I am probably not qualified to say too much on speaker cables as mine are only 24" long with bare wire ends.
I used run Romex. Then I tried pretty expensive solid silver ones which sounded worse even after 2 weeks permanently on. In a direct comparison, the Romex sounded better. I also tried it in another rig with the exact same results. Ridiculous, huh? It put me off cables. Anyhow, that was years ago.
I’ve moved on and now run a DIY effort.
After reading that many upscale cable manufacturers us very pure copper, I tried Neotech solid core 14ga UP-OCC Teflon wire which costs a few bucks per foot. The improvement was dramatic and remains so to this day. Despite Millercarbon's argument to the contrary, I would urge folks with shorter cable runs to give it a shot. It might save you a lot of money.
I used run Romex. Then I tried pretty expensive solid silver ones which sounded worse even after 2 weeks permanently on. In a direct comparison, the Romex sounded better. I also tried it in another rig with the exact same results. Ridiculous, huh? It put me off cables. Anyhow, that was years ago.
I’ve moved on and now run a DIY effort.
After reading that many upscale cable manufacturers us very pure copper, I tried Neotech solid core 14ga UP-OCC Teflon wire which costs a few bucks per foot. The improvement was dramatic and remains so to this day. Despite Millercarbon's argument to the contrary, I would urge folks with shorter cable runs to give it a shot. It might save you a lot of money.