I will not play at tug o'war.
I'd rather play at hug o'war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

-Shel Silverstein

This madness extends well beyond speaker wires and interconnects. Power cords are another scam to separate you from your money.

Here's a screed I wrote some years ago on an speaker builder's forum. One of the posters was bragging about the $200 amplifier power cable he had just bought and how much it improved the sound. "Opened up" was the term I believe...

------snip---------

It's more than just your power cable!

As long as you're replacing the 4 feet of power cable from the system to the wall, you should consider replacing all the cheap 12ga wiring in your walls with solid silver wire. Remember, a system is only as good as it's weakest link!

The circuit breakers in your home should have gold plated contacts. As for the circuit breakers, I find that Cutler-Hammer breakers sound much better than Square-D. They have a warmer, more lifelike sound. Some people prefer old fashioned fuses, but I think they sound slow.

The wire from your breaker box to the transformer on the telephone pole outside is usually inferior as well. I would suggest 1000 strand silver 2 gauge wire with a teflon jacket for this. It costs a couple hundred dollars per foot, but the results are well worth it! As a bonus, your socks come out whiter in the wash!

If you can, talk to the power company about upgrading the wires that go to the power grid in your neighborhood. Everyone within a square mile of your house will thank you for it when the sound and picture coming from their televisions improves tenfold!

Also, if you are a multi-billionaire, you have the option of paying the power companies to upgrade the high tension power distribution wires in your state. Since this is a high voltage application in excess of 50,000 volts, only the best will do! Copper shielded silver wire with braided gold plated magnesium outer layers works well in this application. Also, if your high tension power distribution line must cross other high tension lines, (especially inferior consumer grade lines) railroad tracks or rivers wider than 6 feet, then do so at a perpendicular angle. This may require the relocation of some high tension towers and the appropriation of additional farmland or nature preserve areas, but hey, we are seeking perfection! (Tip! Replacing the cheap ceramic insultors hanging from the towers with ones from Waterford Crystal is a worthwhile upgrade!)

This is very important! I'll say it again. The quality of the system is only as good as it's weakest link!

Then again, all this may be unnecessary. Depending on the distance to your power plant, it may be more effective for you to build your own power plant on site. This will save you billions in wire costs while shortening the length of your wire greatly. It has the additional benefit of being dedicated to your particular audiophile setup! You can choose whichever power generation technology that suits your system. - Coal, gas, hydro, nuclear, etc. -
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer the sound of a coal power plant over nuclear, but if you are a sold state user, you may prefer nuclear or hydro. Solar or wind I'm afraid is out of the question. It just doesn't have the peak current capability necessary for truly high end equipment! Solar power also suffers from a "space noise" problem that comes from the solar panels absorbing spurious radiation from sun spots, distant stars, pulsars, quasars and especially black holes. Black holes especially cause a sort of "suckout" in the sound of string instruments. I can hear this effect when there is black hole acting up on a solar powered system.

I suppose there are naysayers out there who will say that I can't "scientifically prove" any of this, but what has science ever done for us?

Well, I can't prove any of it, and I don't need to! I can hear the difference because I have a golden ear. If I want to spend my money on things like this and I think it sounds better, then who are the objectivists to say I can't enjoy it?

There are strange powers in the universe that affect our audio systems that our puny brains are far too feeble to understand! The best we can do is tweak things until we are emotionally satisfied with the results. Do not try to understand why. Just enjoy the music!