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
As always, I sanction Erik's recommendation. I have Mogami 3103 speaker cable, self-terminated, and it is very worthy.  I recently got Von Damme 2x6mm speaker cable and it is maaaaybe a bit more detailed than the Mogami.  You can half your budgeted expediture with either of these cables. Many folks like Clear Day's Shotgun speaker cable, too, and it is well under your budget.  Personally, I would avoid speaker cable with silver content as it has alway seems bright to my ears.  


I always thought the Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ or Audioquest Clear cables sounded very good. Reasonable in used condition now.
<dealer disclaimer>
Purist Audio Design makes excellent cables.  With a $600 budget you can find Purist Musaeus Rev C and Purist Musaeus Praesto bi-wire speaker cables at your 3.0m-3.5m length need...they are such low noise, high detail, musical cables, it's hard to find fault with them.  I haven't heard a cable outperform them at each price point.  Good luck on your search.
Thanks for all the recommendations. I sent the AQ CV-8 cables back for replacement. If these don't work out I have many suggestions to try!

hi i have used various cables over the last 35 years , i would like to suggest Townshend audio DCT isolda speaker cable , Townshend audio have been around some 5 decades there factory is over here in the uk everything is manufactured to a very high standard, please check the company out on the internet , theres some great deals for there DCT isolda speaker cables on ebay.co.uk you could pick up a 3m length for around 450/500gbp you will not be disappointed the openness and 3D imaging can come as a shock if you are not used to it the overall sound remains very natural , i also use there fractal interconnects the designs of these cables makes for some very interesting reading i am not a dealer or have any financial interests involved , im just offering some very honest and hopefully helpful advice regards john