Need speaker cable recommendations ...

I would second the idea that you use a source which allows for trial and return. Get a buddy to switch them back and forth and determine whether you really hear a difference. There is a LOT of snake oil here, my friend. Charlie.

Most of the differences in cables of any kind have to do with component interface and personal tastes. With that in mind, you really do need to audition a few cables and see what floats your boat. Some amp / speaker combos will respond quite drastically to speaker cable swaps and some may be barely noticeable if at all. The only way that you'll find out is to see for yourself.

You can do this by either hooking up with some type of dealer that allows auditions or buying several used cables and then unloading what you don't like. If you do your shopping right, you should be able to find several variations to choose from at the price mentioned. When reselling the "left-overs", you should be able to at least break even if you did your homework at the initial time of purchase. That's the approach that i took and found the first hand experience to be WELL worth the effort. Sean
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High end speaker manufacturers have used aluminum wire in their finest drivers for many years. The wire on the voice coils is small and there is a lot of it. Since the cheapest copper is far better than aluminum size for size, I suggest you get some cheap copper wire. Twelve gauge would be a nice over kill. If you don't like the idea of copper wire, use aluminum wire three sizes larger.

I've tried a lot of wire in last 20 years like (vampire/kimber 4tc 8tc pbj hero plus select 1010 1011 3033 3035/cardas/audioquest/xlo/transparent/tara/ The biggest dispointment and suprisingly bad and I mean bad was the tansparent cable, it was hard & nasty no matter the length of the break in. The 2nd best I found is cardas haxlink gold rich in harmonics A nice speaker cable. The best that I think is the finest I found is by a small company called wasatch cable works. It is natural & articulate & at the same time give a wide and deep soundstag. The reproduction is three-dimensional thats "IT" OOOOH YEAH here is the wbe page (www.WasatchCableWorks.com)

I recently bought some PS Audio FR5 speakers, the first speakers I've owned that can be bi-wired/bi-amped.  (they are pretty awesome speakers, BTW)  I decided to buy some bi-wire speaker cables and I landed on a cable by a company with the pretty ambitious name of World's Best Cables.  The description on Amazon and their model name is "WORLDS BEST CABLES 15 Foot Ultimate - 7 AWG - Ultra-Pure OFC – Extra Premium Audiophile HiFi Bi-Wire Speaker Cable Pair with Eminence Gold Banana Plugs & Carbon Tweed Jacket".  It's a mouthful for sure.  WBC has a really awesome return policy:  24 months, full refund, no questions asked.  That gives you time to break them in, get to know them and compare them to any other cables you want.  WBC encourages you to use that return policy.  They say most reputable cable companies offer a similar warranty, so you have time to buy and return a bunch of different cables.   

I bought 10' cables and was pretty happy with them.  I recently had to rearrange my components and needed 15' cables, so after 14 months I returned the 10s and bought 15s.  No sweat, no problem, full refund, including tax on the original purchase and the shipping to return the old ones.  Personally, I think that's a pretty good deal.    

I didn't compare the WBC to anything but the heavy gauge Monster cable and heavy gauge no-name bare cable I'd been using for the past umpteen years.  I liked the WBC better, but was it the cable, the PS Audio FR5s, or the fact they they were bi-wired?   I don't know...