# $45k for 2 meter wires



## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

These are way out of my league... http://www.thecableco.com/Product/Siltech-Emperor-Double-Crown I will stick with my Monoprice wires.


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

One born every minute...


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## AudioDawg (Jan 31, 2014)

They are called "the Emperor". 

Anyone remember the story about the Emperors new clothes? 

But seriously, 

Even though I think that is an absurd price, and that they will offer little benefit (if any) over a well constructed average priced offering we must remember a few things.

We are NOT the target market for this product.

The people who are the target market do not care about the cost of anything, especially wires.

The wires we buy are looked at in the same way by people not into our hobby at all. (try convincing anyone that is not into Audio/HT to use anything other than the red/white pack-in cables)

I don't begrudge someone of unlimited means buying 45k wires. I wish I could...but I wouldn't. 


Just out of curiosity, what is the consensus on what a reasonable price would be for a pair of well constructed 2 meter interconnects?

For me, I think 100 -150 is a fair price for some well made interconnects of that length.


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## kevin360 (Oct 4, 2012)

AudioDawg said:


> They are called "the Emperor".
> We are NOT the target market for this product.
> 
> The people who are the target market do not care about the cost of anything, especially wires.


The first statement is true and the second one is false. Those in the target market _do_ care how much they spend - *the more the better!*

BTW, those 2M cables are speaker wires (spades on each end). Whereas, $45k is well beyond what I consider reasonable, I am not averse to paying in the neighborhood of $1k. I don't feel like I overpaid when I bought my speaker wires or interconnects - AudioQuest Rocket 88 for the former and King Cobra for the latter. Some will think I'm nuts and others will think I shortchanged my system with cheap cables. It's a nutty hobby, this.:coocoo:


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

For me, wires would be the last thing I consider upgrading - I would only do it once I finished the rest of my space. While I do think cables can make a difference, I think it is more negligible than other upgrades.


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

I remember in the early 80s I worked at a shop in Barrie Ontario. We had received some $50/foot cable that came in 6' boxes. They were toted as "Silver Mono Crystal filament" they couldn't be bended more then a few inches or you would "destroy" them. People bought them, some not even for the sound, just the Cool factor and chest beating.

Grog: LOOK, Grog got pretty cables:flex:, 
Ugg: ARRG addle: must get pretty cables like Grog:rant:. 
24hrs later...
Ugg: LOOK Grog Ugg have prettier cables :neener:
Grog: no No NO, Grog cables BEST!! :unbelievable:
Ugg: Nuh uh :rolleyesno: SEE mine have Blue stripe
Grog: Uh, no understand :huh:
Ugg: Version 2 came out :bigsmile:
Grog: :yikes::dumbcrazy:


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## AudioDawg (Jan 31, 2014)

> BTW, those 2M cables are speaker wires


Thanks, I missed that.

2 meters for speakers wire? That seems short to me.

Anyway, still too much money for my wallet.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Yikes! :scratch: :duh: :coocoo: 

I cant believe that anyone would fall for something like that and buy them.


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## ajinfla (May 10, 2009)

Don't be a hater


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## Savjac (Apr 17, 2008)

ALMFamily said:


> For me, wires would be the last thing I consider upgrading - I would only do it once I finished the rest of my space. While I do think cables can make a difference, I think it is more negligible than other upgrades.



I cannot see the benefit in spending more that I have, more than my truck, my wife's car or a college education. None the less, all they have to do is sell a couple pairs a year and they are good maybe ?

One thing I wanted to mention, and please delete or move if this is a bad place, but do inspect your speaker wires as well as all others in your system regularly. They can corrode from the inside and you may not know because the sound will change gradually and may not be very noticeable until the problem is fixed. This is a lesson I learned many years ago using a large cable with a clear jacket, when I pulled the cable from hiding I could see the green corrosion. This happened again recently with another brand of cable in a clear jacket. I went and got the roll it was on, ran off a few feet a and noticed the same problem about the copper side of the cable. So I went into the roll 20 more feet and found the same issue. I use this cable for testing things I build and had just finished a GR Research speaker, went to test it and ICK. So I am not sure if it is only clear cable, I will look further or if all copper can go bad if not constructed properly. 

