£16,114.72 for 2.5 metres of speaker cable

[El Hefe]

I just put in an order for the 3.5 metres from RA. Ohhhh but a minute later I realised that I have 2 children that I need to feed and send them to school. So I cancelled the order 🙂

 

[Gusboll]

Chicken-feed compared to this lot.... http://www.higherfi.com/spkrlist/speakerlist.htm

 

[shropshire lad]

JurassicMark:

dave_k:You'd think, at that price, they would have a nice round number eg £16,200. Do they really care about that 72p?

I thought the same thing. Maybe it was a round number and the VAT increase made it what it is now.

The 72p is their profit . Why , you didn't think they were making a killing on these things , did you ?

Nick

 

[6th.replicant]

scene:maxflinn:so applying the old cobblers fable that's designed to get people to waste money rule of thumb that cables should cost 10% of the system , what could the rest of the system be?

These speakers maybe:

A snip at $270,000...

Curious, why is it that ber-high-end hi-fi is also ber hideous?

 

[scene]

6th.replicant:Curious, why is it that ber-high-end hi-fi is also ber hideous?

I've wondered that before now, especially in the speaker department. Though the Lyngdorf Steinway stuff is quite subtle, and the MK Radialstrahler speakers have a Dr. frankenstein's lab beauty all of their own...

 

[Troy62]

Gusboll:

Chicken-feed compared to this lot.... http://www.higherfi.com/spkrlist/speakerlist.htm

There's some ugly speakers amongst that lot

 

[chebby]

I wonder whether wealthy folk ever buy this kind of equipment.

I have a feeling it is probably bought by people who hold down middling jobs, are single, and still live with their parents so they can plough all of their earnings into their obsession instead of getting involved in all the usual stuff like wives, homes, kids, holidays, cars etc.

The (admittedly few) really rich people's homes I have seen the inside of, have owned either (a) suprisingly old 'classics' like Quad and Thorens and SME which were expensive but not outlandishly so when new (b) a couple of Roberts Radios and an old telly in the kitchen or study (c) kit that is 'plumbed in' out of sight in a cupboard with invisible speakers behind grilles in the panelling (d) Bang & Olufsen.

The only truly 'high-end' system I have seen/heard in someone's home was 'owned' by a social worker who had been off work 'on the sick' for years and was being supported by his wife (a teacher) and who couldn't stop himself getting ever more esoteric gear by paying small deposits and having it all 'on loan' from a group of long suffering dealers! (He wasn't averse to selling some of it on despite not really owning it.)

Sadly, he ran away from his (just pregnant) wife to live back with his mum leaving the mortgage in arrears, bills unpaid, CCJs amassing and a queue of local dealers demanding their gear back. (A lot of it disappeared with him.)

We even lent them money once to go and pay a gas bill (we felt more sorry for his missus) and I later found he had gone and bought an Alsation puppy intead. (Also left behind when he scarpered.)

 

[jerry klinger]

El Hefe:I just put in an order for the 3.5 metres from RA. Ohhhh but a minute later I realised that I have 2 children that I need to feed and send them to school. So I cancelled the order 🙂

Shame - you could have had a free home trial and let us know how you got on.

 

[jerry klinger]

chebby:

(He wasn't averse to selling some of it on despite not really owning it.)

That's how investment bankers make their money apparently.

 

[6th.replicant]

scene:6th.replicant:Curious, why is it that ber-high-end hi-fi is also ber hideous?

I've wondered that before now, especially in the speaker department. Though the Lyngdorf Steinway stuff is quite subtle, and the MK Radialstrahler speakers have a Dr. frankenstein's lab beauty all of their own...
Ahh, the Canton Reference 3.2 DC is a bit more like it - and a snip at c. $16,000 a pair

 

[xtsili]

6th.replicant:scene:6th.replicant:Curious, why is it that ber-high-end hi-fi is also ber hideous?

I've wondered that before now, especially in the speaker department. Though the Lyngdorf Steinway stuff is quite subtle, and the MK Radialstrahler speakers have a Dr. frankenstein's lab beauty all of their own...Ahh, the Canton Reference 3.2 DC is a bit more like it - and a snip at c. $16,000 a pair

totally irrelevant. Ho do you use the P38 and A38 for b-amping 6th.replicant?

 

[The_Lhc]

6th.replicant:scene:6th.replicant:Curious, why is it that ber-high-end hi-fi is also ber hideous?

I've wondered that before now, especially in the speaker department. Though the Lyngdorf Steinway stuff is quite subtle, and the MK Radialstrahler speakers have a Dr. frankenstein's lab beauty all of their own...
Ahh, the Canton Reference 3.2 DC is a bit more like it - and a snip at c. $16,000 a pair [😉

Pfffft, you call that high-end, that's barely £10k!

