Looking for really fine cables at really low price

I'll second the Amadi Maddie Signature silver wires and Darwin Silver, the Darwin Ascension or Ascension Plus silver wires.  They are considerably better sounding than the Morrow Ma-3,4 or 5, the Crimson cable, DNM, Speltz, and some Audioquest (don't remember the model #), Magnan Type 2, Synergistic Research--have had them all.  Excellent clarity, bass with great ability to distinguish instrumental texture, and transparent highs without any tendency to etch.  Between the two, I'm not sure I have a preference. The Darwins get better from Silver to Ascension Plus. The Amadi Maddie Signature speaker cable is a phenominal buy.

HI mac48025,
Welcome to the WE club. I would not underestimate the capability of your system. I bet it bests many more expensive rigs. I think you have discovered musicality and are going to like it better than musical artifacts. "Real Music" as espoused by Yazaki-san and Jeff Day is the real ticket for many folks to enjoy the music. Music should have a Soul and tick your emotional strings, goose bump territory. Best, Rob

signature8  12-07-2015 2:55pmI am trying to make balanced XLR interconnects with WE 16 gage wire. Do I really need a shield like the real XLR cables have, the one you can buy from Take Five Audio, or I can use regular wire as third wire (shield). What is the purpose of the shield, does it carry any audio signal or it is like a ground connection on a power cable. Let me know please. Thanks.

If both components are designed in an ideal manner the shield will not carry signal current.  However that will often not be the case, as it depends on whether the components connect pin 1 of their XLR connectors to their circuit ground or to their chassis, and on the impedance through which the components connect their circuit grounds and chassis to each other.

Also, whether the pin 1's of the XLR connectors at each end of the cable are interconnected via a shield or a plain wire will affect noise pickup, susceptibility to ground loop issues, and the capacitance of the cable.

In general, constructing the cable in the conventional manner (a twisted pair of conductors surrounded by a shield) figures to stand the greatest chance of being optimal.

Regards,
-- Al
 

P.S:  Also see the post by Mitch2 on page 11 of this thread, dated 9-15-2015, 7:15 p.m.

Regards,
-- Al

I have some WE 10 gage wire, I read connecting it to binding posts without spades or banana connectors is best. Binding posts in my equipment does not have holes to push the wires; just wrapping wire and tightening the bolt does not seem to work; wire always wants to come out, is there some technique I am missing. Let me know please. Thanks.