Oh, why am I getting involved...

I'm a big believer in spending my upgrade money where it makes an actual noticeable difference. Now, I don't personally go around doing double blind tests all day, but you'd be surprised what a little "A/B testing" vs. "A and then (later) B" testing can show you. Before upgrading my inexpensive JVC receiver to a Yamaha DSP-A1 a few years back, I did extensive listening tests. I discovered that when I tested units back to back, differences were subtle, but easily discernable. However, when I brought different units home one by one, I could no longer reliably distinguish the subtle differences between each unit enough to justify a huge outlay of extra money. My wife - who had not been in the store for the A/B tests - declared that they all sounded the same to her. (The processing and DSP modes ended up clinching the upgrade - they were dramatically different, and when used judiciously, an improvement.)

With cables, the importance of "properly shielded" and good build quality cannot be underestimated. When I first got the home theater itch, I had read the ABX results that all well designed cables basically sound the same, and combined it with a "I have no money - so cheap cables it is!" mantra. When I noticed that cymbals didn't shimmer and horns didn't spit, I first checked the speakers, then the gear. Then I thought to look at the lamp cord that served as my speaker cable, and noticed brown imperfections? burned out areas? in sections of the stuff. When I switched it out for 'the original offering from a monster company in the cable business' I was treated to simply amazing results: there was no high end before, now there was. I'm sure Merc will point out that some cables clearly DO sound different. In any case, I've used better quality, name brand stuff ever since.

Finally, to all the ABX'ers out there who delight in trashing Bose, I seriously hope you've spent time ABXing Bose systems vs. competitive lifestyle systems. Have you?

-avi