Best interconnects & speaker cable? I don't get it


I don't know if there is a question here but I'm posting this to see if there is something I'm missing or overlooking in this observation. To the point, I've read many posts arguing the benefits of one or more conductors over others and I almost understand some discussions regarding, at least, comparisons of wire gauge for speakers. Maybe it relates to my less than well developed ability to discern subtlities in sound quality but I really can't hear much, if any, difference between interconnects or speaker cables.

As an example, I was recently experimenting with an amplifier selector (Niles DPS-1) which can accommodate a max of 14AWG speaker wire. In doing so I had to disconnect my existing cables which are "high end" 12 gauge per leg bi-wires. In making this comment I realize that just because my old wires are big and expensive does not necessarily mean they are the best match for my system or even any good. But...even though I think I am able to hear some small difference between them, to say that I think one is better than the other would be a stretch.

It seems to me that there are factors that would logically lend to the issue of quality, the primary of which would be conductor resistance and/or impedance. However, for transmission of line level signals, I can't see impedance as a significant factor.

All that being said, I believe that some listeners with acutely honed abilities can actually hear these differences and, in a way, I am somewhat glad that I don't; It makes wire choices much easier and way less expensive.

My current system consists of Shanling S-100 CD player, CALSigma 2 DAC, Rogue Audio Sphinx and Martin Logan Odyssey speakers with various interconnect and speaker wires.
128x128broadstone
@ Broadstone, I understand your opinion, and respect it as well,I do not have 55 years into this like you, I do have 35 years!, I suppose this may depend on all that a person has been exposed to, I also can imagine your hearing is just fine, I have went down a different path than what you are saying here, I can hear alot of differences between each and every model with-in Taralabs cables, I have a model of Taralabs that is 5 cables down the cable food chain from my current top model Taralabs makes, I can assure you, the differences are no where subtle, A person can have never listened to a high-end sytem in their lifes, and would be able to hear a huge difference, someone can be nearly deaf and hear the difference, It's really like going from a toyota camry to a ferrari, cheers.
Broadstone, It is hard for me to date the origins of my involvement with audio but it was somewhere in the late 1950s and it was with Dyna kits. I remember getting on the slippery slope of better audio with buying a Fisher 500, it the early '60s.

I remember thinking when I got The Absolute Sound magazine without any advertizing that I was close to that absolute sound, live audio. Now many years later, with the realism of the sound I am now hearing, I realize that I was far from it. All that I can really say is that if you are satisfied with what you have, enjoy. But avoid listening to other peoples' systems. Probably most would not excite you, but inevitabally you will hear one that is striking real sounding and it would thrill you. That is were I am at today, and I don't want to go back. Be forewarned.
Audiolabyrinth, I don't think this thread is about Taralabs, OM or any specific cable but the subjectivity of what we we each as individuals hear and prioritize not to mention our individual experiences and exposure to different equipment. The options in this hobby and the choices of combinations border on the infinite not to even mention adding in to that equation the personal objectives in what one is trying to achieve. I hear you Broadstone as many of us do, there is nor will there EVER be a definitive resolution to this perplexing dilemma, only what satisfies us individually. What is ALWAYS remarkable to me is how two systems can sound equally satisfying yet sound so different. What is real and what is an illusion? Live is real and reproduced is an illusion regardless of how we each try to reconcile it.
03-10-14: Isochronism
Well, there goes that theory that full looms don't work:)

You do enjoy pouring gasoline of fires don't you Brett? LOL!

No one ever said full looms don't work, only that they aren't the only option. Just as some like tube, while some like solid state. Some like vinyl while others prefer digital. Some like full loom, some like variety. It really isn't so difficult.....is it? ;^)