I have tried many different types of speaker cables throughout the years. Some of these include Monster products, MIT, Audioquest (Crystal speaker cables), and Kimber Kable. Hands down the Type 2 is a very good speaker cable, not just for the money but at any price. It is far superior to Monster and it is really only slightly outperformed by my much more expensive ($$$$$) Crystal series and by the Kimber 8TCs.

Where there may be an advantage is in the case of large floor standers of low impedence and low sensitivity (my Dynaudio Contour 3.3s). With my small listening room system which consists of Dynaudio Contour 1.3s, Bryston 2B amplifier, PS Audio 4.6 preamp, and a Cambridge Audio CD player there is virtually no difference. This small simple looking sound system receives more jaw dropping looks than any larger system that I have owned. Friends and acquaintances just cannot believe the massive performance level that can be produced by a pair of speakers that are only 15 inches tall. This goes back to proper set-up and component matching.

For those of you considering a pair of these speaker cables the price is right and you have very little to lose. I am using them on a system that costs $5k and could not be happier with the performance level.

Great performance for the price, high quality construction, much easier to work with than I expected.

Absolutely none for the price I paid.

I purchased 8 foot cables pre-terminated with banana plugs to connect my PSB Alpha A/V's to my Marantz SR5300. They replaced Monster Cable XP cables that I had used for many years. The difference is quite dramatic. Both highs and lows are more pronounced and natural sounding. Dynamics are much improved, making music sound more like the artists intended. No more muddy bass or hissy, grating treble. For not much more than basic wire prices, the improvement is worth the money and then some.

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Monster Cable Original and XP.

Price; cable jacket; flexibility; able to run it through my speaker stands; solid conductor; able to bi wire.

none so far.

I'm in the midst of fine tweaking my HT. The last step was to upgrade all of my speaker cables. Running Type 2+ to my surrounds. For $1.25/foot Canadian you can't go wrong. Once the cables have broken in, I'll post another review. So far the sound is just fine. 4 stars for the price/quality.

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generic stranded speaker cable.

Detail Detail Detail looks good cost (amazing bang for buck)

very small gauge hard to work with lacking bottom end

for 1.95 a foot CANADIAN this cannot be touched i use it for my rears. These produce some serious detail that my 5.00 a foot monster Z1 reference cannot produce but i still choose to use the Z1 for my fronts because they produce a much better bottom end.

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monster xphp straight wire duo monster xp monster original monster Z1

Oh where to begin. I only wish I had picked this as my speaker cable 6 or 7 years ago. For the money it just can't be beat, it finally allows my medium-priced system to shine like I always thought it could and to discover that some of my other cables are much better than I thought (Van de Hul interconnects, Canare GS-6, XLO Twinax Plus) and others worse like the Thundercable and coaxial cable I had! Simply put it has great transients, soundstaging and depth. Sounds are now clearer, better defined and good recordings now have added depth and imaging (the phone ringing scene in the Matrix when Neo goes to see the Oracle is an awesome example). I'm sure that there are better cables but given my cost of under $2 per foot Canadian it ranks as a fantastic deal for the budget conscious.

The cable itself has no weaknesses in my opinion. In fact it is so revealing that you find you can easily find the weaknesses in your system whether it be the coaxial cable or interconnects! I was amazed how I could now hear how the bad cables made the soundstage collapse and sounds became muddy, confused and softer. Before the Type 2 I found myself turning up the receiver to compensate but now can remove the offending cable and put in better quality ones thus forever removing the problem.

I have only word for this cable...EXTRAORDINARY performance for the price. I did read that this cable is best for warmer sounding systems and since my Marantz SR-880 receiver certainly qualifies I think this speaker cable was a perfect match. I purchased 3x15 foot lengths for my front speakers... perfect!

