Top Ten Speaker Cables of all time?...

I have compared several of these cables, and as usual, my vote goes to Purist Audio. The Dominus RLS being first choice. Next would come the standard Dominus (non RLS). Yes, I have heard them. I own them and they are worth what they cost, at least in my system.

Avguygeorge, all the cable in my system, including the balanced and single ended interconnects, Power cords, and speaker cable (including the Dolby 5.1 surround sound) is all Purist Audio. The two channel is all top of the line Dominus, with the 38 foot long run (Preamp to mono amps) being Dominus RLS (Radiant Light Source). The surround sound is Proteous, which is the next line down from Dominus. The only exception is the power cables (Omega Micro) on the Walker motor controller for the Walker turntable. These were supplied by Lloyd Walker, and I have not ordered two more Dominus power cords to see if they work better than these. For me to describe the Purist, they really don't have a personality, at least not like most of the other cables I have tried. A reviewer friend of mine just recently got a full systems worth of Dominus, and when compared to other cables he has owned (a lot of them!) he described the Purist to me as one of the finest cables he has ever heard, with his only objection being that it seemed to slow the music down just a bit. I personally do not know how music can be "slowed down." I think of that description when speaking of an error in speed in a turntable. I guess if he means that the Purist has no "bleeding" edge or brightness, or sticks out any place in the audio spectrum, then I agree with him. The sound is not exciting, just accurate, liquid, ULTRA low distortion, VERY black (due to screening against RF and EMI) and very phase accurate. If I had to complain, I guess the dynamics seem perhaps a bit compressed, but that is usually a normal perception in sonics when a cable removes the hash and bright bits from the musical spectrum. If your system happens to sound better with one of these artifacts, then the Purist could perhaps sound lacking. Personally, I have found that it is easier to have a beautifully accurate cable, and get the desired tonal balance changes with isolation devices, tubes and other tweaks, rather than give up the really special qualities that the Purist delivers. Just my opinion, works in my system, but you need to try it for yourself. By the way, I don't guess you live close enough to me to borrow cable? I have at least one run of Dominus single ended interconnect that I am not using right now, it is about 10 feet.

If you order the Proteous new, and let Jim Aud at Purist know where in the system it is going, be can fine tune that cable so there is very little difference between it and the Dominus. The advantage in the Dominus is that no matter where you put it, in about three weeks, it will have "figured out" what is the best signal path and broken in to whatever it is connected to. Same story when it is moved to new components, just give it time to adapt. The Proteous will work very well in every situation, but ultimately not up to the absolute level of the Dominus. Primarily the difference is in the signal to noise and dynamics. The tonal balance is extremely close, with the Dominus having a slight advantage in the deep bass. However, I cannot tell any difference in the (perceived) distortion characteristics at all.