Some speaker cables produce lower/higher volume?

Jim, Speaker cable transfers the power from your amplifier to your speakers. Some speaker cables are more efficient than others. Watch the bass with silver cables. Could it be possible you are turning up the volume in an effort to get more bass?

To MK, No trips since the early 70's!!!

Rrog. I am turning the volume up, but only relative to what I believe a particular track or CD sounded like before. I wonder if I may be losing my hearing but I think not. Depending on the type of music you like, I think it is important to adequately pressurize the listening space

However, I have an off the wall theory which I can't quantify or quality that barometric pressure tends to affect hearing. Some research must have been done on this phenomenon.

In addition, I can't believe either one of you guys has felt that on some days your system sounds better(or worse) than your last listening session. Geez,if any system sounded the same everyday, the audio business would collapse because nobody would want to upgrade or improve the "sound" quality of their system (HA-HA!!).

Lastly, I am sure somewhere in the (serious) listening process psycho-acoustic factors enter into the "DEGREE" of musical enjoyment, the listener comes away with.

If interested, I will keep you posted

I tried the Clear Day cables. They sound great but are made out of some very small gauge wire.
Gauge does matter.

No, but odd order harmonic distortion is perceived by the ear as a loudness cue. The amounts of distortion at higher orders may be very small but you will readily hear it. "Turn that down" can often mean turn down the distortion.

You should use an SPL meter to measure the difference. Please report back.