Home audio & video forum: Do speaker cables make a significant Hi-Fi contribution ?

I think for the average consumer grade system, say all in for under a 4 grand, TV, Blu-ray, receiver, and speakers(split 2K on TV and 2K on the rest), the speaker wire makes no difference that can be heard by a human and identified in a blind test. I have tried it myself and no difference, even got a friend years ago to try with his rig, monopole amps and all kinds of magic, and even he could not tell, but who knows we may have both had bad ears.

I personally do not think it makes any significant difference on most audio gear, even the best unless there is some serious design flaws in the main amps.

Expensive speaker wire in consumer grade audio is for show, bragging rights, or ignorance and a good sales person.

Expensive speaker wire for an audiophile is likely well worth it, if you are going to be a purest then everything should be as right as possible from end-to-end, no weak links, not matter if that link makes any audible difference or not. The audiophile knows it is better.

So I think tring to sell the audio benefits of high end speaker wire in the main audio market is a tough sell and you better figure out an angle like Monster did and make it more image than anything else, they make great looking cables

While I have under 4 grand in my system, to me and my friends it sounds great, 110W RMS x7 and 400x1 on the sub, the Infinity speaker and a Panasonic Blu-Ray, if I was to spend another dime on making it sound better I would change out the speakers for better ones, then the receiver, but at no time would speaker wire be on the list.

My mind can be changed, but I would have to hear the difference, so if someone wants to send me some good stuff for free, I will subjectively review it (meaning using only BR movies), get input from friends, in a blind test, and negotiate any other test details. If even one person out of 5 attempts nails the good wire 4 out 5 or 7 out of 10 times, I will pay retail for the wire, the shipping cost, and write a full review from the "average guy" perspective.