Help me pick some new or used speaker cables

Cardas Golden Reference should do the trick.

 Madison Audiolab E3 Extreme 1 cables. very revealing cable, and neutral I would say, not dull or flat, will take out the shrill.

Albedo Monolith Reference 

Zafino

Iconoclast

Silversmith Fidelium - about 1k and has many fans on this forum, maybe a bargain

Used Tara Lab RSC Air Evolution Speaker Cable - their best bang for buck in comparison with their top of the line cables aka their best sound but at an more affordable price point.

What are your current cables so that we have a point of reference. 

Audioquest Midnight

My experience is that Cardas Golden Reference is rolled off at both frequency extremes but has a wonderful midrange. I'm using some Audiomica cables that I've been enjoying for several years after being on the cable merry-go-round.

Why not just go up the AQ line? Robin Hood Zero may be?

and add an AQ power cord for your amp. Should be good synergy and not bright. 

Cardas Beyond for all. The warmth should help tame the system.Used Cardas Gold Cross.

Be careful with Cardas, some love it but many do not like it at all...I use Cerious on all my systems...

Appreciated all!

Now the hunt to find…

What are your current cables so that we have a point of reference. 

+1 @audphile1 Also, what interconnects are you using and what preamp and source are you using?

I may have a pair of Clarus Aqua eight foot spades all around for sale in the next few days. Moving up the chain.

I also have a pair of PAD tri-wire Venustas at 80ish inches, all spades.

Both sets reasonably priced over there.....😉

+1 for Cardas is you want to take the sting out of the top end.

Make your own - Mogami is the wire that most speaker cable manufacturer use.

Happy Making Cables.

Answer, courtesy of Google Gemini:

Wireworld Eclipse 8 Biwired Speaker Cable (2.5m/Spades): ($2,450) These offer pure Ohno Continuous-Cast copper conductors and OCC Silver Tri-Helix technology, known for clarity and detail. However, they might not provide significant high-frequency damping.

Kimber Kable Carbon 8 Speaker Cable (4.0 Meter - PM33 Spade to PM33 Spade): ($2,200) Features Kimber’s proprietary carbon-based conductor technology for a smooth, natural sound. Their "warm" presentation might offer some high-frequency taming.

Audience frontRow Center Channel Speaker Cable; Single: ($2,475) These cables utilize proprietary VSF conductors for detail and neutrality. Be aware, their neutral character might not emphasize high-frequency damping.

Venom-X Biwire Speaker Cable (Pair): ($2,500) These employ a braided geometry and silver-plated OCC copper conductors for clarity and dynamics. While detailed, they might not specifically tame high frequencies.

Some Cardas cables, particularly their higher-end models, are known for their warm and smooth sonic signature, which might be desirable for taming the upper frequencies in your setup. Some Cardas cables can be quite expensive, exceeding your $2.5k budget.

My answer: buy used.

+1 mogami

Sometimes you can find deals at Markertek .  I use them with these bananas.  Please plan to use the heat shrink to eliminate chance of shorts while installing.

Thank you all.  
I’m reading and learning tons on here-I appreciate all suggestions.  
In the interest of building system “synergy” I read that one should consider wires from the same company throughout.  This is tough to do with many of the names here it seems.  Cardas and AQ would be fairly easy, but Cardas golden reference are only avail from a seller in Greece on EBay.  Their interconnects are avail but pricey.   This leads me to AQ and I’m already using their digital cables.  Their stuff is readily avail at numerous different price points.

My pre-amp is an MW LS100 (with fancy tubes)

Amp is Rogue dragoN.  
Speakers are Chapman T-7 (4ohm, 90dB)

I have Rouge Audio M180.

I use Thales - one of the best Investments I made. They were 2.5K when I got them, but still worth the Scratch @ 3.5K..  I did a Comparison with another Brand that was 12K. IMHO Thales was the better cable.

