Audioquest or Kimber kable.

You have to pay a bit extra, but it will be worth it, guaranteed:

Sokole Oko Bis III...very open, warm...none of that glare you get with most of the brands you mentioned.
Very happy with them!

The most important thing to remember is the is an appropriate cable gauge size for power. silver is far more efficient than copper by its self. some electrical standards for regular copper stranded 10 amps at 120 volts is or 1200 watts or typical 18 guage wire load max; 15 amps at 120 volts is 1800 watts or a 14 guage wire load; 12 guage is 20 amp or 2400 watts or 10 guage is 30 amp or 3600 watts. Essentially 10 guage wire could drive a 3600 watt speaker before needing to ever worry about over load. bigger is not always better. why well some basic math the square root of watts multiplied by the square roots of ohms tells you the accurate average sustained volts any amplifier outputs to speakers. so for example 200 watts at 8 ohms 40 average volts to your speakers, 200 watt 6 ohm about 35 volt, 200 at 4 is 28 not quite 29 volts. voltage rate and current amplifier rates can very based on max volume peaking volts but not standard volume operations. another tip of ohms law and psychics more volts equals lower current, more current is lower volts. keep in mind amplifier damping factors are diminished by having over sized cables or conduits, and your signal and detail especially at lower volumes will be lost or absorbed by a huge cable, especially if one is just running 100, 200, 3 or maybe even 400 watts per channel. Silver is twice as efficient as coppers conductivity very important, less is more so with the Baldur speaker cables being 12, 26 guage conductors each leg or lead, is 16 guage of silver. 24 conductors total per cable. 16 guage silver is at least 2000 watts potential of speaker driving before worry, remember 14 guage copper is only 1800 watts. you also impair perspective proper timbre of the sound harboring more bass or low frequency via too large of cables. I use Nordost speaker cables for this reason, no exception. This is why audioquest and some other cable maker have to put those battery warmer packs on their huge cables because the massive inductance and resistance and capacitance.

Sorry for the delayed response. Thank yall so much for your advice. I really think I am leaning towards kimber now. I added some new equipment to my system now i can finally go balanced so I will be looking at kimbers XLR cables along with their speaker cables. While I am at it I might just make the jump and get power cables , XLR and speaker cables all together.  

Kimber 8PR does everything I need it to.  Neutral and balanced.  Big bass sounds like big bass.  Clear midrange sounds like clear midrange.  Delicate airy highs sound like delicate airy highs.  No negatives.  

I reread this post, it sounds like I’m a fanboy, but I’m really not.  I do enjoy my investment over the years in Kimber Kable.  Quality Customer Service is important.
I have become attached to my Kimber interconnects and speaker cables in my ‘mid-fi’ rig.  They are a great company to work with.  Called them up and ordered custom speaker cable lengths for my 11.2 system.  I’m running 8VS front L/C/R, 4VS & PR for others,  Of course each pair of cables is equal length, I’m old fashioned.  I have in wall wiring for rear speakers.  I also have Hero interconnects, and the Kimber copper phono cable for my TTs and some Timbre interconnects for the old vintage equipment.  Almost all of this was ordered directly by telephone to Kimber and purchased directly from them.  Having custom length speaker cables and interconnects are great until you have move.  The thing about the move was that I needed an extension to my TT cables.  They made up an extension for me from the same spec cable used in their TT cables, with female RCAs on one end and male RCAs on the other, enabling me to continue to use my C2 preamp without any issues.  I can’t detect any tonal character change in the sound of the TT, which is a result.  The company is great to work with even if you only buy a pair of their lowest priced interconnects first as I did.  Or asking for short jumpers made to measure.  Since I have been using Kimber as my cable supplier for years now, I admit I have some cable in a drawer as a result of my last move, but this is offset by the consistency product to product.  Good cables are worth the price for sure.  I can’t afford the high priced stuff, but the low and mid quality is outstanding value for the money.  
     BTW, my system is a mix of Yamaha vintage (C2, T2 & M4) and New school Yamaha RX-A3060 AVR, Kef LS50 (7; L/C/R, FPR L/R, Surround L/R), Kef 102Ref rear surround L/R, and M&K Dipoles RPR L/R.  Sources;  AR The Turntable and Braun P600 TT, Sony TC765 RtR, NAK RX505, Oppo 203, Tascam D-3000.  All recordings I make are stereo through Hero to the Analog 2 channel setup vintage pre.  The output is through the AVR to the M4 driving the L/R LS50s and the pair of vintage Def Tech Subwoofers (no processing).

It all sounds excellent to me, coherent, consistent, capable and versatile.  I have some Audio Quest cables and they are good,  but the customer support and value from Ray Kimber's company has been excellent.  No extra BS, just quality cables, delivered as promised on time.

If you can hear or see no differences you might have more problems than you are aware. 🙉 🙈

Listen and compare with your ears... if you hear no difference, awesome you just saved a bunch of money you can spend elsewhere... for others who can and prefer, awesome and enjoy the music.

more impact and slightly better bass with AQ Vodka HDMI vs Carbon, but very close to Mocha with DBS.  Video, no difference.

