Looking for really fine cables at really low price

I need to also say the WE wire is the opposite of rolled off and thick in my system....completely opposite. Too much wire may in fact lead to this phenomenon in a particular system. The 16 gauge wire is shockingly clean and real sounding delivering more resolution then my system has ever experienced.

I have had friends try all kinds of the WE wire and not follow the proven recipe. Solid core, thicker gauge, silk cover etc... When they finally tried the stranded 16, they stayed with it.

Rob and I post here to try and help others with this wonderful find. Yes, I get frustrated when folks try something else not proven. This is one time to not over think and just enjoy.

I am not saying don't experiment, but start off with the proven and then go for it!

The Belden cable is certainly more subdued in the highs compared to the extended WE. Some will certainly find the Belden a tad soft in the highs.

All, this is a fascinating discussion and most helpful to me.

I am beginning the process of building my living room system, which will be based on the Coincident dynamo and utilize Coincident Triumph Extreme II speakers. The room has a very lively acoustic, perhaps excessively so for the TEIIs.. I have promised my wife to respect her aesthetic preferences, which means the existing built in book cases will be used to house the electronics and also means the speaker wires will run into the crawl space and back up. This will require fairly long lengths. I got started on this too late to pick up a sufficient amount of 16 gauge stranded, but was able to obtain a 95 ft spool of the 14 gauge equivalent. Rob suggested the 14 g may in fact be preferred for long runs. If, in fact, Mitch's take on subdued high frequency response proves true in my case, that may actually be a good thing for me. I haven't ordered the Belden yet, and I may wait until after I get the speaker wires run and burned in to do so. If I find the presentation still to be a bit on the bright side, it may be that the belden will be just the ticket.

If I caught Volleyguy's point, this is not the first time I have seen an extended period of human effort intended to optimize something go badly adrift. What if, after years and years of research, the market has produced a group of products that are not up to the standards set by a bunch of low tech slide rule carrying cave men who are even older than me? Why can we still not, with all our smarts and technology, make vacuum tubes like they made 60 years ago? How did the entire industry plunge headlong into solid state gear? Anybody here think that the early solid state stuff sounded better than the old McIntosh and Marantz tube gear that was deemed outdated old school trash? Are there any of you who haven't spent time in a brick and mortar salon listening to uber expensive and highly reviewed stuff that didn't sound very good?

Yazaki-San, Jeff Day and Rob have forced us to do something harder than thinking outside of the box. They have forced us to think inside a box that has been buried in the attic for 50 years. Kudos!

Mikirob

I have been reading Jeff's site on and off for a few years. Remember he went all Duelund crossover after I (and many others) did, went vintage amp after I was there. I had talked to Duelund on this thread about them making autoformers which I suspected could be a weak link. I do not yet have ( I wish Autoformer!) so when Jeff later got a Duelund made Autoformer he of course really had my attention! Then the Silver CAST caps as well.

So yes I consider his tastes will no doubt be similar. Jeff is even looking at a set of Klipschorns so then I will have direct comparison.

I am not at all questioning Jeff, you, Grannyring or Yazaki-san.

I am only asking why? on the WE?

I am sure the wire does sound great!

Plus what it means. Tin! People go to great cost for silver when tin coated wire will do?

This is a pretty big deal!

Thank you Grannyring and Brownsfan,
For articulating this subject in such a precise, clear, well-organized manner; I need to echo your statements and also confirm that in my system the WE16ga is as resolving or more so than the many high $$$$ cables I have used. Like Grannyring stated, "the WE wire is the opposite of rolled off." The WE16ga presents the musical content in a natural organic manner, no glare, minimal recording artifacts.

Once more for the record, the true credit for bringing the WE and Belden 8402 to our attention is Shirokazu Yazaki-san an extraordinary designer of the SPEC Real Sound amplifier via Jeff Day Blog at jeffsplace.me.

Reading the Jeff Day Blog thoroughly was a revelation for me because I
finally understood while reading about Day's McIntosh MC30 and Garrard 301 restoration process what was missing all these years. As Yazaki-san stated, "Real Sound". I realized that Jeff Day's "Listening Bias," timbral listening was my listening bias, was Yazaki-san's listening bias, was likely Brownsfan's listening bias, was likely Grannyring's listening bias, Charles1Dad's listening bias and legions of other "kindred spirits" listening bias, which is more like real sound and how humans hear music. Our musical needs are not being met by the the Audio industry as a whole. We keep attempting with our $$$$ to satisfy a musical sweet tooth that is not being met.

So, for me it is "Back to the Future" combining the best of the vintage with the new. The sad part is that so much good stuff like the WE16ga is almost totally gone, hopefully there are hidden stocks out there somewhere. This is the best all-around speaker wire I have heard so far. Best, Rob