Thales Audio

http://www.aaudioimports.com/ShowBrand.asp?hBrand=30

Fidelium Cables - my next Investment, Maybe..

Clarus Aqua is interesting

I’ve seen conflicting opinions on Mogami forever on these forums.  I’m not sure what to think

Have you tried positioning your speakers differently? Maybe swivel them out a bit if you have them facing your listening position.

@soix 

i responded earlier, but you may have missed my current cables are AQ midnights.  Current interconnects are Shunyata & AQ

I have played w speaker position.  As I have them toed ideally now for the central-image-3-d-sweet spot.  Not much else to do there as I have them as far away from the wall as I can get as well as a perfect equilateral triangle to my ears

For your type of music. A lot like mine and your system I would go with Staighwire Crescendos. Excellent cable for price and great bass. Including all ICs. 

I was thinking, if you have them toed in so you can't see the inside surface of the cabinets, you might be getting too much high frequency energy to your listening position. Try toeing them out until they are firing straight down the room and see if you get a reduction in high frequency energy. It might help to tame them a bit.

Been years since I’ve listened to AQ Midnight. Midnight was a pretty good cable for the money at the time but I recall it was great on the bass, but lifeless on the top; you can definitely do better. Being you have a ModWright Pre maybe read up on WyWires which Dan Wright used to use exclusively and recommend to his clients which I own as well. If you can find a used pair of the Platinum Series that’s what I’d suggest;,the Silver Series is still very good and will be far better than your current cables, by far. Real quick, WyWires are open, natural cables that just let the music flow and don’t draw attention to themselves. They’re pretty well known, but not a huge name so you don’t see lots of cables on the used market. Sometimes, Alex the owner has trade ins or show demos and will sell them… worth looking into. 
 

Don’t let the price fool you, but Canare 4S11 will be an improvement over your AQ Midnight. The Canare takes time to settle in so don’t rush to judgement. Good luck.

Have a look at Cable using PC Triple C Wire, there is a substantial improvement to be found using this wire, in my experiences if it in use on a selection of systems, it presents in a way that makes using the previous cables seem the unattractive option.

Usually thoughts go to what are all the options on PC Triple C.   

@adg101    Good timing.  My WyWires Gold Series speaker cables are listed here.

For your speakers, Clarity Cables Organic are a great solution.  They have no area of weakness, and will make all other cable sound thin in comparison.  I have very transparent, detailed speakers with authoritative bass in VMPS RM40 BCSE ribbon speakers with all the upgrades except the OXO.  I found out about the Clarity Cables Organic from Doug Schroeder, one of the reviewers from Dagogo Online.  He has been using them for years.  Heard them at his house.  They would be within your budget at the selling price.  I got my 8 ft. pair for about $1500 including 1 ft. long CC Organic jumpers.  After break in, they have been virtually a perfect fit.  They are also open and have very good texture in the lower mids and below.

Bob

@rkfaberdds strange the Chapman website specifies the tweeters as silk dome and you’re stating they’re titanium…was this a mod? May be I’m looking at a wrong model?

https://chapmanaudiosystems.com/CurrentModels/T-7.html

One important factor to good sound is room acoustics. Room is a component of your system. I don’t see any mention of any room acoustic treatments. If your room is untreated you can’t patch up the brightness with cables. Just keep that in mind.
You might be embarking on a quest for impossible. 
 

My speakers have titanium tweets and mids and my band opened for Zep in 1969, so obviously my opinion is the only one that matters. Ahem...the most recent version of Kimber's 8PR is the best deal out there. Period...no more discussion required...the end.

@rkfaberdds  Have you mentioned which power cables you have? 

I just started using Audio Art cables.  I started with their jumpers and they had a sound , so I bought a pair of their Statement e Series speaker cables and they also made a  positive change in the sound of my system.

All the best.

