$2,000 of cable on a $3,000 system is insane

If you have a $3,000 system, spending $2,000 on cables is insane. If you have a $50,000 system, $50 cables are holding it back. Both mistakes come from the same place: buying cables without looking at what they connect.

I learned the first half the expensive way. My speaker cables today are Transparent Super Generation 6, over $3,000 a pair, and with the MC611s driving the Yvettes in a treated room the difference is audible even to the untrained ear. On my old AVR and Klipsch speakers they would have been a complete waste of money, and I can say that with certainty because I tried.

Let me be clear about my ratios. On a $2,000 system, 5 to 10% maximum. On a $5,000 system, not more than 10% of the system value. On a $10,000 system, 12% at the most.

Above $100,000, spend whatever makes sense, because at that level you already know what you are doing. Below it, the money that breaks the ratio buys more from better speakers and a treated room than from thicker copper. Cables only matter when the rest of the system can reveal the difference.

Don't overspend, and do not underspend. A cable is only as good as the system it is allowed to reveal.