experience and many folks will shoot the messenger. Some folks are open minded and will listen and some won't. I used to be in the second camp. After my experience with MGAUDIO cables and ICs compared to MIT SHD 120 bi wire and oracle ma-x rev2 proline, I'm now firmly in the first camp.

 

[asiufy]

Alexandre,
My usual comment apply - if you did not try a full Odin system (IC's and speaker) you do not know how GOOD they are. I have now a complete setup of Elation's in my system and I have had a similar setup of borrowed Odin's. They sound very different, and if it was not for the insane price I would pick the Odin's.

I believe you. I'm just not attracted to Nordost's typical lean sound. It doens't match the darTZeel at all. The Valhallas were the single worst cable I had on my 108! So there's little incentive to move up...


alexandre

 

[rockitman]

how about record insanity ???
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Led-Zeppeli...34%2FrkYG3Ib7Hl1HRitk%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

[rockitman]

I believe you. I'm just not attracted to Nordost's typical lean sound. It doens't match the darTZeel at all. The Valhallas were the single worst cable I had on my 108! So there's little incentive to move up...


alexandre

I like Valhalla IC's...for SS amps (speaker cable) however, they do in fact lean out the midbass and make the treble more forward...at least with my combo. I hear they are a much better match with tube amps to speakers. I suspect Odin would be no different.