PAD speaker cable differences

Rsf, unless you have access to ALL the cables you want to consider (dealer, factory demo, friends) the Cable Company is a convenient, one stop, and fairly inexpensive way to survey a lot of cables without it taking a lot of time and energy besides. They charge a very reasonable amount to rent their used cables -- in almost every inmaginable brand, model, length. And when you return them, a generous portion of the rental fee is reserved for you as credit against future purchases. And if you want, they'll buy your old cables too ;--) What I don't know, is if theyll allow you to pool all your credits and then use it to buy just ONE cable -- but it never hurts to ask!

I always try and buy USED cables if they're in decent shape. Not only does the original owner take the biggest hit depreciation-wise, (like with cars) but by buying used, you are almost surely getting a cable that is completely broken in!

If you can't try all types of a given make/model cable, I think the one to go by is the speaker cable. If you like one manufacturer's speaker cable over all the others, there's a good chance you'll like all their other cables in the same line.
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As much as I like Purist cables (never heard the Canorus), I do suggest you consider other brands too, something that will sound different or maybe even better with your SET.
There are Purist fans here and Stealth fans. Very generally speaking, Purist should sound fuller with incredible midrange and deep soundstage, and Stealth might be a little more "neutral" and leaner. For SS I will take Purist any day but for tubes especially SET I don't know, I would have to sit a listen for a few hours at least.

RSF, I've been using the Canorus now for about 2 months and initially didn't find it to my liking BUT after over 600 hrs of break-in on a cable cooker I find it amazing! It's quick, transparent, has incredible control and deadly silent. Have never heard the Proteus myself so no comment.

Can somebody describe the differences between the two cables - or even more generally - 3 metal stranded vs solid crystal copper?

I have both Proteus Provectus (speaker cable & ICs between source and preamp) and Canorus (preamp->amp) and didn't know there was a substantial difference in sonics between them.

And since there are aspects of my system sound I would like to tune, I'd probably benefit from understanding the differences, so I'd appreciate any insight.

I have had once a pair of PAD speaker cables (don't remenber which one)
When I replaced it by a pair of JPS Labs Superconductor 3, I had the feeling that a cork had been removed from my ears !...