Best $200 speaker cables for overall performance?

That's a good question Unsound. Glad you thought of it : )

The Sig II's and the Classic's have different bass alignments. As such, they will not only sound different, but also load the amp differently. Both designs ( in stock form ) have a pronounced bass peak at a relatively high frequency ( 90 - 120 Hz ), so room placement and nodes can really come into play. This is besides any other speaker / room interphase situations taking place, which can also effect imaging, soundstage, etc...

Due to the difference in loading on the amp, the Classic's may simply require more than what your receiver can cope with. You might want to try swapping both the speakers and speaker cables in your main system and see how things work there. If you can get the results that you want with either set of speakers and / or either set of speaker cables in the main system, then you know it has to be room and / or "power" related in the secondary system. Sean
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Unsound,

No, not yet. I have a bi-wire set of Tara Labs RSC Prime(at least 10 years old) in there, which have always sounded pretty good to me. I have been thinking about trying the MI-2s, bi-wired, in there to see if they can make a significant improvement over the Taras. But I would have to shell out another $200, which is a lot of bread to me, in order to find out. I guess I could try them as a single run, just to hear the basic sound differences.

Mtrot, may I remind you that Alpha-Core has a very generous trial period. You could try another run, and see if it works for you. If it doesn't, all you'll loose is a very modest (heck, cables don't weight much) shipping fee, if you decide that you like them, you can sell your existing cables right here on Audiogon. In the mean time, just putting on jumpers and running one run, might be interesting. While I am a big fan of the Alpha-Core cables, my experience mirrors yours. They don't accentuate the bass, but, boy oh boy, do they really open things from there on up. I don't think just substituting cables in an effort to mimick another system in another room is very realistic. Best of luck. Keep us posted.

Mtrot, I have some first-hand experience with some of the mfgrs you're inquiring about. Based on massive research from Audiogon threads I decided to check out Audio Horizons and Reality Cables.

Audio Horizons
Met Joseph Chow. He invited me to his home on a Saturday morning to listen to his pre-amp and DAC. I think he makes good equipment, and I liked the way his equipment sounded -probably the most articulate sounding pre-amp I've heard. At the time, I chose not to purchase his gear, but my decision was based on his ability to support the product given the growth stage of his little company (fledgling) at the time. But Joseph seems like an honest and respectable guy, and I absolutely would do business with him. I listened to his cables (balanced and unbalanced) in his system, and they were good. As I haven't listened to the cables in my system, I really can't give you a good reference point. But I do think his cables positively contributed to the overall sound quality of his system. I can give more specifics in email if you like.

Reality Cables
Based on audiogon threads, I had truly high hopes. I ordered interconnects and speaker cables based on blind audiogon faith. These cables completely took the life right out of my system. I had multiple sets of both interconnects and speakers cables. All performed equally poorly. Gregg sent more cables (burned in, SS specific, balanced, etc). Same result. Terrible performance. I tried every imaginable combination. Same result - terrible. I sent everything back.

It took months to get most of my money back, and to get Gregg to honor his "20 day money back guarantee."

Terrible experience.

Email me if you want specifics.

Trialed a pair of name brand cables from my local high-end hi-fi dealer -viola!

At least I'm not losing my mind.

Mtrot, I don't know if you are done looking but I am having tremendous results with the Reality cables. They are extremely revealing. Well balanced top to bottom and a steal at there price point. In my system they really grabbed me. I changed one power cord and noticed the effect right away. I went to a 10 awg shielded power cord on the cdp and these speaker cables let me know I went in the right direction. I will be considering putting some good money into power cords now.