Studioray: I think the Big Joe thread is a bit outdated as he referred to cable comparison tests held in the first half of the 1980's. In this decade audiophile grade cables were emerging. Monster was the leader in that field at that time but I was never convinced of the sonic qualities of Monster cables from that period. My personal opinion is that cable comparison tests should be performed with current state-of-the-art cables and using the cable comparator from Wireworld's David Salz. It should make a difference if you are using zipcord or a high quality audio cable, whether it is used as interconnect, speaker wire or powercord. I am fully convinced of this. The differences are quite subtle (not like day and night!) but they can be heard, even by non audiophiles. The equipment should be discriminating enough to expose these differences (higher midfi to high-end gear, not the lower midfi stuff).
Chris
Chris