Here is some photos I took last week. Yes they had always been sealed.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Joe... did not you and Wayne listen to a setup at RMAF that had $100K cables?

If I were to become a millionaire, I am not 100% sure what my attitude would be. Perhaps I would change, but I doubt it, as I am too old to change much. If I had been raised in a very wealthy home and had been a millionaire for a long time, and I was a audiophile aficionado, I can see what I now consider exorbitantly price cables as being something I might like to have. As it stands right now... that is just crazy. Even spending $1,000 on a pair of speakers cables is still crazy to me. 

In my researching of speaker cables... I found the cable in several of the esoteric brands to be nothing more than inexpensive cable from Beldon, Carnare, Mogami, etc. The expense came in the form of assembling the cables with jackets and fancy high dollar terminations, which I do not see improving on the actual performance of the cable. For example, I took a very commonly used Carnare 4S11 speaker cable, with some heat-shrink and techflex, and made my own high-dollar speaker cables. It has low inductance, low capacitance and a little resistance, which makes for a very fine speaker cable, especially for electrostatic speakers. I could have paid upwards of $1,000 for the same thing that perhaps looks a little nicer. I have no issues paying a little more for nicer looking stuff, but I am not gonna go ridiculous on myself.


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## B- one (Jan 13, 2013)

Hey I just ordered these there not great??


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

Techflex makes any cable look 500% more expensive...


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Sonnie said:


> Joe... did not you and Wayne listen to a setup at RMAF that had $100K cables?
> 
> If I were to become a millionaire, I am not 100% sure what my attitude would be. Perhaps I would change, but I doubt it, as I am too old to change much. If I had been raised in a very wealthy home and had been a millionaire for a long time, and I was a audiophile aficionado, I can see what I now consider exorbitantly price cables as being something I might like to have. As it stands right now... that is just crazy. Even spending $1,000 on a pair of speakers cables is still crazy to me.
> 
> In my researching of speaker cables... I found the cable in several of the esoteric brands to be nothing more than inexpensive cable from Beldon, Carnare, Mogami, etc. The expense came in the form of assembling the cables with jackets and fancy high dollar terminations, which I do not see improving on the actual performance of the cable. For example, I took a very commonly used Carnare 4S11 speaker cable, with some heat-shrink and techflex, and made my own high-dollar speaker cables. It has low inductance, low capacitance and a little resistance, which makes for a very fine speaker cable, especially for electrostatic speakers. I could have paid upwards of $1,000 for the same thing that perhaps looks a little nicer. I have no issues paying a little more for nicer looking stuff, but I am not gonna go ridiculous on myself.


We did - and both walked out shaking our heads that someone might actually buy cables that cost as much as some homes.


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## skeeter99 (Jan 24, 2007)

Andre said:


> Techflex makes any cable look 500% more expensive...


Agreed! I generally have quite a selection at home of the stuff. I've been making my own cables for years, look nice and perform great :clap:


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

Sonnie said:


> Joe... did not you and Wayne listen to a setup at RMAF that had $100K cables?
> 
> If I were to become a millionaire, I am not 100% sure what my attitude would be. Perhaps I would change, but I doubt it, as I am too old to change much. If I had been raised in a very wealthy home and had been a millionaire for a long time, and I was a audiophile aficionado, I can see what I now consider exorbitantly price cables as being something I might like to have. As it stands right now... that is just crazy. Even spending $1,000 on a pair of speakers cables is still crazy to me.
> 
> In my researching of speaker cables... I found the cable in several of the esoteric brands to be nothing more than inexpensive cable from Beldon, Carnare, Mogami, etc. The expense came in the form of assembling the cables with jackets and fancy high dollar terminations, which I do not see improving on the actual performance of the cable. For example, I took a very commonly used Carnare 4S11 speaker cable, with some heat-shrink and techflex, and made my own high-dollar speaker cables. It has low inductance, low capacitance and a little resistance, which makes for a very fine speaker cable, especially for electrostatic speakers. I could have paid upwards of $1,000 for the same thing that perhaps looks a little nicer. I have no issues paying a little more for nicer looking stuff, but I am not gonna go ridiculous on myself.


