Speaker cables with good timbre

This is an update to my original message. I decided to start my search at the lower price range. I did that because after 35 yrs in this hobby i've come to realize that more expensive does not necessarily means better. Also the fact that if i don't like a pair of expensive speaker cables i may have to wait mths until they sell. That will considerably slow down my search. Having said that, i've decided to try some Chinese cables from Ali Express. If you are a person with strong political views, you should stop reading now. The cables in question are the Xangsane SP 6008 and the 5N OCC ( Black Jacket ). I'll start by saying that both these cables are exceptional at their price range. The both have great instrument separation, very balanced presentation, transparency and timbre. Of the two i found the 5N OCC to  have more detail with sparkling highs and a spot on midrange. The cables feels very coherent and musical to me. I realize that some people out there do not like or want  to hear that but thats how i see it. These cables sound like more expensive cables and when you add the price they are asking for it, it makes you wonder. I'm going to continue listening to the 5N OCC for the next few weeks to see if the sound changes with break in. If it does for the better i think i may be all set. They are that good. 

@audiogabby nice find! Congrats!

@audiogabby Sounds like your journey might be over. Or perhaps you're simply at a resting place...

I was a bit of a skeptic but, through a happy accident, I have learned that everything makes a difference. Whether it is an improvement or a degradation will be system dependent.

I am using Cardas Neutral Reference speaker wires and Jena Labs Symphony interconnects.  They work very well in my system.

Why not use what they employ in professional recording and mixing studios

@audiogabby

If you want to test out cables, the Cable Company has a lending library. I use it just to hear other manufacturer’s designs, or, if Shunyata comes out with a new design, I can listen to it. They do charge for that (I think 5% of the retail price), but it works out because even if I don’t buy the cable, whatever it cost is held for me, and applied to a future purchase.

And recommendations are good, but you should also know what kind of music people listen to. Some cables that sound good on a mainly pop music diet don’t necessarily have all the tonal beauty or micro/macro-dynamics that say, classical or jazz music have in abundance.

Furutech, whom I have just written a comment about in another thread, is a very good cable, but cool-ish. I would not want to listen to brass instruments with Furutech; the leading edge will be great. All the "audiophile" stuff (i.e., soundstaging, imaging) will be there, but a faithful timbre? Not so much as some others. Transparent, Shunyata, Synergistic all have cables with a fuller "color" palette, plus some cables that others have recommended. Cardas cables also lean towards "warmth," but that means (or, at least, it used to mean) that all the instruments would sound wam, even ones that should not be warm (Shunyata, up until the Z-Tron line, had some of the same colorations, extremely evident in the CX line. So did Synergistic circa 2015 or so). Asking recommendations is a bit like asking a vegetarian about the best fish dish and they recommend soy tilapia. (I don't even know if that's a real food, by the way!) Taste is sometimes an unreliable arbiter.

So if you value good timbre, I’d suggest you listen for yourself if you haven’t found a cable since your original post. What some of us extoll will not necessarily please your own ears.