The WOW factor in Acoustic Zen interconnects...

Call AZ and ask them. I've spoken to them before and they seem to be very up front about what they do and why. You can always compare what they tell you to the "real world" experiences of others on this site, but at least you'll have some baseline information. Best of luck.

Tim

I have owned both and both are amazing for their price. I sold my WOW's and still have the Matrix from pre/pre to amp. The consences is that the WOW is about 85% of the Matrix. The WOW lacks that ultimate extension in both bass and treble but it also has a slightly boosted midrange so this may work out wonderfully for your purpose, especially in a home theatre set-up. Obviously the WOW would save you a substantial amount of money, particularly in longer lengths. Unless you do a direct A-B between the two you probably wouldn't miss the slight difference.

The difference between the two is that the Matrix resolves more detail and has more extension up top. Bass balance slides slightly infavor of the Matrix as well(although it's negligable, considering proples problems with speaker set-up anyway, and thus bass is all over the place!).
The WOW is without a doubt about the best cable you'll find at that price range, and is better than $500 Audio Quest Python, and comparable to $500-900 Cardas in my oppinion(at about the same detail/rez). Actually(go figure) the WOW is competetive with the Harmonic Truth link for same money(maybe slight edge to WOW).
If you can spring for the extra bongos, at least on the amp to preamp connection, DEFINITELY get a pair of Matrix to go between amp and pre!...then use the WOW's between source componets if you are budgetting. If you can't swing the Matrix, the Wow still sounds great, only not the last word in resolution.
Love that Acoustic Zen product!