Re: How much difference do you think cables makes in the audio quality of your system
JBK is so correct in several respects .......
Cables are certainly system dependent and the lesson to be learnt ,as he states,is try before you buy - some cables sound awful in yr system and some will make yr system sing like never before .
A case in point and a lesson learnt recently :Via my dealer recently ordered ex the US- I live in South Africa - a trio of high end speaker cables for L/R/C .
Once arrived and burnt in for some 200 hours , my system sounded awful, specifically in the upper mids .
Fortunately ( and this is the point JBK is making ) I bought these ex the dealer/importer and he took these back and replaced these with cables that were compatible with my system and my ears -a US$5,000 lesson learnt which could have cost dearly had I not dealt with a reputable dealer .
(As you can gather yes, I am a firm believer that speaker/interconnect/digital and AC cables cables do make a difference and have invested some $14,000 in cables and my system sure rocks with the cables playing their part in this .
Your system whether two or multichannel will only sound as good as the sum of all the components, of which cables should be considered part of .
As JBK advocates - buy from a dealer and always listen to the cables in yr system before you buy .......second hand cables /mail order cables might sound attractive in $ terms , but can disappoint if not compatible!