Looking for really fine cables at really low price

Hi Brownsfan,
The wife factor always puts these musical sound related matters into perspective. Your wife made a comment that should make any of us guys stand up and take note. Their hearing ability is almost always better. Please them and guys likely have less problems getting their cooperation with regard to our music system. Sounds like your wife is an asset to you getting great sound. I know all your hard work/sweating in miserable crawl space over the past week or so is going to pay dividends. Your old house had a terrific aesthetic, a real pleasing listening environment. All the best in the new house. Rob

my wife has really good ears. perfect pitch, actually.

Brownsfan

I am glad you heard what I did in this wire to begin with.

I have no idea what 100 hours is going to sound like but the improvement is rapid. Will it continue?

Brownsfan, your WE14 will sound just fine.
I have WE14 and WE16 over here together in a bi-wire pair and they sound great. The runs are doubled up and twisted to lower inductance.

The WE wire is the same regardless of the gauge. It is all 30awg strands of tinned copper with the larger gauges having more strands. I suspect this is C110, electrolytic tough pitch copper, or ETP. ETP has a minimum conductivity rating of 100% IACS and is required to be 99.9% pure.

From an electrical engineering standpoint, this stuff is just fine. From a conventional audiophile standpoint, there are several shortcomings compared to the C101 OFE (Oxygen-Free Electronic) copper or OCC (Ohno continuous-cast) copper used in many/most of the upper level cable offerings. The science of it is that those two higher grade (e.g., lower impurities, or 99.99% pure compared to 99.9% for ETP) wires have only an additional one percent conductivity rating (101% vs. 100% IACS), although several on-line articles/reviews call ETP copper "clearly inferior" for audio/sonic purposes. Cable-savvy audiophiles will also not like the thermoplastic insulation/dielectric, the relatively large aggregate gauge (wire greater than 20-22 awg is subject to skin effect), and the tinning (most self-respecting audiophiles would never stoop to using tinned wires).

In spite of all that, the WE wire has a tonally rich, somewhat relaxed sound with really nice full bass. IMO, it is a musical contrast to some of the ultra resolving wires out there. I wouldn't get hung up on the size of the wire and certainly not the difference between 16 and 14awg. I believe TWL may be using the 10awg size in their speaker wires that have received several quite positive reviews. I hope to make a set in 10awg this weekend.

Regarding the price, of course it is a tremendous bargain. More will probably try it because of the low entry price. However, I suspect many here are listening in more absolute terms and will end up with whatever wire they enjoy most, regardles of which is lower priced. My WE wires continue to remain in my main system, at least for now.

Mitch2,
Thanks for passing along this wire information. I'm not an engineer, but a musician who left that trade a long time ago to pursue a different profession. My wife is a classical guitarist who also left that profession to pursue another profession. I think we both have good ears and like most musicians we are extremely familiar with a plethora of instruments and how they sound in a variety of venues live, both on stage and in the audience; but I have a bone to pick, or quibble if you will. You state: "Regarding the price, of course it is a tremendous bargain. More will probably try it because of the low entry price. However, I suspect many here are listening in more absolute terms and will end up with whatever wire they enjoy most, regardles of which is lower priced. My WE wires continue to remain in my main system, at least for now."
To my mind in my "absolute world" yes, I will end up using whatever wire I enjoy the most regardless of price. That does not mean however, that the wire I use will be based on some "cable savvy audiophiles" opinion. The view that ETP copper is "clearly inferior" for "audio/sonic" purposes" to other types of copper you mentioned is clearly inferior thinking on the part of those authors. The proof is always in the taste of the pudding, not the measurement or ingredients in it. It either tastes good, better, best, or worse to the subjective taster. Same for sound. It either sounds good, better, best, or worse to the subjective listener. Regardless of measurement or ingredients.
The WE16ga/Belden 8402 sounds more real and musical to me than products made from the stuff you listed above. So, to me in an "audio/sonic" sense they are inferior to me as musician/listener/audiophile. To Yazaki-san, an esteemed engineer/audio designer/builder/mod person who has vast experience with the biggest Japan audio company's as leader, Jeff Day, reviewer/audiophile and many of his colleagues pick WE/Belden over or at least equal to the likes of Sablon/Revive and many other brands of top-notch wires, silver or copper made from your above list.
Audiophiles have bought in with their $$$$$ to many follies. Look around. Ask your audio buddies: how many big $$$$$ mistakes, wrong turns have you taken in this hobby? This WE plays with the big boys. So does the Belden; and let me be clear, there is no "absolute best."