Speaker Cables? why all the hype for expensive speaker wire?

What are you comparing it to?

You may have just proved a point about the differences that can be heard - moving to,quote "higher purity copper" and "hearing things on my records I never heard before", unquote. Like you did, sometimes we just have to try and compare. More expensive is not always better. Finding a good match with your speakers and your system is something that does not always occur on the first try. Most people give up and settle on whatever they buy. It can be fun to find regional colleagues to swap cables with and try it that way too. Whatever works for you.

@ozzy "I have found that as I improve my components the difference in the cables connecting them together matters."...

Absolutely.  

@georgehoffmann60 +1 for Peter at the CableCompany

Agree. A great option for new folks who are curious and wanting to demo first. Its not free.  However, If I had to do it all over again, I'd start with 2-3 pairs of loaner cables from CableCo and skip all the buy & try & resale steps in between. Less cost, huge time saving. They have a decent knowledge base built up over decades of customer feedback, trials, documented.  

If someone only tries low-grade low-cost cables and never compares them hands on to really good cables (in a high end system with great upstream components) you likely will never know what you are missing. Kinda like buying a really nice sports touring car and only driving it in your local neighborhood.

What’s the saying..."if i have to explain it you wouldn’t understand".

The best test is your ears, if you can. If someone can’t hear a difference, no need to believe it, or wonder, save yourself the $. As MC hinted above, its no members job here to convince otherwise. Go discover.

I compared four different low, mid-grade, and higher grade bi-wire speaker cables to the budget builders Home Depot zip cord for fun, even ran it in bi-wire configuration, with and without connector ends. The HD cord is grainy sounding at best, not good in my system. Might be okay for some in lower efficiency speaker systems, if you want to convince yourself its good.   The result with the HD zip cord is missing some high and low frequency.  A limited design, limited conductor, limited insulation (dielectric), resulting in added NOISE. The opposite of clean, clear, smooth, or even dark sounding cables. If you like this HD zip cord sound, or can’t hear a difference, save your $. Some people like added salt in their ice cream, have at it! We all hear differently. Enjoy!