In my experience, this is what I could share. It took me a while to develop my audio (and even HT) preferences, so I had to struggle.
I suggest you take time identifying what sound characteristic you prefer. You try to listen to other setup (sa shops or sa bahay ng iba nating kasamahan sa hobby, kung pu-pwede lang naman). In my case this is one reason why I went to shops like Architectural Audio (sarap dito!), What-HIFi, Digital Dreams, etc., and also to hi-fi shows like the one started WiredState (tama ba?). Ever since nagsimula ito lagi akong pumupunta. Sumasama din ako dati sa listening sessions kina Akyatbundok, sir Narayan, or bumibisita sa bahay ni Audioslave (may utang pa ko sir). Bukod sa marami akong napapakinggan, marami din akong natututunan sa mga mahuhusay at matagal na sa hobby na ito. Nagtatanong din ako madalas sa kanila personally or thru this forum. Tulad nung nag sisimula ako sa tubes natatanungan ko sina Rony, Oweidah, ArnoldC, at iba pa.
Marami nga ang nagsasabi dyan na subjective ang audio preferences natin sa hobby na to. I beleive na tama ito!
Therefore, after going thru all of those experiences of choosing a speaker cable (also applies to other audio gears), this is my recommendation on what should be done.
1. Establish ones preference by listening, as mentioned in the second paragraph of this post.
2. Search for experiences of other people and their general comments/impressions about the audio gear, speaker cable, interconnects, etc. that you are interested on. The Internet is one good source.
3. Find out the availability of the product, how can one acquire it and what is the cost.
3. Try as much as possible to be able to listen to the product(s) and be able to experience it fist hand. But, most of the time mahirap ito. So what I did in such cases is I ask questions from other colleages about their experiences with such product(s). I was able to confirm ang get good opinions naman, most of the time.
4. You have to learn to be patient (which is one trait you will need in this hobby) in order to avoid spending on the wrong product. Sometimes I wait for an oportunity to hear the product. Yes, I know matagal and nakakinip. I say this now because I learned na dumarating din ang araw na may shop or vendor na mag lalabas ng product na hinahanap ko or di kaya merong colleague na nakaka-bili nito. So nakiki listen na lang ako, hehehe.
5. Audition, audition, audition, audition. It can never be mentioned enough.
Well, hindi fool proof itong process na ito. Often before di ako makapag hintay or meron product that catches my attention and curiosity and I feel I really must listen to it. Kaya often I end up buying na rin, and often din I find out later na di ko gusto. So, it will be up to you na rin later on.
Ang point ko lang naman in all of this is to help out by not making you spend so much before settling on a product that you will eventually like.
Ako kasi dumaan na sa ilang cables (either bumili, naka hiram or nag DIY), like 2 flavors of IXOS (6006 and 6004 bi-wire cable) , XLO ER14, nakahiram ng ECOSSE CS2.3, QED Silver Aniv, DIY Belden CAT5E (I made two types), generic 12ga na AudioPro at Harris, heavy duty power cord na nabibili sa SM hardware store, Dali Red Wave, Lab47 OTA cable (hayun, putol-putol na), Audience Hookup Wire AA24 speaker cable (naibenta na). Mind you, kasama rin sa gastos ko yung mga various banana plugs and spades.
But finally I settled for the sound of this:
Connected to speakers like this:
These speaker cables provided the extended bass I've been looking for. Plus, these were able to control the high frequency output of my speakers by making it softer or rounder, which is actually the general characteristic of these cables. For me, those are what I prefer. Now I'm very happy.
Nung una, the bass was not as prominent. But after a number of hours of use, plus using the same cable as jumpers between LF and HF crossovers of the speaker I was able to obtain "my" desired results.
I'm not saying you get the same cables (pero pwede rin). But then again, as I mentioned, establish you personal preference first, then search for the speaker cable with such characteristic(s) you like. There is no guarantee that you will be successfull the first time. Maswerte ka if that will happen kasi less gastos at pagod. But at least you'll (hopefully) cut down on the cost in your search for your preferred speaker cable.
Yun lang po. Sana makatulong.
Salamat.