I think that if you were a millioniare and bought the $100k cables you would very soon be poor.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

I would be interested in seeing if 2 cables with exactly the same inductance, capacitance, and resistance sound any different at all. I think they would not.


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## AudioDawg (Jan 31, 2014)

I, like many others I bet, have made my own speaker wire and interconnects.

In fact, a dozen years ago when the wire wars were raging full force, many hobbyists would use Canare cable and some nice ends, some techflex and some heat shrink and make some really great looking cables and sell them.

When I got my system to where I wanted it, I started playing with "dressing it up" by using some nicer looking cables, attractive cable ends, etc.

What that does is allows me to keep busy in the hobby without spending any "real" money. And it makes your equipment look pretty cool. I just saw that they are making Techflex in neon colors now. I may need to dress up my speaker cables...some nice wide spades (replacing bananas) or expanding bananas, some neon yellow techflex and a half a Saturday tinkering. Sounds like fun.

I also found some glass insulators (a lot of 16) for 100 bucks. You could drill them out or epoxy a u-shaped ceramic piece to the top of them) and use them for cable risers. Even if you dont think they do anything to the sound (I dont think they do) they still look really cool, and once again it gives me something to do on a rainy day.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

Psychologically... it might even make our systems sound better when we dress up those cables. :bigsmile:

Hey... it works for those paying the high-dollar for basically the same thing.


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## zieglj01 (Jun 20, 2011)

This would be fine for me.
http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...ated-with-Banana-Plugs-One-Pair-9.8-ft/1.html

I use this for both my lower-end to higher-end speakers
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104178

To spend 4 and 5 figures, to get an optimistic 2 or 3% change in
the sound quality is a waste.

If you are un-happy with your sound - then get some new speakers!


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

zieglj01 said:


> This would be fine for me.
> http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...ated-with-Banana-Plugs-One-Pair-9.8-ft/1.html
> 
> I use this for both my lower-end to higher-end speakers
> ...


I agree 100%.


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

$45K was the asking price for a certified pre-owned (CPO) 2011 Lexus LS460 that I bought 2 months ago. I had much rather have the Lexus Not sure how I could drive those wires around town:joke:


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

hjones4841 said:


> $45K was the asking price for a certified pre-owned (CPO) 2011 Lexus LS460 that I bought 2 months ago. I had much rather have the Lexus Not sure how I could drive those wires around town:joke:


Maybe you could use them as a jump rope?


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Maybe that oxide is improving the sound. We used to joke about using custom tonearm wires that were voided upon by a certain famous name in cartridge design, providing just the right level of oxidation...


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

lcaillo said:


> Maybe that oxide is improving the sound. We used to joke about using custom tonearm wires that were voided upon by a certain famous name in cartridge design, providing just the right level of oxidation...


Love it when rust improves sound..


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I guess this proves that you have to live with a component long enough to notice the improvement.


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## zieglj01 (Jun 20, 2011)

It tends to be, in the ear of the mind!


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## kevin360 (Oct 4, 2012)

AudioDawg said:


> 2 meters for speakers wire? That seems short to me.


If the amps are located with the speakers, 2M may even be excessive. I haven't checked, but I bet a 1M set is a real bargain. :laugh:


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## JoeESP9 (Jun 29, 2009)

AudioDawg said:


> I, like many others I bet, have made my own speaker wire and interconnects.
> 
> In fact, a dozen years ago when the wire wars were raging full force, many hobbyists would use Canare cable and some nice ends, some techflex and some heat shrink and make some really great looking cables and sell them.
> 
> ...


Good attitude! I like the glass insulator idea.



hjones4841 said:


> $45K was the asking price for a certified pre-owned (CPO) 2011 Lexus LS460 that I bought 2 months ago. I had much rather have the Lexus Not sure how I could drive those wires around town:joke:


The people those cables are aimed at don't buy a "mundane" Lexus and certainly not a used one. They go to the local Rolls Royce or Bentley dealer and plunk down cash for one with a custom interior and paint.


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