Which Audio Interconnect would you recommend?

Keith, it's *you*, talking about $$$. I have something for you...get a hold of a Channel Islands passive preamp ($249) and compare it to your $4K Presence. You're going to cry...

From what i gathered from the original post, Coachp was looking for interconnects for his system AND a longer cable for his subwoofer. Rather than guess at what we are dealing with here and make "goofy" suggestions, can Coach please clarify this for all of us?

I would also suggest reading this thread about selecting an IC. There are a lot of different points of view and various levels of insight from a lot of respected Audiogon members there.

Other than that, when looking for an interconnect for your subwoofer, i would suggest the following:

1) Look for large gauge solid core copper conductors

2) The conductors should be arrayed in a mild twisted pair geometry

3) The jacket of the cable should be very soft and flexible. This doesn't mean that the entire cable will be soft and flexible though, just the jacket.

The reasons i make these suggestions are because you aren't worried about skin effect for a sub. As such, a heavier gauge wire will not encounter near as much signal loss by keeping the series resistance down to a minimum over the longer run. Solid core wires are much tigher on bass response too.

As far as the twisting goes, this helps reduce the susceptability of the cable from acting as a long wire antenna i.e. it reduces the chance for RFI to enter the system. On top of that, a mild twist produces very desirable electrical impedance traits for an interconnect i.e. both low inductance and low capacitance.

The soft, rubbery jacket will help to absorb some of the vibration that the slightly more rigid solid conductors will want to try and transfer from the subwoofer cabinet back into the Pre-Pro. Due to the length of this cable and the solid conductor / twisted geometry, it would also have more of a tendency to become microphonic i.e. sensitive to air-borne vibrations, which the soft jacket will help to reduce also.

If you can't find something like this, there's nothing stopping anyone from finding the raw cabling that they would like to use and making their own. Hope this helps and answers some questions. Sean
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Thanks for pointing that out Sean! Looks like I read Coachp's original post rather quickly & missed the point about his wanting interconnects for both situations.
Sorry about the rather emphatic post, Coachp!

Coachp, if you are willing to take some advice from me still, I'd recommend that you stay away from Kimber's Silver Streak. I own the Hero & its pretty useless a cable! I've heard the Silver Streak (during my auditions to buy interconnects) & it was harsh on the ears. It has a very high "wow" factor since it yields a very detailed sound. However, upon extended listening I found that it was distortion I was listening to & mistaking it for details. The sound is brittle & un-natural. I personally felt that until I went up to the KCAG & higher in Kimber's line-up, I wasn't going to get an honest (music-wise) cable. IMHO. FWIW.

Just looking @ your components (which are all on the bright side), your decision to go to silver interconnects might be unwise. The silver will be rather transparent & will reveal every flaw in your components + create a lot of listening fatigue. I feel that you will be much better off getting pure copper cables.
One superb copper cable that comes to mind is Discovery Essence (obtainable factory direct). This one seems to be have just the right mix of warmth & details. Another that comes to mind is Van den Hul The First Ultimate. Yet another suggestion is the TARA Labs Prism 5500i.
For the subwoofer, I still like Psychicanimal's advice to you.
IMHO. FWIW.

Punchy, detailed & robust copper = Rhapsody II's by Straightwire. I won't sell mine...

To clarify, I am looking for an interconnect between my amp and processor as well as a subwoofer interconnect. I am grateful for your input clarifying the differences between copper and silver interconnects. It looks like I should definitely steer clear away from pure silver.

I've gotten some non e-mail suggestions recommending DH LABs and QED. These are not pure silver cables/interconnects but are a mixture of copper/silver. Do these combination interconnects fall into the same category as the silver steak/silver bullet?

Any more suggestions re: good copper interconnects is still greatly appreciated.