Anyone ever heard of the Shunyata and Cardas

Yes.
I have the Aries interconnect, which is QUITE close to the Nordost Quattro Fils. The Nordost is very slightly "cleaner" or so it seems. A better way to put it is that the halo of air around a Nordost has 10% humidity, while the air around the Aries is 40% humidity: slightly thicker, and so the sound radiates outward in a fashion not as nimble as the Nordost.
The Phoenix speaker cables? Sound good, but they're new, AND, it turns out, they're directional (quel surpris!), which I didn't know. So now I must see if they're oriented correctly. Having said that, they made a friend's (very, very modest) system sound great. I set him up with NAD integrated, Sound Dynamics RTS 3s, and RS Audio silver interconnect and speaker cable.

shunyata is mostly known for their killer ac cords and power conditioner. That's where they made their name and recently have branched out in to speaker cables and interconnects.

Cardas is a very well known, very well respected speaker and interconnect cable company. Been around for years and likely many more to come. Their golden ref cables are reference caliber in the right systems. I used to own them and loved them. For the $$'s, hard to beat.

Cable though are very system dependent. Use your ears!

I comapred the Shunyata speaker cables to the Audience and my own DIY cable. Do a serach and you should find it. I preferred my DIY cables over both. The AZ Holograms is a different question. WIll try there ICs next.

I use Shunyatas on my refrigerator and ac. Colder lows, without overly "hard" ice cream. The Cardas are famous for a much warmer sound, so best use is on space heaters, toaster ovens, etc. Read the threads, and save your $$.

Everyone here uses Monster Cables exclusivley.

just kidding.