The Daily / No. 83 / Opinion
Hundreds on the room before thousands on cable
I carry over $25,000 of cable in my system, and I still tell people to buy panels first and match every cable to its system.
My main system carries more than $25,000 of cables. In storage I have another 30 to 40% of that value in cables I tested and moved on from. And my advice is still to spend hundreds on the room before thousands on cable.
That is not modesty, it is order of impact. Cables matter, and after more than 100 of them I am not taking that back. But room acoustics matter more than any cable upgrade ever will, and I say that having paid for both.
Then comes the rule I hold just as firmly: match the cable to the system. 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.
My budget guide follows from that. On a $2,000 system, 5 to 10% maximum; on $5,000, no more than 10%; on $10,000, 12% at most. Above $100,000, spend whatever makes sense, because by then you already know what you are doing.
Room first, cable second, and never more cable than the system can use.
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