New Audioquest cables equivalent to Audioquest to the old ones

With interconnects (latest versions to the right; ballpark 1m list prices are in parenthesis):
WEL - no earlier equivalent, but multiple revisions
Wild (4500) - no earlier equivalent, but multiple revisions
Sky I (2200) > Sky II (2700) > Fire (3000)
Cheetah (1000) > Niagara (1750) > Wind (2000)
**PSS Silver above here; PSC+ Copper below**
Panther (600) > Colorado (900) > Earth (1100)
Jaguar (350) > Columbia (450) > Water (500)
**DBS above here; no DBS below**
King Cobra > Yukon

Even towards the bottom & left are decent cables, but as 4425 mentioned, the Wind on up are really excellent -- this is where real improvements can be easily discerned on high-resolution gear. I also find even the ancient Sky I to be within a few hairs’ width of the "excellent" level as well (much warmer than Wind, though).

With speaker cables, they’ve changed so much in geometry and metal mixes that this is a futile exercise.

@edsky it can be a tough choice between Sky and Wind - or not - depending on your needs. Wind is ultimately the more resolving cable by a slight amount, but also a little tipped-up on top. It will wake up your system if it’s a bit dark. Wind would be more similar to Cheetah in its regard, but also it’s clearly advanced to become far more resolving and dynamic than its older counterpart (I’m not a big fan of the Cheetah). Sky is tonally the better balanced cable, with a touch of warmth in the mids and down low. I think Sky is a safer bet sonically for most systems, but beware of counterfeits! And this is made more difficult by the fact there were a few versions of Sky over the years, with minor changes to braids and connectors, and internals.

If you can verify the history of the Sky, any version (but better if later versions), I’d go with that - it’s a great cable. But as an extra warning, the worst counterfeit pic I’ve seen online was an exact Sky braid that was cut open to reveal copper (probably Columbia) internals! Yikes.

Fire is simply excellent. Much better low end than Wind, best detail and spatialization of all 3. Neutral overall tone. It will be more dynamic, punchy, and speedy vs a Sky. However both the Sky (v1) and Wild are the only PSS silver cables I’ve heard with a touch of warmth. If you’re fighting an analytical system nature the Fire won’t combat that, but then cables are probably not the right tool for that anyways. Fire might still be the better choice for you. The used Fire prices have come down some, and they are a lot less likely to be counterfeit than Sky.

Awesome Ed! I hope you hear exactly what the rest of us have been hearing, and love them. I run 3 sets of WEL Signature interconnects in my current system, but often wonder if I should've just stuck to Fire and diverted the resources elsewhere. The Fire sounds more like a "WEL Jr." to me than any of their other cables.