 

[scene]

the_lhc:6th.replicant:scene:6th.replicant:Curious, why is it that ber-high-end hi-fi is also ber hideous?

I've wondered that before now, especially in the speaker department. Though the Lyngdorf Steinway stuff is quite subtle, and the MK Radialstrahler speakers have a Dr. frankenstein's lab beauty all of their own...
Ahh, the Canton Reference 3.2 DC is a bit more like it - and a snip at c. $16,000 a pair [😉

Pfffft, you call that high-end, that's barely £10k!
Exactly!

And BTW, I meant, of course, the MBL Radialstrahler - the mbl 101 X-treme to be precise:

Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!

I think I need to lie down for a while...

 

[Clare Newsome]

Surely that's just the warp core from the Starship Enterprise

 

[Singslinger]

I have to wonder if people who spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a Ferrari or Rolls Royce or for that matter on a Patek Philippe watch encounter the same level of cynicism/snide remarks that have been made in this thread.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Nah, they just get their cars 'keyed'; or in the case of watches, possibly mugged

 

[Alantiggger]

Clare Newsome:Surely that's just the warp core from the Starship Enterprise

Brilliant!

 

[shooter]

Hmm.

 

[hammill]

Singslinger:I have to wonder if people who spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a Ferrari or Rolls Royce or for that matter on a Patek Philippe watch encounter the same level of cynicism/snide remarks that have been made in this thread. How can you possibly compare a piece of precision engineering like a Rolls Royce with a bit of wire?

 

[shooter]

Silver wire of which this cable is made can be very expensive. The current spot price for silver is around the $30 per ounce mark and a 99.99% pure silver cost around $80-$90 more than the spot but if you go to 99.999% pure then this cost's around $250 per ounce above spot.

I'm not saying this cable is made from either of this silver but it would account for the cost's involved.

 

[Anonymous]

hammill:How can you possibly compare a piece of precision engineering like a Rolls Royce with a bit of wire?

Classic

I'm not sure Russ Andrews would appreciate it referred to as 'a bit of wire' though!

CE

 

[idc]

hammill:Singslinger:I have to wonder if people who spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a Ferrari or Rolls Royce or for that matter on a Patek Philippe watch encounter the same level of cynicism/snide remarks that have been made in this thread. How can you possibly compare a piece of precision engineering like a Rolls Royce with a bit of wire?

Exactly. Give me the parts and I could not make a Rolls Royce or a watch. But I could make some Russ Andrews cables.

 

[Alantiggger]

These prices are just kid-on, aren't they ?

 

[Anonymous]

I am so glad I can restrict my spending to ancient bits of kit from junk shops, latest acquisition a pair of Griffin speakers from the 1970's [ I think ] £10 .. much more satisfying than spending two years profit on some wire. They sound pretty sweet as well 🙂 nearly as nice as my Freecycle BC1's

 

[Singslinger]

idc:

hammill:Singslinger:I have to wonder if people who spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a Ferrari or Rolls Royce or for that matter on a Patek Philippe watch encounter the same level of cynicism/snide remarks that have been made in this thread. How can you possibly compare a piece of precision engineering like a Rolls Royce with a bit of wire?

Exactly. Give me the parts and I could not make a Rolls Royce or a watch. But I could make some Russ Andrews cables.

I seriously doubt that my friend. A big portion of the price paid for a Rolls or Patek is for the brand name built up over decades of marketing, all of which goes to developing the snob appeal of those names. The cable in this thread is just another luxury item that would appeal to the very well-heeled buyer, just like a luxury car, or watch, or ladies' designer handbags/shoes, or for that matter, someone who buys a 100k pair of speakers to go with their 100k amp and CD player.

You and I may not think it's worth the money - I use mainly Naim NAC A5 and Chord Epic cables/interconnects in my systems - but the fact that Kimber and other cable companies actually make these things suggests to me that a market does exist. In simple terms, snob value also often equates with perceived value. If someone has spent 200k on his or her system, they may well be tempted to wring the last bit of performance from that system with a 16k cable. If so, who am I to say they are silly or wasting their money? After all, it's their money.

Whether or not there are really any sonic benefits is open to question. However, I'm prepared to concede that there may be some (marginal) sonic benefit in the right system - mainly because I don't know what the materials are, how it's made, can't afford a set and therefore have not tried it in my system.

Finally, if people didn't buy such things or if there was no demand, would WHF be running a monthly "Temptations'' column featuring very expensive hifi?