I have been reading a good bit of silly justification for the high price of audio gear and cables in terms of the gold or silver used in the unit. This, to be charitable, is BS. Here are some basic stats on gold and silver.
Pure gold sells at under $840 a troy ounce
Pure silver at under $11 an ounce
This is the Massachusetts state house. The 23 carat gold leaf dome is over 9,100 sq ft.
The total gold covering it is under 4 (four) troy pounds 2 ounces. That is about $45K in gold.
Does anyone here think they have as much gold in their audio gear as covers the state house above? Blaming the $100K price of the unit on the quarter ounce of gold and ounce or so of silver in it is silly.
Now lets play silver. Pick up the best silver interconnect or speaker cable you can find. Weigh it...a half pound, a pound, two? Is it 100% silver....nope. How much of it is? lets be real optimistic and say half. In a 2 pound wire you have 1 pound of silver, or 12 troy ounces at $11 an ounce and you have all of $133 in precious metal. Say it is gold plated, less than 1/10 of an ounce of gold, perhaps another $90...so give or take you have $223 in precious metal in your $10,000 or so wire. Can anyone really blame the cost of the item on the metal in it?
Nope. Those marketing these megabuck cables and lauding the metal as the reason for the price are relying on folk knowing less about gold or silver than they do quantum physics.
I have been reading a good bit of silly justification for the high price of audio gear and cables in terms of the gold or silver used in the unit. This, to be charitable, is BS. Here are some basic stats on gold and silver.
Pure gold sells at under $840 a troy ounce
Pure silver at under $11 an ounce
This is the Massachusetts state house. The 23 carat gold leaf dome is over 9,100 sq ft.
The total gold covering it is under 4 (four) troy pounds 2 ounces. That is about $45K in gold.
Does anyone here think they have as much gold in their audio gear as covers the state house above? Blaming the $100K price of the unit on the quarter ounce of gold and ounce or so of silver in it is silly.
Now lets play silver. Pick up the best silver interconnect or speaker cable you can find. Weigh it...a half pound, a pound, two? Is it 100% silver....nope. How much of it is? lets be real optimistic and say half. In a 2 pound wire you have 1 pound of silver, or 12 troy ounces at $11 an ounce and you have all of $133 in precious metal. Say it is gold plated, less than 1/10 of an ounce of gold, perhaps another $90...so give or take you have $223 in precious metal in your $10,000 or so wire. Can anyone really blame the cost of the item on the metal in it?
Nope. Those marketing these megabuck cables and lauding the metal as the reason for the price are relying on folk knowing less about gold or silver than they do quantum physics.