Speaker wire is it science or psychology

Inductance and capacitance are not buzz words. They are real characteristics of conductors, and they can affect the signal enough to be audible. It is trivially easy to design a cable that is audibly distinguishable from generic copper wire. Whether one would want to do so is another matter, which may explain your friends' skepticism on the matter. I hope they're more informed than you, however.

Psychology *is* a science. It's all in your mind, Steven ;-)

Jim - LOL you are correct, of course. My neighbor is a shrink, however, and has expressed opinions to the contrary :-)

Cables are in series with any two components they connect. Any component in series with the music affects the music. Whether we choose to accept it or not. Cables vary in resistance, impedence, capacitance, inductance, etc. Would you say I was crazy if I said that a WonderCap sounded better in a preamp than a cheap electrolytic? I think not. Cables vary greatly in wire guage, composition, geometry, and whether the wire making it up is stranded, solid core, round, flat, oval, etc. I was once a person who thought that cables could not make as much difference as most people portray. Especially, power cords. I stand before you today saying that cables do sound different. That they do make a difference in whether a system sounds its best, or far from its best. I may also be the one person here who gets into the most arguments over whether expensive cables justify their prices. But, to say that all wire sounds the same suggests that one has not tried much in the way of wire.

In my experience, folks who do not believe there are different sound characteristics in both interconnect and speaker cable, do not have a system of enough quality to resolve the differences. Until they do, and hear for themselves, they won't believe!