Agreed. IMHO, how much anyone spent on cables is not very enlightening at all. If you had a £25k system it might be quite 'normal'/reasonable to spend £1000-£2000 or even more on cables. But if you had a £1000 system that would be insane.
Looking at the current responses, if someone up thread says 'I spent £2k on cables' many readers might take a sharp intake of breath but in the context of how much their system costs that could be seen in a very different light. I would think it is more useful to ask people what % of their total present system cost is accounted for by cables, rather than the absolute figure (though if you were a headline writer you might want to know that too).
Disagree.
It has no relevance, the cables are part of the system, and for me can sometimes be a sound change as big as one you would find with a component (especially DACS), it's all part of the circus. You can't have a Big Top without the lights inside.
To be fair, it shouldn't really matter to anyone else what someone spends on their hobby, it's their choice, their hard earned, especially not to the point of 'judging' someone because of the mythical designated 'percentage'' factor, it's just damn right crass in my opinion. Who gives a f**k? If you do, you need a life, a soul, some charity work or anything in between!
The poll was interesting to see as a curiosity thing, but once you start wanting to know systems costs and then 'percentages' of costings, it becomes very judgemental, which in a hobby/enthusiast arena, is completely uncalled for and unnecessary. If a person wants to spend a grand on some speaker cable, and a grand on an amp, so be it, their ears, their money, their life.
It's like watches. To me the most ridiculous thing ever, when a £4.99 Casio does the same thing, but I aint gonna question some dude who spent 50k on when, when it does the same as the Casio (theoretically), its his choice. I can imagine there are many people on this forum have expensive watches and £2.99 speaker cable. And watches have some outrageous marketing terminology. Again, choices. Happiness.