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Kimber 4PR (no comparison, the Kimber is a good speaker cable for the price but lacks the air, imaging and detail of the Type 2), Wireworld Solstice (chops off the bottom end terribly and rolls off th

Great cable and for the price you can't beat it

None for the price

I've used Audioquest Type 2 for close to 6 years as a bi-wire cable. I have used solid core cable since DNM pioneered their use in the UK in 1984. The secret to using solid core is to use the smallest diameter possible and only a single core. Therefore I wanted a 2 pair solid core design. I'm still using this speaker cable in a system worth $20K and I can't fault it. There's no treble roll off or bass attenuation as otehrs have described, the cable is just showing up weaknesses in their respective systems.

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House wiring 'twin and earth' solid core

Good sound Low price

none really, considering the price

I picked up a couple 6 ft. pieces of this cable to see if I'd like it. Compared to the standard "Circuit City"-type Monster cable I had been using, this product sounds considerably more open and natural. More dynamic too. The bass and treble seem a bit rounded off to me, but only slightly so and the sound is very, well... musical. And this cable isn't nearly as stiff or hard to work with as I thought it might be.

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Monster cable

Relatively cheap and effective sonic improvements over typical standed stuff,at about a dollar fifty per foot.

Solid-core design is somewhat less flexible than finely stranded wire,and is harder to connect to spades,plugs,or directly to binding posts (this last option not adviseable!). Type-2 is a fairly small gauge cable,and unless you use a double-run somehow, the thicker Type-4 may be a better choice for single- runs over 20 feet.

Although I am one who thinks that,in general,your audio-dollars are better off spent on things like better speakers or componentry than on exotic wires,I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised by the improvements wrought by some recent cable purchases. Not that wires can ever really fix problems related to cheap components farther up on the food-chain. As if simply polishing Rodney Dangerfield's shoes will earn him the respect he craves! But I was initially swayed toward better wires by two moderate purchases from HCM Audio. These items were an Audioquest powercord and a set of Mapleshade's Clearview double-helix interconnects (the latter from the used/demo cable list). The Clearviews brought cohesiveness and an overall tranparency,while the solid strand-type powercord brought a sort of seductive richness. Together,the combination of improvements was worthwhile. So,next I tried improving my speaker-cable situation by removing the old OFC stranded 16-gauge wire and using a double (bi-wire)run of Audioquest type-2. This addition removed an edginess that I have come to associate with "stranded" copper wire,and brought even more smoothness and naturalness. Type-2 is multiple conductor solid-core stuff like the powercord is,and a characteristic of this design seems to be a detailed richness in the mids and lows with slightly rolled off highest-high frequencies,at least in my system. I like it. I now think that for less than $200 for new wires all in all has indeed provided at least that much money's worth of sonic improvements. My music now sounds more natural,less strained,and more cohesively "together". Two-Thumbs-Up for Type-2 and the whole complete brew!

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OFC stranded copper at about 50 cents a foot.

Good clarity and better bass strength and tone. Highs are much crisper.

none

I was using lamp cord previously and decided to upgrade because i was reading so many testimonials that said upgrading was really worth it. I spent $1.50/ft and it turned out to be a great investment. I don't have a thrilling system but it performs better with these cables.

No major shortcomings; very cheap

Doesn't look very cool

This is probably the best value in speaker cable. Just how good is it? Well, when I auditioned a pair of Vandersteen 2Ces, hooked up to about $40,000 worth of Audio Research equipment, and connected with Audioquest Everest speaker cables ($8500), I was so impressed I bought the speakers on the spot.

When I brought them home and hooked them up to about $1000 worth of Musical Fidelity and Cambridge Audio equipment, and connected with Audioquest Type 2 (biwired) cable, the sound was VERY close. Clearly, much of the sonic difference must be attributed to the vastly different electronics. So, ultimately, the difference between Audioquest's cheapest and most expensive cables is minimal--at least when using a speaker of the 2Ce's caliber, which is actually pretty damn high.

When I end up spending $10,000 or more on my system, I might try (but not necessarily switch to) some other speaker cables. But, for a moderately priced high end system, I don't think you can do better than the Type 2.

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Kimber