No one actually knows how to lculate what speaker cable they need


It goes back to cable manufaturars, mostly provide no relevant data! to sales and the users. None will answer this!
Whay do you think that you own now the optimal cable to your setup?
I think I've figured it out. 


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I experience the same results with the silver wire ladder design driving a second system consisting of a Hegel H200 integrate amp driving Aria A speakers (Joe D’Appolito three-way design employing Cabasse cone woofer and Accutron ceramic drivers).
I buy 16AWG naked .999 pure solid silver wire from a jewelry industry supplier in New Mexico for $2.87 per foot and poly sleeve on Amazon for $.14 per foot.  It only takes 30 minutes to assemble these cables (cut silver and sleeve to length, insert wire in sleeve, attach spacers to cables and attach wire to terminals).
Measuring the differences between conventional materials and designs when compared to the ladder described, with instruments other than my ears, is beyond my ken.
Invest $70 and thirty minutes and let your ears be your guide.
For over thirty years, I to, was a cable denier.  I have $9,500 of various unsatisfying cables sitting in drawer or were resold.  I wonder if the measurement sciences have caught up to the reality of how electrons behave when transmitted via different materials, and in proximity to the signal and ground wires.
Happy listening.
Mr. keppertup
Siver has a 9% better conductivity than cooper. It should cost 94 times more. A 16 AWG silver wire would have a very similar resistance to a 16 AWG cooper wire. For the price of the silver ( $2.87 per foot ) you should buy it by the mile and sel by the ounce. 
Your Hegel H200 integrate amp has a Df of 1,000. Very good.
http://www.hegel.com/images/discontinued/H200manualenglish.pdf
That would call (by calculation) to a 2x 0 AWG cable @ 8' long.
How long is your cable?
You might have $9,500.- value of speaker cables that were all purchased without any serious guidance, to become obsolete inventory.
What you need is a set of 2 x 0 AWG, if 8' long, that should cost you less than $2,500.-



OP
You mentioned earlier that Ribbons are an exception. What would you recommend for a Mark Levinson ML3  with a 12 ft run to a ribbon array?
Thank you
Have not found the Spec of DF on the ML, but did on the 23.5: >600.
The ribbon ( Magnepan) is still a hard cookie to drive (4 ohms with 86dB/w/SPL sensetivity).
If that would be a coil loaded speaker, it would be a 2 x 0 AWG for 12 ft.
As it is a ribbon, it migh be less (0 AWG would do).


Actually, silver is 7% more conductive than copper but who’s counting?