Speaker Cables? why all the hype for expensive speaker wire?


After listening to many speaker cables, I am listening to basic 14 Gauge, high purity copper speaker wire and find myself shaking my head.  Does this basic speaker wire sound better than cables many times the price?  I am really starting to ponder that question.  I think I am hearing things on my records I never heard before and better balance of sound.  What are your thoughts?
tzh21y
i agree w miller on this

when folks say ’prove it’ to something they don’t accept, it is naive and self centered and utlimately unproductive

folks who believe something believe it, they have come to accept that notion in their minds, in their own way

whether it is actually true or not, it is not their burden to prove it to someone else, although they may choose to share their rationale ... if any of us really want to know, we should learn, experiment, run honest comparisons to convince ourselves... and if that is too hard, well too bad -- still, no one is obligated to prove anything to you...

the spirit of this board is to share ideas, beliefs, discuss, debate -- we all take it as input, and then use our intellect, training, resources and wits to discern what we believe to be true -- and if something is important enough, we can choose to make an effort to find out and convince ourselves

too many people are too self centered, too entitled, too spoiled... you type a few words on this board about something, read something you don’t agree with...  no one owes you anything here, much less 'proof' ...
Better quality cable will usually sound better than the cheap stuff-- BUT-- the claims made by many of the companies that sell the inexplicably expensive stuff are, IMO, after years and years of listening to different kinds of quality speaker cable, without any merit. 

Here's what's true; at a certain level of materials and build quality spending more money for any cable is not going to guarantee that you get any better sound out of your system. What you will get are different flavor notes-- like from one Zinfandel wine to the next-- usually small but sometimes very important differences. You have to live with any new or different cables for a while to really get a true (as opposed to a placebo) sense of the changes those cables have made to your system.

Not to sound to MillerCarbony-- but companies that charge stupid money for their cables are not really selling cables at all.
That sounds nothing like me. Companies don't charge, they ask. We decide to pay, or not. The transaction being between two freely consenting traders there is nothing stupid about it. Each thinks they got a good deal- or there would be no deal in the first place! It is only the academic pretending to stand outside the whole thing while in reality holding himself morally superior to it all where stupidity comes in.
So, bring it on -- We on the professional side of things (I am a mastering engineer) prefer components that deliver what's there. I have always used 10 gauge oxygen-free stranded cable of good manufacture, kept to reasonable lengths.

There are no absolutes. We live in a relative world. Relatively speaking, if my clients like the way their music sounds out there, I am listening to the best possible system. My clients have come back again and again.

Best regards to all.
“…high purity copper speaker wire…”

I prefer my speaker wire dirty, like my martinis.