Will I hear a difference with these cables?

I always try to get his opinion before making big purchases.

So,you buy equipment based on your friends hearing? Why don't you make decisions based on what you hear? After all,you will be the one listening and spending the money.

His second set of ears helps separate the real from the placebo.

Can you explain this further,I don't understand what you're saying.Be assured,I'm not trying to question your process.I just find folks take on these subjects interesting.Thanks for sharing.

Trust me when I say that I wouldn't purchase anything that I didn't like, but as an example I was very torn between the 816v and 836v Focal speakers. There was about a $1,000 price difference and I wanted another opinion on the difference in sound vs. the value. Having a 2nd set of ears gives me the opportunity to have him tell me what he hears and what he likes or dislikes about them. We've been friends, college neighbors and roommates for more than 10 years so we have a pretty good idea of what the other one is looking for in a purchase so he can give me good advice the majority of the time.

As for a placebo check, it's just nice to have someone else confirm an improvement and my wife doesn't care enough to give most changes an honest listen before getting bored. She heard a huge difference with the speaker upgrade, but claimed no difference with the receiver swap that was a significant improvement for me.

I don't just trust anyone to give me their opinion, but he's the exception. Between his EE knowledge and appreciation for all music, both live concerts and home audio, he is a great sounding board for my thinking.

Mceljo,
When I mentioned "nude" I was only referring to the termination. I prefer silver tinning the end of the cable and connecting directly to the speaker and amp. The best connector is no connector at all don't you think? Adding another interface and possibly mixing different metals with competing physics can only harm the signal, This affects timing, bass response, smearing of notes/clarity etc. IMO. (speaker connectors... all of them are for convienience. If it was practical they would all be hard wired from the amp to the speaker. No connector at all).

Agreed, I considered going without a connector at the speaker, but in an attempt to do some A/B comparisons I wanted it to be as quick and simple as possible. Also, the back of my receiver is nearly impossible to get at so the banana plugs are a life saver.

Here's my fisrt impressions of my new DIY speaker cables after a few hours of listening.

I am convinced that my system has never sounded better, but that's very different that saying that sounds better than it ever has.

If I were forced to describe a few specifics of things that think I can hear that is different I would say the following:

(1) On several songs I've heard some additional details that I don't remember hearing in the past. An example was a flute deep in the background of a song.

(2) The higher frequencies seem a little more crisp on certain songs.

(3) The lower frequencies seem a bit more defined.

(4) Some of my CDs that have a harsh tone in the highs seem to be less harsh even though I can still hear the harshness. Maybe a better way to describe it is that I can hear the harshness but it's not as distracting or objectionable now.

(5) It seems that I'm listening to things will a little more volume now which indicates that the overall sound results is less listening fatigue.