Wayner, you're a brave man to take on one of those guiding principles of audio (if its new and cost more, it must be better).
Money burning holes in their pockets is the only reason I can come up with for spending thousands on cabling. Yes, I've heard the difference between two $1000 "well respected" speaker cables (one looked like a garden hose, the other was a very thin wire inside a thin sheet of clear plastic). Both pointed out weaknesses of the other. So what's the point? I have limited funds to spend on audio (some apparently don't), so it goes mostly into components (speakers, amplification, and source).
For a couple of years I used cryo'd single strand plenum rated CAT5, but my Jon Risch inspired cables are obviously superior. But they cost $140/pair versus $20 from a group buy. By audiophile standards they are reasonably priced and use a well known common sense design. I have no interest in replacing them.
I'm an old school audio guy, and won't spend serious money on tweaks. IMO much of the tweaky stuff amounts to bandaids, seasoning with colorations, improving products that never got sufficient R&D, or just messing with heads. Some seem to base most of their system performance on tube rolling, power supplies, vibration control, room treatments, and of course cabling options. I prefer a little more science behind any design, but do recognize that science will never have all the answers.
