Do speaker cables really make a difference ?

@dentdog of course. That "expectation bias" explanation is utter BS. I have drawers full of audio cables, sometimes I swap them around, just for the sake of it, I already own them and have no "expectations" for "better" sound, but it sounds different every time. Same goes for power cord, I was rearranging my system lately and thought I would swap the various power cords around again and try them on different components but only ONE arrangement (this power cord on THAT device, and so on) gives me magic. The rest sounds vastly inferior. I already own the power cords, only the different requirements of the various electronics in my system decide which power cord goes where, not novelty or price or "pride of ownership". That argument is for deaf "audiophiles" with a lousy system.

I'm more tech and scientific minded myself. While it makes common sense that more of anything (larger cable with more metal) would be better, I'd like to see empirical data showing this to be true.

For years people have sold snake oil to every industry by convincing people they needed to buy this or that. Then the so called "experts" and pundits step in and support the theory blindly. I'm always going to be skeptical unless faced with scientific data...not theory.

The other thing I think is missing is the reality I would think that the right answer is "it depends". I would think if you had completely ultra high-end everything then yes connecting everything together with high quality cabling makes sense. A good example of this is network cabling. Though Cat5 cabling might look like Cat6a cabling they are vastly different. Cat5 will probably top out at around 1GB of data max while Cat6a is rated to 10GB. Obviously the ability to carry more data signal is a direct relationship to the cable itself and it's shielding.

But like the Cat6a example above, what if the rest of my network can only perform at 1GB or less. Does it make sense to have Cat6a cable? Maybe...maybe not. If I can only consume 1GB or less then the Cat6a is overkill even if it does make me feel better.

troll

For years people have sold snake oil to every industry by convincing people they needed to buy this or that. Then the so called "experts" and pundits step in and support the theory blindly. I’m always going to be skeptical unless faced with scientific data...not theory.

@dadawada What about using your own ears? I find that by reading reviewers I’ve learned to trust over the years I can get a pretty good idea of what a component sounds like and which ones I’d like to audition. Plus, with the proliferation of and access to used equipment these days it makes trying things out at home fairly feasible despite the ongoing disappearance of good dealers. Not saying measurements aren’t important because they surely are, but not sure putting them above subjective opinions from people you trust and/or who seem to have similar tastes/hearing as you might be like fighting with one hand behind your back. Just my $0.02 FWIW.

Another ASR troll?