Do speaker cables really make a difference ?

YES!!

Everything makes a difference +1

If though priority list was in order then interconnects and power cables have more influence than speaker cables.

+1, @audphile1 

I would look at manufacturers that are using PC-OCC copper in their speaker cables. Have fun! 

AUDIO: SPEAKER CABLES - From Alan Shaw (owner and designer of HARBETH)

” … So, the moral of the story is this: the most important factor of the loudspeaker cable that you should select is the amount of metal in the cable core. More metal means lower resistance.

If the core is round (as most are) then the correlation is simple: the fatter the diameter of the metal core the better because the electrical resistance between amp and speaker will be lower.

Thin and really thin cores should be avoided regardless of how exotic the metal material is claimed as the lack of metal in the core conductor will increase resistance. That will reduce amplifier damping, effect the frequency response of the speaker and give unpredictable results that will vary from amp/speaker combination.

Do not be fooled by the diameter of the external plastic sheath: what matters is the metal content of the core. The more the better, without exception….”

Full disclosure: I have owned three pairs of Harbeth speakers, and was, for a while, active on the Harbeth forum. I ultimately had a few run-ins with Alan Shaw, and was banned from the forum, as he wasn’t happy with my persistent challenges.

I mention this because my response to the above quote has nothing to do with my personal feelings about Shaw, and I hold his speakers in high regard.

I would argue that the designers and owners of, among others, Audience cables, would take issue with Shaw’s assertions. I have owned several pair of Audience speaker cables over the past ~20 years, and currently use their AU-24SX. For those unfamiliar with Audience cables, they are extremely thin, and very flexible.

I have also owned high-quality, thick cables, such as Virtual Dynamics, and Purist Audio Design, and have always returned to Audience.

Would I prefer a thick cable of similar quality if I were to A/B test them? I don’t know. But what I do know is that the Audience sound very, very good, and it is difficult for me to imagine that the sound quality is meaningfully impaired by issues relating to high(er) resistance. I have also used them with quite a few different components, including speakers.

As a final note, I am not arguing with the science behind Shaw’s claim, but rather with his simplistic conclusion, which is, in my experience, somewhat typically arrogant.

Back in the days of yore everybody used lamp cord - and nobody complained! Nowadays clever marketing and expectation bias (if it costs more it must be better) compels the gullible and unwary to spend serious shekels on wire in search of that last nth degree of sonic realism!