Please Help Me Choose a Speaker Cable


I need to replace my existing speaker cable setup with something more wife-friendly. I am currently bi-wiring with Audioquest Type 4 (tweeters) and Aperature 16 (woofers). About 20 years ago I bought the wires off a spool and had them built w/ banana plugs. You can see a pic of the offensive cable setup on my system page (https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6318). I put a nice jacket over the cables hoping that would be enough to clean up the messiness.

What I want is something of equal quality that will also fit inside my VTI speaker stands. The stands have a 3/4 inch opening and the 4 banana plugs don’t fit through. I want to continue bi-wiring but would go single if the sound was just as good on a different set of cables. A bi-wired cable terminated with two spades at the amp side would fit through the stands (2 banana plugs might fit also).

I don't want to spend more than $600 and need a 10-12 ft. pair. There appear to be a lot of options on Agon right now. I see names I know are pretty good like Audioquest and Kimber. If I were to pick one I would probably go with the Audioquest Rocket 88 or CV-8 or maybe the PS Audio Xstream. Maybe there are better options for less? Will the cables in this price range be good as or better than what I have? If not, maybe I should try terminating the two cables into one set of banana plugs on the amp end to see if that fits.  I guess I would prefer spades because they would be more flush to the speakers, thus a little cleaner looking.  

Thanks.
treebeard1
sell your amp and put monoblocks close to the speakers, then don't worry about cables

- how would she like that?

(actually, it doesn't matter if she likes it - the thing to do is to ask her if she likes the idea; she will like being asked)
@Treebeard, those are the ones I bought for my Vandies. They sound great to my ears and are supposedly an upgrade from the Rocket 88 (AQ's description), .
Only thing is they are 36v, mine are 72v. I think you can upgrade them, but best to contact AQ. Is single biwire okay for your speakers?
The price isn't bad. I say offer him/her $350.
@randy-11
Sounds like a great plan. I’ll ask her when she gets home :)

@gdnrbob
I sent AQ an email. It looks like the CV-8 is using the Star-Quad Series GO-4 configuration and the Rockefeller uses the Star-Quad Series AG-4 configuration, which is a step up. Although I’m not sure how the 36v vs 72v issue plays out. Either way, I think they are both better than what I have. Depending on upgrade costs I’m leaning toward the CV-8 on Amazon.  I'm leaning toward spades, which I know will fit through the speaker stands.