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

Whoops, I included one too many words in the edit  Omit "effects" after "prices".

danvigna,
Why on earth would you use McIntosh as an example? Their products are SO much cheaper than other brands like Soulution and Dartzeel.  

@johnnyaudiogoon - Hilarious and well articulated. Enjoyed a heavy laugh reading your post.

My father-in-law (who has his graduate degree in electrical engineering from UofI) tried to dissuade me in looking at pricier cables - bringing in his educational background and “science”.

I can’t wait to offer him some watermelon with mustard. 

Acoustic Zen and harmonic technology are extremely good cables that's because they use OCC single crystal wire which is far superior to anything ofc on the market. But there are other companies that are charging an arm and a leg for OCC single Crystal AZ and HT are very reasonably priced, and all the manufacturers that use OCC single Crystal are buying it from only three places and Wan lung in Taiwan is the cheaper of the three. The other two OCC manufacturers are in Japan. So the only thing that will make a difference is how the cable geometry is designed and they're all pretty much the same whether you pay the high price of audioquest or the more reasonably priced of AZ and HT.

Acoustic Zen and harmonic technology are extremely good cables that’s because they use OCC single crystal wire which is far superior to anything ofc on the market.

I am definitely not a member of the Science! Police, however...

If what you claim were true, it should be extremely simple to demonstrate such superiority through measurements that can be translated to audible differences. Can you point readers to any such tests?

Surely the manufacturers of cables that include such wire would be keen to prove its superiority, no?