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?