I use HMDI cables for TV video. Could care less about the audio. I mean come on, it’s digital.

Yep, I have done a direct side-by-side comparison of a lot of HDMI cables over the last couple years. I tried the Audioquest Vodka, which is a step above your carbon. The video was okay, but audio was thin and a bit bright in comparison to several other cables. The problem here is that the Vodka uses extremely small 30awg conductors. The very old Wire World Starlight 5-2 cable beat the crap out of the Vodka (5-2 series is basically single 24awg silver plated solid core OFC conductors). I can go on with a lot more here, but it would be hijacking the thread.

Disappointed with AudioQuest HDMI cables? Really? I have their Carbon HDMI cables and they’re spectacular. 

Audioquest is the new monster and they offer no measurements on their speakers with "dbs" or without. THey are snake-oil salesmen.

Yeah, I used to think the same thing years ago until I started testing with them.  The power cables and speaker cables are "sleepers" that can be totally hot-rodded with better terminations.  The interconnects are likely very good too (upgraded with better Furutech rhodium RCA/XLR).  However, I am disappointed with their HDMI cables.

Kimber of course.  
Audioquest is the new monster and they offer no measurements on their speakers with "dbs" or without.  THey are snake-oil salesmen.

I have the Aria 936 and went from the Rocket 44 to Kimber 8tc. I much prefer the Kimber. The AQ seemed to suck the life out of my system. The Kimber, to me, are very neutral

You had a gold-plated spade/banana on the Rocket 44.  The solid-core of the Rocket 44 are very neutral and not harsh.  The gold plated terminations definitely make things warmer and the end result could have been too dull sounding.  The Kimber typically uses it's own terminations, which are a plated allow - much more neutral.

I have always had good experiences with Kimber.  I own an assortment for different applications and systems.

I've been using Kimber 8TC with my Focal speakers for years and have zero complaints.  Worked seamlessly and gloriously with my Martin Logans as well.  I've also used Audio Quest in same system but went back to Kimber, either 8TC  or 12TC.  Love my Kimber Hero interconnects as well.

Have had both prefer Kimber. I am using the 8tc now and have no problems at all. Quality and price a good buy. 

+1 Another vote for Kimber Kable 8TC. The above referenced video is excellent.

Kimber all the way.
I have had both over the years and also build my own cables.
Being a cable building hobbiest I have dissected both. With Kimber the different cores and quality of cable materials are clearly different grades as described. I also admire that Kimber will sell the raw cable to their customers.
With Kimber you clearly get what you paid for, as described.A very important factor in any speaker cable, keep them as short as you possible can. Every time you shorten a speaker cable there is noticable improvement in speaker quality, hence perhaps why active speakers like ATC's are so incredibly superior....there are no speaker cables!
Good luck and most of all....HAVE FUN!

I have the Aria 936 and went from the Rocket 44 to Kimber 8tc. I much prefer the Kimber. The AQ seemed to suck the life out of my system. The Kimber, to me, are very neutral

@OP, 
I would steer clear of Transparent. Way overpriced for what you get.
Plus, a horrible resale depreciation.
B

@cvbryso OP

Hi, as mentioned earlier im using the Music Link Ultra, XLR from ML326S pre- to Pass X350.5 poweramp. 
I'd various others not bad at all, yet this one now will stay.
Hard to imagine it can be bettered. 
Michélle 🇿🇦 

How would yall rate Transparent speaker cables.? I'm looking at the Musicwave speaker cable from them. 

I have found that Kimber Kable works best with interconnects between gear. I have not explored speaker connects

For what it's worth, I have a pair of 8VS from Kimber.  Very happy with the cables.  Excellent build quality and the folks at Kimber were great to work with.

Have a look at Straightwire cables.

Kimber Carbon series just came out & the MXL & BFXL have just been redone. Very mice stuff.  Select is even better. 

Yeah I am definitely coming around to looking at other options. I have the option of just taking the cash offer for my speakers and looking somewhere else for cables.  Not knowing enough I thought it would be easier to buy from the same place I was selling to.  Now I will be looking at the ideas all of yall have given me and make a decision from that. 

As someone who lives in Germany, american cable manufacturers were "terra incognita" for me. When I configured a vintage system with Mark Levinson components and Infinity speakers I felt there should also be cables made in the USA. Thanks to Audiogon I discovered Silnote Audio - those cables are spectacular even in the budget Morpheus range. Also worth looking: Morrow Audio.
My latest speaker cable for testing (I write for a German High End magazine) was the stellar Audio Quest "William Tell". Not the cheapest piece of copper but a sonic revelation and close to In-Akustik 's Air cables that cost trice the price of those Audio Quest speaker cables. After all keep in mind that interconnects and speaker cables should be regarded as a whole. The system in my sleeping room (a Sony SACD with a Trigon "Snowwhite" preamp, a small Audiolab amp and Kef LS50) is connected with Morrow cables. Those low capacity connectors enhance the openess and definition of the system. If I want more bass I choose Audio Quest.
Hope I could give you some hints.

