Thanks Guys, this is a tough one. Sure I can (and do) read a bunch. The problem is that everyone has their favorites and without first hand hearing experience you don't know if their ears, gear & room fit my ears, gear, and room.
I'm most surprised by MC's statement about reading as being a better method than listening. I've read an awful lot of his posts and that seems to go against his usual advice - that being to use your ears.
I'll probably try the listening tests either through borrowing from my dealer (Probably won't work as they are pretty snobbish) or trying from the cable company.
I'm still struggling with where to start. I haven't set a budget in stone, but I'm unlikely to spend more than 1K on speaker cables. Unfortunately that still leaves a ton of cables to evaluate.
As for sound characteristics - that one is again difficult as I've not finalized my amp purchase. It will probably be one of the Pass Labs class A amps, but I'm also looking at Boulder and Constellation (Which I'd prefer to Pass, but $$ is an issue and these things aren't easy to find on the used market).
Dart board isn't a bad idea either... Just put 20 or 30 choices on the board and throw the dart as to which one you try. It could work?
I'm most surprised by MC's statement about reading as being a better method than listening. I've read an awful lot of his posts and that seems to go against his usual advice - that being to use your ears.
I'll probably try the listening tests either through borrowing from my dealer (Probably won't work as they are pretty snobbish) or trying from the cable company.
I'm still struggling with where to start. I haven't set a budget in stone, but I'm unlikely to spend more than 1K on speaker cables. Unfortunately that still leaves a ton of cables to evaluate.
As for sound characteristics - that one is again difficult as I've not finalized my amp purchase. It will probably be one of the Pass Labs class A amps, but I'm also looking at Boulder and Constellation (Which I'd prefer to Pass, but $$ is an issue and these things aren't easy to find on the used market).
Dart board isn't a bad idea either... Just put 20 or 30 choices on the board and throw the dart as to which one you try. It could work?