whats the very best sounding cables for realistic money

It feels like I've replied with the following maybe once or twice a year for the past decade.  This approach should fit your budget and is usually good for a laugh.  And you can always look this up and see for yourself...

Way, way back when I'd stumbled onto some references to speakers being displayed by Quad at a HiFi show near London and the real kicker to the whole thing was that the Quad guy had gone down the road to the local Home Depot equivalent, bought some orange outdoor extension cord (I think that article said it was Black & Decker wire), and Quad was displaying their speakers at that show with the extension cord being used as their speaker wire.  Apparently no one noticed for days...

DIY - Cerro 12 gauge stranded THHN. Twist conductors around each other one turn per foot. Do not terminate. Use bare copper into the amp and speaker connectors.  Get the wire from Home Depot or Lowe's.  Clean, detailed. 

IMO, beats a lot of expensive cables.

In a midrange investment....first....make sure power conditioning is on point.....AKA....Core2power. Outstanding results for minimum investment...Under 2k...total investment with enough power on tap to power an entire 15A circuit. If that is already there, the 'extension cord works in a pinch', I've done it. If you want the liquid sound of a state of the art cable, check out the best of the best IMHO....are, entry level Cardas, Audioquest, Morrow Audio, and Kimber cable. Not cheap, but very good. Morrow tends to be a little more aggressively priced. That kind of investment will get you well into an entire MA-4-5, Sp5 solution that will yield great results in many systems including my rig. I have heard Wywires , and Synergistic research products in some pretty nice affordable rigs too. The world is your oyster here, most important thing, do not use a cable to correct deficiencies in sound....they allow more detail and open soundstage as your investment becomes larger. Your budget should yield great results even with some of the 'affordable' offerings of some larger companies. Each cable choice will cause your system to change subtle character.....ie...more laid back, more lush midrange, and darker blacker back round. Make sure your power is as clean as you can get it to get the most out of your cable investment.

thanks again everyone,

i sat up last night reading all your comments and thinking deeply regarding this magical cable i now believe that is out there somewhere,
then bingo i put all your comments into one and i have come up with there is not no magical cable. What we have is 100s of choices from again as many manufacturers, i seem to point this out that choice is often baffling in our hobbies (life) ie cars watches hifi etc. People seem to have there favorites they stick with like myself but then that feeling of is the grass greener starts then BANG the bug bites.

The answer has been answered in all the above, it is simply there is no answer, there are just again options on budgets. Many different companies building cables to sell at different price points, the majority now are all genuine contenders which is why it is getting harder to choose,

I do not blame the none believers as pointed out by the Quad demo in one reply above.

I believe self satisfaction, a sound frame of mind is paramount in our quest, after all we are all seeking the very best from our investments and yes the cost of ones system should be a starting point on what to spend ie the above idea of 100k system = 10k on cables sounds realistic to me but to others 10k on cables is mind blowing and mad.

I would like to keep this discussion going until maybe Jesus does walk the earth again or BANG that cable or no cable is made,

This subject of cables is great with various answers for various reasons and everybody is just adding to the confusion without realizing
in truth there is not one answer ,

I believe pick a manufacturer you like the ideas of, go threw the range and keep what sounds the best for budget and piece of mind, make sure if the better range was better then go for it or sit and wait for it until funds permit, hopefully you have not picked a manufacturer that is changing models every 5 mins,do it in sections ie hear the loom then buy it in sections knowing the end results will be worth it,

Hay start down Maplins or your local DIY shop grab a nice budget copper or silver cable and try and better it from the experts,

Thanks again  PS is anyone using Curios Tech or Anti cables if so could you describe there improvements over the other cable brands available thank you

mr_hosehead
189 posts
07-05-2017 9:10pm
It feels like I’ve replied with the following maybe once or twice a year for the past decade. This approach should fit your budget and is usually good for a laugh. And you can always look this up and see for yourself...

Way, way back when I’d stumbled onto some references to speakers being displayed by Quad at a HiFi show near London and the real kicker to the whole thing was that the Quad guy had gone down the road to the local Home Depot equivalent, bought some orange outdoor extension cord (I think that article said it was Black & Decker wire), and Quad was displaying their speakers at that show with the extension cord being used as their speaker wire. Apparently no one noticed for days...

>>>>>That’s not really that weird since the Quad power supply requires a power cord as opposed to a speaker cable. So it’s not as if the extension cords are speaker wires per se. When I had Quads I replaced the stock speaker cords with homemade cords made out of Kimber Cable speaker cable. But to your point that nobody noticed, I agree. Crowds move through the rooms at HiFi shows like cattle through a slaughterhouse. They are too exhausted to notice much.