Yeah, he definitely got taken by the dealer, who probably made almost as much or more profit on the cables as any other component in the system. However, he'd already made the purchase so when I saw his initial post right after he made it, I refrained from saying so. I figured that in the long run, it was a fairly small percentage of the total cost of the system, the cables were most likely no worse than a $10 pair, and they look nice, so why criticize his new toy?
However, since others have not refrained, and he is now retelling the ridiculous story the salesman told him, I think enlightening him to the truth--if he will listen--is probably called for. It is still a very nice system, and compared to what he probably would have gotten talked into if he had not read ASR first, he did quite well.