Mike, PLEASE read Galen Gareis' articles on PSAudio. These articles are as good a primer as you're likely to find. Although Gareis works for Belden, he's not grinding their axe.
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-1/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-2/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-3/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-xlr-interconnect-design/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-speaker-cable-design-part-1/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-speaker-cable-design-part-2/
6 9's of the verbiage on some cable manufacturer's sites is only suitable for lining birdcages. From an engineering perspective, many cables are akin to holy jeans: Fashion Over Function
Cables [and connectors] are part of the circuit that connects amplifier to loudspeaker.
Different amplifier, different cable, different speaker ALL SOUND DIFFERENT! Add in source and room distortions and the probability of predicting performance is VANISHINGLY SMALL!
IMO, many manufacturers are preying on the ignorance and insecurity of a well-heeled market. Nearly 30 years ago Ken Kantor opined "Contribution pricing is useful when production runs are smaller, and sales lower. In this scenario, materials cost is not the driving factor. Rather, the manufacturer uses their sales level and overhead to determine how much a product has to sell for to be worth making. This is an iterative process, as sales volume and price are interrelated."
Since you mentioned Nordost, their speaker cables are distinctive and eye-catching. From an electrical perspective, not too brilliant as they maximize rather than minimize inductance, the last thing most engineers would want in a speaker cable. They do have a 'sound' and the listener is told that it is an improvement, which it may very well be with the system on demo. The probability of the same improvement on a likely very different system is vanishing small, hence "They need [5 - 50 - 500] hours to burn in." Balderdash!
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-1/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-2/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-3/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-xlr-interconnect-design/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-speaker-cable-design-part-1/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-speaker-cable-design-part-2/
6 9's of the verbiage on some cable manufacturer's sites is only suitable for lining birdcages. From an engineering perspective, many cables are akin to holy jeans: Fashion Over Function
Cables [and connectors] are part of the circuit that connects amplifier to loudspeaker.
Different amplifier, different cable, different speaker ALL SOUND DIFFERENT! Add in source and room distortions and the probability of predicting performance is VANISHINGLY SMALL!
IMO, many manufacturers are preying on the ignorance and insecurity of a well-heeled market. Nearly 30 years ago Ken Kantor opined "Contribution pricing is useful when production runs are smaller, and sales lower. In this scenario, materials cost is not the driving factor. Rather, the manufacturer uses their sales level and overhead to determine how much a product has to sell for to be worth making. This is an iterative process, as sales volume and price are interrelated."
Since you mentioned Nordost, their speaker cables are distinctive and eye-catching. From an electrical perspective, not too brilliant as they maximize rather than minimize inductance, the last thing most engineers would want in a speaker cable. They do have a 'sound' and the listener is told that it is an improvement, which it may very well be with the system on demo. The probability of the same improvement on a likely very different system is vanishing small, hence "They need [5 - 50 - 500] hours to burn in." Balderdash!