Who makes budget speaker cables which are truly “good” or “exceptional” in quality?

Your Analysis Plus are truly a budget and bargain cable.

I've currently got speaker cables from Wireworld, Totem Acoustics and Audioquest.(IC's from Morrow, bluejean and Signal Cable)  Originally when I discovered the benefits of good cables I gravitated towards the smaller internet direct companies, thinking that they could give me the same performance for hundreds less.  That was my bias.

But I've found that while the Blue Jeans, Morrow and Signal Cables etc of the market place do make good cables, they also make cables that are nothings special with their entry level stuff.  

I just bought some speaker cables that are the best I've ever had, and they were well under $1000.  I've never even heard cables that go for big money, but if the Audioquest Rocket 44 are any indication, the expensive stuff must sound amazing.

After only a few days, the 44's are very impressive.  The pinpoint imaging puts the vocal in a single point source instead of a generalized area of about 18 inches.  The detail, imaging and SQ all took a big jump over the old cables, Wireworld Oasis 7.  The speakers are not really expensive, Totem Rainmaker, and I wasn't sure what the point would be of getting higher end cables for a budget speaker.  I should mention the 44's are biwire, so I took the jumpers off the Rainmakers.

I actually bought the 44's because they were sold off by a dealer who was closing down, and I paid less than half of retail.  I thought I'd try them out then flip them for a tidy profit.  But these cables are going nowhere.  

So they've kind of reintroduced me to what the traditional distribution/retail brands can do.  For around $440 for an 8 foot pair, the Rocket 44 are worthy of consideration.  And they don't take 500 hours to break in as the Morrow cables I've got do.

To try this will cost you next to nothing! Go to a store like Big R and buy say 40 feet of 12 ga solid core furnace wire , cut them to to 10 ft each,  (this is very stiff solid core wire) kinda ugly poor man james bond thing here, however  to date i have not heard a better pair of stranded wires out there that sounds as good, considering this test will only cost you 13.00 -15.00 ? why not try it, im running them on rogue stereo 100 amp/ rogue perseus magnum preamp (rolled to nos holland amperex bugel boys) and morrow ma-1 solid core interconnects  for playstation 1 ( cd duties ) and morrow ph-1 solid core 24 ga from a vpi scout 2 w/ AT art 9 mc  cart, im done trying to improve sound, im very pleased with this system and can finally relax and listen to the music for what it was intended , enjoyment ! not evaluating, always evaluating for the next big giant killer. just my 2 cents on speaker wire world of sports.

Never having spent big $$$ on cables, I would state that going from your usual twisted copper ala Monster etc. to belden 9497 hook up wire made an easily audible improvement. Tinned stranded copper in a twisted configuration similar to the Deuland wire mentioned on the first page.

I have tried all the usual suspects under about $1500.
Best buys are Clear Day for rock/pop and AudioArt for acoustic music .
AudioArt harmonics are good at any price .

I would love to try Clear day cables...I just wish they looked better. I do like some of the visual qualities of some cables. 

Audio Envy has been brought to my attention. Looks like some folks replaced their $$$$ cables with these.

I replaced my Cardas Golden Reference ICs with those from Audio Envy. The difference is highly palpable ... the Audio Envy ICs are very well-balanced and lack the mid-bass bloat of the Cardas GR.

I made myself a pair of cables using DH Labs Q-10 bulk wire and DH Lab's locking banana plugs (nice quality). They aren't dirt cheap, but a pair of 8ft cables is under $400 with DH Lab's 10% coupon. These were a big improvement over the Audioquest and Nordost cables I was using. The Q-10 cables won't be a match for every system, but in my system (Parasound JC-5 and Goldenear Tritons) they provide a nice smooth sound with excellent bass and great imaging. A step up in clarity compared to the Audioquests (Mammoth) and a much fuller, richer sound than the Nordost (Red Dawn). 

Anyone else tried Knukonceptz Karma 8 guage with their bananas, they sound great to me and very low cost for what you get. Their interconnects also work very well.

Clear Day, Blue Jeans, my Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval 8’s at the used price that I paid...

very happy with Blue Jean Cables - even made in US - Seattle - I have a pair of their RCA interconnects and locking banana plug speaker cables - I save a ton of $ on the latter by terminating them myself. Great banana plugs and online instructions.

Hi,
I have tried about six different speaker cables across a wide price spectrum, including the OP's Analysis Plus cables. I spent a great deal of time researching speaker cables and found it to be quite frustrating, noting there are two camps, one that says there is nothing special about speaker cable with the exception of resistance, and the other pointing out why very special designs and materials can and will make a difference. During my testing of different cables I found myself in-between the two camps. Different speaker cables DO SOUND DIFFERENT! Solid core, high strand count, low strand count, silver plating, braiding, super special copper, dielectric, etc.. The most important thing I learned was that price was NOT correlated to performance! In fact, the most expensive cable I tried did not perform well in my system, there was a lack of bass. My adventure led me to select either a Kimber 8TC or Blue Jeans 10 White made by Belden for Blue Jeans, 5T00UP. The choice was simple, the Blue Jeans cable for around $50.

I will close by saying during my testing of different cables it was a bit frustrating because the differences in SQ that I noted were small. In some cases very small. I would also like to note that companies like Kimber and Belden post the specifications of their cables and don't hide behind any claims of suspect technology. So, yes, I would recommend Blue Jeans cable 10AWG/White cable if your priority is price vs. performance.

Thanks for reading! 

Hi,
What I would like to correct in my closing of my post is: "Best price to performance ratio".

Thanks!

I guess that this is open to anything if cable deniers are welcome.
There is such a thing as Fire Alarm cable.

It is bare (good) solid copper (good) with polypropylene insulation (good) and a PVC jacket, which it would be better to remove to lessen the capacitance.  It comes in gauges like 18, 16, and 14.
It has the scientific characteristics that you would want in a hi-fi cable, at zip-cord prices.

It costs about a quarter a foot.  You just have to find cable that is polypropylene (some of it is vinyl) and a distributor that will sell you less than a full roll.

mrearl (above)  -  a voice of reason is a sea of misunderstanding, dishonesty, naivete and confusion.

I've been very happy with Blue Jeans Cable  interconnects and speaker cables.  

Their speaker cables are made from quality Belden 12 ga and 10 ga stock, with welded terminals (Spade, locking banana, etc,)

Speaker cables are cut to the exact length you need.