Higher end value cables

I’m awaiting a pair of IC’s and Nirvana speaker cables from Jason at Virtue. He is a pleasure to deal with and is very responsive to emails- excellent communication. I think he does what he does as a labor of love, as trite as that might sound, as a service to those fellow audiophiles who don’t have F-You kind of crazy money to spend on cables, and I’m eager to try his stuff in my all-tube system. I have no other affiliation.

More later when I’ve listened.

I second gcp's suggestion.  Virtue Nirvana are BIG bang for the buck, and then some.  You'll also find Jason a completely stand-up guy who is truly dedicated to providing his customers with excellent cables,  at real world prices. His craftsmanship is also exemplary.
No affiliation except as a very happy customer.  Right now I'm burning in a pair of the Nirvana speaker cables and am loving it.  Once they have another 80 or so hours on 'em, in go a pair of his IC's from preamp to my mono tube amps. 

@easola01:

Yep. See my post above. Right out of the box they immediately sounded a lot better than my BJC Belden. Smoother, deeper and wider soundstage, and more detail at low listening volume. There's an immediate 'ease" to the music which surprised the heck out of me. That's not to say that it's at all "euphonic."  I'd say it's warmer than cold but not veiled.

I’ve also used Grover’s Empress, older MIT garden hose, Anti-cables, Western Electric 16awg cult wire (very hard to find now) Audio Art, a few different flavors from Supra, and some others, which I’ve forgotten. So far, even not fully broken in, Jason’s cables deliver big time. Maybe it’s just fortunate synergy with the rest of my gear, but dang, I’m happy. Another plus is that they are very pleasing to my eye as well as my ear. I’m very eager to hear what his IC’s sound like paired with the speaker cable.

@easola01:

All I can say is, that in my system, which has world class tube preamp and mono amps, Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor M and Magnepan .7 speakers, I can definitely hear differences between the speaker cables I’ve tried. Most recently, as I mentioned above, I have replaced the Blue Jeans 12AWG Belden with the Virtue Nirvanas and prefer the Virtues. You can likely get good results from 12AWG magnet wire but it’s s PITA to use, especially in a run much longer than say 5 or 6 feet. I’ve been there.  I've got no horse in this race.  I'm pretty sure Jason offers money-back trial period.  You've got nothing to lose except a few bux in postage.  As others have mentioned, there's also the Cable guys you could talk to.  Clear Day in Arizona makes some fine silver cables which are well-priced- the owner Paul is a great guy.

YMMV

Update RE: Virtue Audio cables.
My Nirvana speaker cables are now broken in- well over 100 hours. I am extremely pleased.
My Nirvana interconnects have about 50 hours on them and have become noticeably better. At first, they sounded a bit "veiled" compared to the Grover Huffman ICs I had been using, which were of course already well broken in.

Gradually, Jason’s IC’s began to open up, more detail, more "air" and became more "musical". I think the synergy between the Nirvana speaker cable and the interconnects is a key factor. I found that his IC’s needed relatively more time to break in than his speaker cables- that’s my system of course. As always, YMMV

At this point, I’m loving what I am hearing. I suspect that another 20 or 30 hours on the IC’s will yield even further improvement.

One last comment. Jason provides terrific customer service and what he does is clearly a labor of love- great products at affordable prices for folks who appreciate great value and return on their hard-earned money.

No hype, no "magic", no snake oil.