For years I used Radio Shack Mega Cable partly because it was as good as what Monster was peddling at the time and it was cheap. Also, Radio Shack provided a wide selection of quality termination options that were easy to use, reliable and also inexpensive.
At a time when I decided to become more discriminating about cabling and did a lot of research and found that Kimber Kable was the only manufacturer the published electrical specifications that were verifiable by independent testing (Audioholics). The 2009 review of 8PR is still available online if you query it. That’s what I bought with the S-BAN connectors. They were a 100% reliable over 14 years and did not alter the sound in any way that was perceptible to me and did not interact negatively with any type of amp or typology I used them with.
Several years ago, I started thinking about an upgrade and for a long time I researched products from all the major manufactures and only one, Atlas Cable of England was the only one other than Kimber that published verifiable electrical specifications for their cables. I did attempt to acquire pair configured to my needs but the US distributer had such questionable business practices and for the $$$ I was spending I decided to cancel the order. After a long requesting technical data via manufacture’s web portals and not getting any responses I resorted to Kimber’s. They answered all the questions I had and gave a $400 trade-in allowance on my 8PR which was $20 more than I paid in 2009 (along with photo evidence as to the condition of the pair which was exactly as new. They had a pair of 12TC with S-BAN as with the 8PR, assembled and shipped by that evening.
In the 90s I started getting interested in interconnects and I consulted with the Audio Lab in the Garage at Havard Square whom I’ve had a long relationship with and he recommended AudioQuest. I started with the Blue then the Turquoise then used several pairs of Topaz exclusively for at least the next 20 years. Eventually, again after considerable thought I became quite interest in the Chord Clearway and the Rega Couple 2. Finally, I settled on the couple 2 which was manufactured with Klotz cable and an elegantly designed locking connector along with meticulous workmanship and like Kimber just the facts and no hype. When it came time to acquire an additional IC for a new component I immediately look to Rega and purchased the Couple 3 since they had discontinued the 2. I’ve also used a number of their Reference Mains Power Leads and because they only sell them in 3-meter lengths, I purchased 2 6-foot VooDoo Mojo Digital power cords to reach other components in my rack. I’ll also give these a thumbs up.