@audphile1 Stuart (Chapman) actually upgraded my T-7s about 15 yrs ago w new crossovers & tweets.  I suspect that’s when the SEAS(?) titanium tweets went in.

power cords are mix of Shunyata & I just bought a Cardas golden something (used).  So I think I’m going Cardas for a loom/synergy and ease of finding.  I like 0.5m lengths because I can & I like to keep it tidy behind the stand.

Thank you everyone, again, for your input

@wolf_garcia 

any stories to tell from that 1969 show?  A yr before I was born, but Zeppelin will always be my favorite band

Grover Huffman Pharoah speaker cables

Switch all your cables to OCC single crystal copper or silver but the copper is half the price and the improvement will amaze you, also getting Townshend podiums to put under your speakers will get rid of any vibration which destroys your sound, they isolate down to three hertz, not cheap though but definitely the biggest upgrade you'll ever do to any system.

I really enjoy Triode Wire Labs (out of Massapequa, NY) cables & not crazy priced. Worth checking out. 

Townshend Fractal F1. They will work with you on price. Fantastic cable and a big step up from the Cardas and and incremental improvement from the Silversmith. The Fideliums are definitely the best bang for the buck in speaker cables 

Regarding the Zep show in 1969, the answer is yes.

Zavfino Prima MKII cables $700 a pair for 2.5 meters, 30 day return policy with 15% restocking fee, partially broken in so they only require about 100 hours of additional break in, direct to consumer so no dealer mark up, OCC copper, cryo treated, 9 AWG cable

Save your money on this snake oil and use a fairly heavy duty stranded lanp cord line. Never heard any differance between most cables (blind test - In AES test facilities)

The best High frequancy cables are from litz cables in new york. BUt thesse are designed to carry high frequancy signals with very low loss becasue they are power cables. Litzwire dot com is the company. 

But truely just a starnded heavy duty cable with half decent connectors and keep your length of cable down to a minumum. 

THe other thing to watch out for is balancing your impedance to your capacidence  with longer lines. Flat foil cables work very good other than going to a litz type of cable. Everybody should use the blind listening test for all audio choices, Just wasting your moeny otherwise.

Supra, Sword Excalibur - excellent cables for use with tube gear. I use them in 8' lengths w/jumpers too on my Audio Note, AN-e. Just my opinion...

Save your money on this snake oil and use a fairly heavy duty stranded lanp cord line. Never heard any differance between most cables

@stealthdeburgo  Well, you’re in the vast minority here.  Sorry you are apparently unable to hear differences in cables but great that you can get by with just cheap lamp cord.  You’ll likely find a much more captive audience over on Audio Science Review (ASR) for what you’re peddling.

Litz wire dude, a long time before it corodes and turns green.

@stealthdeburgo 

Absolutely agree. Twin Flex, the same stuff that is in your walls should suffice. That said, if you buy second hand cable, do you need to 'break it in' again to hear the difference? asking for a friend :-)

@rkfaberdds if you’re content with AQ, you might stick with it. Chasing Cardas Golden Reference is a bit more of a task, as its not made new any more. I bought two pairs of the last run over a year ago from PcX, and while it was pretty good, i do prefer Cardas Clear and Cardas Clear Reflection more, but its more costly.

Ive owned a few sets of decent AQs that sort of held there own with some of the lower line Cardas, fwtw. Also if you dig in, ask an AQ rep where they source their (upper line) copper conductor from, wink wink. IF you are truly looking to "tame" high frequency, ime stay away from cheap silver or silver plated OCC copper which can lead you in the other direction. It can have a tendency to create added fatigue and glare (if) your Titanium tweeters truly are "too much" now. By chance If you are handy, rather than playing the addictive cable trial and error merry-go-round, just for grins you can also try a 1ohm or 2ohm resistor test on your Ti tweeter on one speaker, use the balance control R/L and compare back and forth.This will at least give you some ideas to try to help keep cost down. Best of Luck.

@rkfaberdds 

if purchasing used, beware of counterfeits especially AQ cables.