I use White Zombie Audio pure silver interconnects for all my hookups except preamp to monoblocks, which is a long run of Black Mountain pure silver balanced ICs. Compared to other "big name" brand pure silver interconnects, White Zombie and Black Mountain are a steal. Their build quality is very good, and they sound fantastic (in my system), especially the balanced ones. They are going to cost a little more than BlueJeans low-end, but are pretty much on par with their high end ICs, price-wise, plus if you dig the sound of silver ICs, they sound great, especially if you are using tubes in your rig, or have amps that are on the "warm-sounding" side.
I use Nordost Solar Winds for my main speakers (front R/L, and center). I think that Nordost speaker cables are a VERY good match for Martin Logans--they are "fast sounding", match well with many amps (as long as the amps are "high-current" amps), and have a very open, airy, and dimensional sound to them. If you can get them used, they are a great value. New, they are pricey, even their "low end" line, and unless you're pretty well-off, they can be cost prohibitive. Nordost cables are sort of like Martin Logan speakers--they tend to magnify the sound of your up-stream system, and are VERY revealing. If your system is a little dry or clinical sounding, Nordost speaker cables will make it sound more-so. If you rrig is on the warm side, They will make it sound lush. If your rig is revealing and well balanced, Nordost cables will bring out even more details. At least that is my experience...
White Zombie has a website, but I usually get my cables from their
EBAY store.
I get Black Mountain Cables from their
store on Audiogon.
Nordosts, I get used where I can. The set I have, I got from another member of this Forum, who lived about 30 minutes away when I lived in Baltimore...
When I first got into audio, I had a LOT of Monster Cable in my system. I've since some to my senses, and have removed ALL Monster products from my main 5.1 system, and only use Monster (I have a box of it) for wiring up "secondary" systems, like in the guest room, the dining room, and in my workshop, but even that is getting replaced slowly with better-sounding (and more reasonably-priced) stuff. I pretty much feel the same about Monster Cable as I do about Micro$oft products--they are the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the consumer market, and owe 95% of their popularity to good marketing and crafty, duplicitous salesmen, and almost none of their success to actual cost/performance factors. The only Monster products I have that are worth a damn are a VERY short (1.75 meter pair) set of old (maybe 15 years old) Monster M-1 speaker cables. They actually sound pretty good, but nowhere near as good as my Nordosts...
As with all opinions on such things like cables, YMMV (Your Mileage Ma Vary). If you know folks who have cables you are interested in, try and loan them for a week or so and try them out first. Remember, trust your ears!
--Richard
