Who out there wants to, or has, validated an amazing cable find?

Like most of us, I started with average components and cheap cables.  After getting a few nicer components, I tried more expensive cables.  More expensive meant Blue Jeans, cheap good deals on random cables, etc.  These did improve things and made me feel better about my cables.  When I moved up the chain again in components, I took members advice and sought help from The Cable Company.  I tried many, and landed on Audience AU24SX.  I quickly acquired a full loom as they are easily available used / demos.  So I thought I was done.  Well, when I moved up the component ladder one more time, my dealer said hey, let me try different speaker cables to compare.  Wow.  I can not unhear these improvements.  Fuller, richer, better bass, and still very resolving.  So I sold all of my Audience (easy) and now have a full loom of Kubala Sosna, and like @pennfootball71 , now have all Realization in my main system.  They are the real deal.

This is not being arrogant, they just sound better to me and to me they are worth it.

But, having a vacation cabin with an audio system, I try to be value conscious in that system.  For me, Zavfino hits the mark.  Their Aradia copper cables are very nice and a great deal in my opinion.  I do not like silver in my system as too bright and flashy.  So I understand value conscious shoppers, but also hear the quality as does our Penn fan.  I believe in synergy of cable type and brand.  It just all comes together.

I have also made nice cables.  In my family room my speaker cable runs are very long.  This is my second system. so I did not want to go crazy.  I landed on Furutech FS Alpha 36 from VH Audio.  I got all the heat shrink I needed, Furutech gold plated spades, and made beautiful long speaker cables.  I can solder and I bought a heat gun for the shrink.  I installed these on the high / mid speaker binding posts, and left my generic thick copper cables on the bass posts.  This change was transformational in this system, and was unapproachable with nice commercial cables (runs were 25 feet each). My interconnects and power cables in that system are Elation, so the speaker cables were the bottleneck.  Huge improvement and a fun project.

So there are better cables at all price points, you just have to find them, and for me they are not made in China.  I hope I spelled etc correctly!.

Lots of views here.  I am a firmly midfi guy so take everything I say from that perspective.  I use an assortment of wires from Audioquest, Shunyata, DH Labs (good value) The Chord Company, Nanotec (outstanding value), Furutech and some from China - various makers.  I am not going to claim that Chinese cables that cost $50 rival $10,000 wires but some sound pretty good and are holding a place in my current system.  You must be selective.

I currently assemble most of my power cables.  I started out buying Furutech parts at full retail and had some success and some disappointments.  I have found some Chinese sourced bulk power cables and connectors that are great, but you have to buy and try to determine which ones from which venders are effective, and which just look pretty.

I use an ATAUDIO interconnect for my subwoofer and like how that sounds.  

I have an Audiomeca power cable that is supposedly OCC copper that looks lovely, comes in a nice box, cost a little over a hundred bucks and rivals the sound of power cables I have and have tried costing $500-$800.  I am currently using it to power my Swagman Labs SE linear power supply for my analog front end with great satisfaction.

I bought a Xangsane “7N OCC silver plated power cable” for under $100 on a lark and it sounds terrific.  My son is currently using it in his Naim/Rega/ATC/REL system side by side with quality Audioquest, Naim, DHLabs and Isotek power cables. Not saying it is an Audioquest Hurricane killer, just saying it is a good value if you can overlook the hideous lime green color and component lifting stiffness.

I bought a Chinese replica of a $3,000 Furutech power cable for $100 and got what I paid for.  Looks great, sounds just OK.

I bought some “Valhalla” speaker jumpers from China that are supposedly silver plated OCC to replace the stock metal plates on some Wharfedale Diamond 12.0s in a second system, and WOW, are they good. They cost $45 and are worth every penny.  Compared to some other jumpers I’ve tried made from bulk wire and other store bought versions, these phony knock offs are hands down better.  It takes a long time to burn them in, but they make the little Wharfedales sound like much more expensive speakers.

Lastly, out of curiosity I bought some $45 interconnects from China that look very much like $19,000 top of the line wires from a certain US vender.  I put them in my system and gave them every chance to impress me, and ultimately they didn’t.  They weren’t completely awful, but my Nanotec wires with Furutech rhodium plugs sound way better.  Those Chinese wires are now gracing my spare cable box.

YMMV

kn

vthokie83,

And if you really want to up your game you should try the neotech rectangular OCC cable unfortunately their top stuff which is the Amazon and the Sahara are not available in bulk but they do have other rectangular OCC available and it is far superior to the round OCC because that's what I upgraded from.

I have bought speakers wires and power cords from Pinetree Audio  The quality, attention to detail and sound are excellent For what's it worth they are made here right in the good old USA  The price for what you get is very good indeed!!

*Audioquest Hurricane High Current, 15A, power cable used on my DAC.  I know, this cable isn't recommended by Audioquest for source components, but it works just fine and sounds absolutely Incredible on my DAC!!! 

*JPS Labs Aluminata power cable used on my integrated amp.  Initially, I tried this power cable on my DAC, but it turned out to be a game changer on my integrated amp instead.  Incredible!!!