Hi I have been in search of the best stereo system for many years. And this includes wires. Wires have been the most difficult to judge. For those on the same mission, here is a few thoughts I have for you. I am Calif. State Lic. Electrical Contractor. Lets start with a few facts. ALL music signals are AC current. The only reason we use wire is to complete the circuit. (ya need something that conducts current to get from point A to point B) There are 3 parts to a wire, CONDUCTOR, INSULATOR, & what ever else you put on the end, spade,bannana,RCA,etc. Gauge of wire is determined by load. 14g wire is rated for 1800 watts, 12g wire has a rating of 2200 watts. these are not peak ratings. This is continous power! That means even the big bad ass McIntosh 2000 watt amp only needs 12g wire. AC current is carried on the outside of the wire. Thats why we use multi stranded wire, it increases the surface area and at high current it disapates heat better. Ohms is another rating. Resistance. even the cheapest of the cheap goes below .000 so I'm not going to say anyting more on this subject. Yes silver has a lower resistance, but gold is even lower. Why nobody has come out with pure 24ct gold wire is beyond me. I'm sure there are a select few who can afford pure gold. Now lets talk about INSULATORS. ALL wire is subject to RFI (radio freq Interference) But you lower this to almost 0 when using XLR cables. Think of every wire in your house acting like antenna picking up noise. This is the reason for power filtering and surge protection. Gordon Gow wa right when he said wire is wire!
Transparent and MIT add network boxes on there wires. And I must say I like both. They add the 3rd demention to the music. Better detail, deeper sound stage, yes the cables are over priced but once you have had these network boxes in your system I can't see myself without them. Shotgun S3 & Musiclink Plus are about the same and both are good. But I have up graded to Ultra's by Transparent. I am very happy.
