Opinions on Straght wire?

I think the Maestro and Maestro II (very similar except for a thicker outer jacket on the II) are one of the great bargain sleeper cables in audioland, both for ICs and speaker. I used them for years (years, because I couldn't find anything better in their price range.) I have different cables now (although I still run a pair of Maestro ICs to my sub) but they do more things right than any other cable design in their category. I even A-B'd them with the more expensive Virtuoso, both IC and speaker, and the Virtuosos weren't really all that by comparison.

I have tried 2 straightwire speaker cables and interconnects. The Serenade is a nice cable for the money and very forgiving of system deficiencies. Straightwire Virtuoso is not so forgiving of deficiencies and was harsh when used with a Citation amp and Denon preamp. When I switched to an EAD preamp/amp combination the Virtuoso became one of my favorite cables with strong mid bass charachter and resolution. It was far better then the Serenade when used with the EAD components. I biamp my speakers and prefer Audience AU 24 or Stealth PGS for the treble and the Virtuoso for the mid bass.

Straight Wire has been around a long time and their products are competitive above their respective proce categories. They are just well made and designed cables that, IMO, have a model to perform as well as needed in any system. Again IMO, the Maestro II and Virtuoso are balanced more towards neutral and accurate, with good to great resolution, balance, speed, etc. I think the Serenade is very smooth with good bass control/extension, but is suited more for less than optimally setup but high performing solid-state systems.

Good QPR factor.