Bought some 14/2 “speaker wire” from Home Depot

It would be pure copper as pretty much all residential 14 awg Romex is. How will tinning the ends change the sound? 96% may have lead may not.

I tinned the ends to prevent any stray strands. The wire I bought is all copper- not copper clad aluminum. 
And Ms. Boyd is always happy - which is the most important thing 

Re dedicated line- i did that in my prior home and it was without a doubt the single biggest improvement, dollar for dollar, that I ever made. Did a home run to the panel with 10 gauge. Electrician thought I was nuts when I asked for 10 gauge. 

Or maybe he thought you were nuts for running a dedicated line while using zip cord speaker wire?

I feel like I’m back in the 80’s. The reason I know for sure its #3 is because there are no systems not resolving enough to hear the better wire. So its definitely not the system. Its #1, only its listening not hearing. While it could well be your hearing stinks too its far more likely your hearing is fine, you just aren’t very good at knowing what exactly it is that you are hearing. In other words, its listening.

For sure its not #4. That and some of the time warp comments are what make this feel like the 80’s. That’s how far back you have to go to when wire was wire. Although even they they were starting to figure out there’s more to it than gauge and other numbers lousy listeners love to bandy about.



You’ve got a Linn, and some other fine components. It could be this is some kind of challenge to my troll master status, in which case you have some really nice cables and are jerking our chain. Frankly hoping that is the case. Because otherwise, sorry, you are right about #1 and your time will be a lot better spent learning to listen.

Its not that hard, and you will be shocked how much better your system will sound with some quality wire.

Don't use solder for high current connections.  Cold weld/crimp. :-)

Otherwise, here's what I have observed:

Fancy cable only shows us that a lot of amps are more impedance sensitive than we think they are. At best, their effect on the listening experience is subtle, and very rarely worth what they charge.

Next, too many audiophiles put emphasis on gear that is "resolving" of downstream equipment.  I've gone the opposite.  I want gear that is resilient, that sounds great no matter what is upstream. I am not building cable analyzers, I'm building a system for my personal enjoyment. In this sense, I think the Krell CAST idea was spot on.