Perhaps the best match between components, speaker, room, and expectations permits the use of ordinary cables.
My secondary system was magic out of the box. The interconnects are stock Sony es with Radio Shack 16 gauge unterminated speaker wire. The power cords are all stock and plugged into a cheapo surge protector strip. Any attempts I ever made to "upgrade" any of the cables resulted in worse sound.
On my main system, cable upgrades have been noticeable and some are better than others. There are also some cables that were obviously just system wrong. The thing that I find strange is the one system that sounds so darn good with only the cheapest, while the other wants the high price spread.
My secondary system was magic out of the box. The interconnects are stock Sony es with Radio Shack 16 gauge unterminated speaker wire. The power cords are all stock and plugged into a cheapo surge protector strip. Any attempts I ever made to "upgrade" any of the cables resulted in worse sound.
On my main system, cable upgrades have been noticeable and some are better than others. There are also some cables that were obviously just system wrong. The thing that I find strange is the one system that sounds so darn good with only the cheapest, while the other wants the high price spread.