Please Help Me Choose a Speaker Cable


I need to replace my existing speaker cable setup with something more wife-friendly. I am currently bi-wiring with Audioquest Type 4 (tweeters) and Aperature 16 (woofers). About 20 years ago I bought the wires off a spool and had them built w/ banana plugs. You can see a pic of the offensive cable setup on my system page (https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6318). I put a nice jacket over the cables hoping that would be enough to clean up the messiness.

What I want is something of equal quality that will also fit inside my VTI speaker stands. The stands have a 3/4 inch opening and the 4 banana plugs don’t fit through. I want to continue bi-wiring but would go single if the sound was just as good on a different set of cables. A bi-wired cable terminated with two spades at the amp side would fit through the stands (2 banana plugs might fit also).

I don't want to spend more than $600 and need a 10-12 ft. pair. There appear to be a lot of options on Agon right now. I see names I know are pretty good like Audioquest and Kimber. If I were to pick one I would probably go with the Audioquest Rocket 88 or CV-8 or maybe the PS Audio Xstream. Maybe there are better options for less? Will the cables in this price range be good as or better than what I have? If not, maybe I should try terminating the two cables into one set of banana plugs on the amp end to see if that fits.  I guess I would prefer spades because they would be more flush to the speakers, thus a little cleaner looking.  

Thanks.
treebeard1
As a female, let me just say this: I think your original cables look very tidy! And I would've wept to see the Vandies leave. Curious about the CV-8 so looking forward to your report.
Mogami is a brand.

The specific link I saw was not for speaker cables but for 1/4" balanced, line level interconnects. :)

They make everything from RCA/XLR to speaker cables.

Best,

E
Cables arrived today and they sent bananas instead of spades.  The banana plugs are loose and don't fit real tight.  I was able to string them through the speaker stands but it was a real chore and the sharp turn back under the speakers puts extra tension on the plugs, which are not super tight.  If I keep them I will need to always check the connection behind the speakers.  I'll probably send them back this weekend and try for spades.  Bummed out.  I was looking forward to testing these out this weekend.