I respectfully disagree with Robert Schults statement. His statement assumed that the goodness of a component is measurable and it is absolute, but in reality neither is true.
Lets consider this: what does it mean by a good speaker cable? Is it low DC resistance? Is it low capacitance? Is it low inductance? Or maybe it is all three. But how do we know these three parameters are the only ones that affect the goodness? What about the material used like pure sliver wire, sliver plated copper, single crystal copper, OFC, etc How do we measure their goodness? Or maybe there are other parameters that we don't even know yet.
Eventually, we still have to put the cable in a system and listen for the result. What if the same cable sounds good in one system but sounds bad in another, is that cable still a good component? How about my situation, I initially connected a BAT VK-75SE to a pair of Vandy 5 using Harmonic Tech Pro-9+ biwired, but the result was unsatisfactory, rolled off high and soft bass. I than replaced the Pro-9 with a pair of dyi cables made from Home Depot extension cord and everything has improved, high opened up, bass was tighter and better defined, mid-range has more details.
Now back to the goodness question: the Pro-9 is supposed to be a good speaker cable but it didnt sound very good in my system, does that mean the VK-75SE and the Vandy 5 are not good components? Or maybe the dyi cable is good but the Pro-9+ is not? How can we tell?
At the end of the day, the goodness of a component still has to be determined by how it performs in a particular system and that means system synergy.
Lets consider this: what does it mean by a good speaker cable? Is it low DC resistance? Is it low capacitance? Is it low inductance? Or maybe it is all three. But how do we know these three parameters are the only ones that affect the goodness? What about the material used like pure sliver wire, sliver plated copper, single crystal copper, OFC, etc How do we measure their goodness? Or maybe there are other parameters that we don't even know yet.
Eventually, we still have to put the cable in a system and listen for the result. What if the same cable sounds good in one system but sounds bad in another, is that cable still a good component? How about my situation, I initially connected a BAT VK-75SE to a pair of Vandy 5 using Harmonic Tech Pro-9+ biwired, but the result was unsatisfactory, rolled off high and soft bass. I than replaced the Pro-9 with a pair of dyi cables made from Home Depot extension cord and everything has improved, high opened up, bass was tighter and better defined, mid-range has more details.
Now back to the goodness question: the Pro-9 is supposed to be a good speaker cable but it didnt sound very good in my system, does that mean the VK-75SE and the Vandy 5 are not good components? Or maybe the dyi cable is good but the Pro-9+ is not? How can we tell?
At the end of the day, the goodness of a component still has to be determined by how it performs in a particular system and that means system synergy.