Greetz, Hans

OP I know you said you were looking at those brands as part of some kind of trade-in part-exchange deal, but you should really look at Audio Envy, as I think someone else has already suggested.

Yeah, now this stuff can get emotive, not so? 🤔 
As for myself its a bit like arguing about motorcars, as mentioned earlier. 

I had some repeated minor, shorter term encounters with both brands.
Yes, both can be kind of stiff, plus in my recollections they have this 'so what' factor. Nice looking too, and then so what? 🤔 

More or less, and by sheer accident, I now wound up with Transparent XLR cables for transport to DAC, and pre- to power-amp. 

Not short for any long term testing, loads of testing, both can not be bettered by anything that I had before, and still have.
No BIG deal - but one, if one cares to listen 'deeply' turning out to be for keeps.
AND... I'm not talking about their latest expensive offerings either, i.e. an older Music Link Ultra to the poweramp and a digital Reference to my DAC. 
Maybe I was lucky to acquire them at an affordable price?
In any case the Ultra is nicely flexible, the Reference however -far from it- just to mention it. 
Michélle 🇿🇦 

Hi , audioquest makes very good cables . They van be stiff tho. Just to put another very good and reasonably priced cable for your consideration; Tellurium q black . Tellurium is a multi award winning cable maker. The T black is in their lower priced ranged but extremely good. Cheers Leon 

Bill Low personally recommended "33s" to me (for bi-wiring) at a local audio shop a couple of years ago, and I liked them...when I went back to single wire I switched back to a pair of Type 8s...Audio Advisor has been selling those for a while (I got mine used from a private source) at a fairly amazing discount and they’re great sounding cables.

Kimber 8's.  Biwire 3/5 treble bass.

I use a double-run set of Rocket 44 speaker cables that are terminated with Furutech rhodium spades.  The Rocket 44/88 are the best wire that Audioquest makes before you get into the silver-plated or battery stuff. 

Also, I would avoid any cable that uses silver or silver plated terminations (spades/bananas).  They are not a good match for those Focals. 

The Audioquest is all multiple awg solid core designs.  Rocket 88 has the best pure copper wire that Audioquest makes.  I would suggest Rocket 88 or some slightly older models if you want to buy used, but make sure to avoid the silver-plated bananas/spades.

Audio Advisor has "no frills" and "premium" versions of Rocket 44/88.  It's cheaper than the retail product and you can buy them in any length.  They just run it off a large spool and cut/terminate whatever you want (bare ware / spades / bananas).

I would not have the Audioquest wires setup as bi-wire because they are only a 13awg speaker cable.  If you bi-wire, you end up splitting this into a small 16awg for highs and 15awg for lows.

The Kimber cable could be a good choice as well and they do have multiple awg wires, but they are standed bundles.  Still not fully solid-core like the Audioquest is.

I use Kimber 8PR biwired in my high end (entry level) system and Im very pleased. 

In Audioholics they have compared the 8PR against the 8TC and they say you can get with the 8PR about 95% of the sound of the 8TC at considerable lower price.

I would buy the 8PR and get something else with the money saved, like a dedicated streamer or the Uptone Etherregen if you are on digital. You will get much more bang for the buck that way. 

I enjoy audioquest cables.

i think about 88 would be a great start.

Yall are awesome.  Thank you so much for the advice. I'm really starting to enjoy more and more higher end audio and getting to know the community of people who share the passion.  

https://youtu.be/6evV01Z-mWY   Check out Audioholics review 

No experience with the Audioquest cable, but can vouch for the Kimber 8TC being a very neutral/definitive choice.

I have been using Rocket 88s with great results on KEF LS50s, Ologe 5s, Magnepan LRS and B&W Matrix 801 S2s.
4 significantly different types of speakers.

I also have a "lower" grade Kimber that sounds fine as well, just not like the 88s. A "higher" grade Kimber wjould probably perform like the 88s.

At this point though, it’s really a matter of your personal preference.
Can’t go wrong with either.

Give Audio Envy a look, a great product, and a very reasonable price.

https://audioenvy.com/

I have the focal aria 948 and I have kimber and it matches very well 

I went from Rocket 33 to Rocket 88 and there’s a difference. The 88 give more refined sound and clearer.

Raven Audio.

Simply the best speaker cable for dollar. 45 day return privileges and made in the Republic of Texas.

https://www.ravenaudio.com/product/speaker-cables/

Thank yall so much.  I didn't know that they were older models. I don't know if I would want to trade my speakers for older model cables now. 

OP,
if you search on YouTube, there is a review where the reviewer compares Rocket 33 to Rocket 44 and one other lower Audioquest series speaker cable. I remember watching it awhile back

@OP, you are looking at older models of AQ. Though I can't tell what your budget is, I would recommend looking at more recent models.
A set of Rocket 88's used aren't very expensive and would, IMHO, offer better resolution.
FWIW, I use GO-4's.
Bob

Would there be a big difference between the 33 and the 44 ?