Im going to regret my cable question

I’ve been a cable-aficionado for a long time.   In my experience, ’better’ speaker cables had an impact in my system, but the least impact in the overall SQ.  

OP

. . . but if we accept that “better” cables make a difference then that’s the improvement I’m looking for.

Not trying to be difficult but shouldn’t even that sort of upgrade improve things in general?

Improve things in general?   Improve things how?  Dynamics, tone, timbre, a fuller midrange, extension in the HF, extension in the LF, a blacker background, less distortion in the vocals . . . ?   

After many years of tweaking, my observations for improvement to the SQ in my system are in this order: (1) power conditioning (2) power cords (3) digital IC’s (4) analog IC’s (5) speaker cables.

OP

In the end I still think they will all pretty much be the same. I don’t really cater to the whole “wow, that totally changed my system” theory. I still think a lot of what we hear is based on the dollar sign.

You’ve established your confirmation bias.   Why waste money on something that you’ll regret?

Instead, treat yourself to a wonderful canoe camping trip in La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve in Québec. It’s spectacular!  A worthy investment for peace of mind. 

You kind of nailed it steakster. As much as I had the craving to add new cables I have really returned to my long held opinion that anything above and beyond my Type 4’s will really not change things. It’s not like I’m using coat hangers now.

Days of searching for any crumb of empirical data on line to support my desire to upgrade has only brought me back to my old way of thinking. In fact the only evidence I find is that there is little to no difference. At least not to human ears. Specially my 63 year old ones.

Thanks to all of you for your input. It was appreciated. I’ll put the cash towards a new stylus/cartridge on my Rega.

I am up grading my home theater/music system, and trying WBC Cables, on reviews I have read.  They come in different wire sizes, so I am buying the 7 AWG wire size.  I have them in hand, and the quality and build looks to be very good.  Can’t wait to hear them.  Bought on Amazon of all places.

I only use McIntosh type audio cables.  They are well designed and have the lowest resistance to flow of all cables I’ve used.  

You ask 50 people what is the best XXX component and you will get 60 different answers. It doesn’t matter what kind of music you listen too. Do you want to change cables if you play jazz after just playing rock?

Getting many different responses, which you will, will make your decision more complicated. There are only a few cable manufacturers that sell cables in your price range. Ignore the ultra cheap like blue Jean cables and others because they are lifeless.

IMO, start with speaker cables. There are companies and dealers out there that give you 30 days to decide if you want them or not. So bring in multiple cables (I’ve brought in 6 or more cables when I did my auditioning) and use them in your system to come up with a cable that sounds best to you, not to me, not to anybody on the web, but to you using your system. After picking a brand and model, buy their interconnects, same brand and model, and you will have system synergy.