The best speaker cables you’ve had

I am 70 years old, and been a stereo enthusiast since age 18. I don't claim to be an audiophile because that means I would have to suspend reality (in some cases) and believe in magic. I envy those audiophiles who do believe in magic as it makes it a lot more fun for them.  Like believing in Santa Claus. 16 gauge lamp cord sounds about the same as the more expensive cables I have tried. I don't use lamp cord now, because of other biases we all have in this hobby. I use Blue-Jeans cable. Their Canare 4S11 "star quad" 14 gauge.  My system is mainly McIntosh. I have a 400 watt amplifier that drives speakers capable of handling a 1000w. They stand almost 6 feet tall and weigh 170 lbs each. 14 gauge wire is perfectly adequate (as would 16 gauge lamp cord.)

Currently own: Thales Speaker Cable 3M Terminated in Spade Connectors & Kimber Kable 2M Pair Bifocal XL terminated with WBT Copper Locking banana plugs.

Future...something homemade

Analysis Plus 9AWG single minimum. Hard to DIY on this one. Copper is all you need... Double 9AWG or 8AWG even better. I tried "listening" to these cables and like others here I heard nothing................. untill I hooked up the speakers! Have Fun!

So many different opinions!  I personally love Shunyata Alpha v2's.  I went from Cardas Golden Cross to Audience Au24 to MIT Shotgun 3.3 to Morrow Audio SP7 and finally to the Shunyata's.  I liked every single pair, honestly, but as my system upgraded and my wallet, these do it for me, although I do wonder how the knockoff Nordost Odin 2's sound . . . I have hear very positive reports on them!

Back when my ears were "young".  The best I heard was a generic "Orange" TrueValue Hardware 12g extension cord with the ends lopped off and terminated into spade connectors with McIntosh tube amps and/or Technics SA-1000 into Inifinty RS-IIs. Granted, back then it was all Lamp-Cord or Bell-Wire anyways.   

In my 50's now, and although I can still hear up to 15K, I doubt changing cables these days are worth the time/effort/cost.  LOL.  I stick to BlueJeans and Mogami these days and am totally happy.