Bear Labs compared to Say -Acoustic Zen Silver ???

Ken, I can only tell you that the Bear Labs Silver Lightning interconnects are indeed killers, I use them throughout my system. They gave the Siltechs and Wireworld Silver Eclipse III--my two favorite cables--a fight to the draw, and the price of the Bear Labs won me over. But keep in mind I strongly prefer silver wire, and use all tubes, so as always choices are system dependent.

The Bear Labs speaker cables are also nice, but not in the same league as the interconnects, IMO. I still prefer Siltech and Wireworld there, or, if I need a fuller sound, my JPS Superconductors always work nice.

But the interconnects, they are a serious bargain, no doubt about it. Neutral and open, with no glare whatsoever. Highly recommended.

I know someone who sold their Silver Reference(to me)and replaced them with bear labs ICs. That should tell you something....

Bearlabs I/C performed better in my (ss) system than the quattro-fil (Nordost): better tonal balance, lower and clearer in the bass and, importantly, the upper register is clear, natural-sounding (i.e a triangle is indeed that) and well extended without being shrill @ 10-15kHz. I also use the speaker cables on the mids & tweeters.

The Valhalla speaker cable performs better on my system -- admittedly, by a small margin on the upper register (it is slightly more pronounced). BUT, more expensive by a very large margin, and Bearlabs are reasonably priced -- but not a cheapo cable!

Bearlabs still (I think) have a trial policy, so why not try before you buy... as Dkuipers says, cables are system and ears dependent! I'd be interested in your findings if you do try them...
Cheers!