I agree with Martins earlier point - that speaker cable I go on about is a very high spec silver plated item and nothing sounds better between my valves and my ANKs. Not really done enough comparisons to compare properly but I certainly agree these things are component dependant.

Being a one-time Amstrad owner, and equally as guilty, I have to say that smugness about one's system, is not an endearing quality, Martin. Not an endearing quality.

Colin, why is it geometry can play such a crucial role? Years (years) ago I made up an interconnect using 3 sets of 3 0.6 silver-plated Kynar-covered single strand wire-wrap plaited together and was a bit surprised at the sense of grip it added compared to a losely twisted pair.

Here's some discussion about silver from Richard Bews at LFD (taken from: www.stereo-now.co.uk/interviews-RB.html)

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Silver versus copper?

Although pure silver is a better conductor than pure copper, poor quality silver often sounds a lot worse than poor quality copper.

Firstly, choose a very pure silver and make sure that the crystal structure is defined and not distorted by the mechanical processes used to form the strands. We generally prefer continuous cast silver of at least 5 nines pure, however I don’t believe purity of the silver (or copper) beyond 6 nines pure has any benefit.

General experimentation, listening tests, shows that a given diameter of silver or copper has a subjective ‘frequency response’. Unfortunately I've no technical explanation of why this appears to occur, except that the electromagnetic radial field structure, that gives rise to skin effect within the conductor when a current flows, may be responsible.

The subjective ‘frequency response’ of a conductor is tilted towards the low frequencies as the diameter increases. This is why certain diameters are chosen for single strand cables; i.e. for interconnects around 0.6 mm diameter for copper and 0.9 mm diameter for silver. I must emphasis that the dielectric surrounding the conductors, the material used for the outer jacket and exact crystal structure of the conductor is an influence on the sound as well.

Through subjective evaluation, I've established that when many single strand conductors of the SAME diameter are put together to form a multistrand cable, the subjective frequency response is widened relative to the frequency response of the single strand. This would suggest that multistrand cables are therefore more preferable to single strand cables, However, I've not talked about the subjective ‘time response’ of single or a multistrand cable.

Which means what exactly?

Unfortunately it appears that a single strand cable seems to ‘ring’ at a particular frequency (related to its diameter) and has a fast decay. Whereas multistrand cables on the other hand, again ‘rings’ at a particular frequency (related to the diameter of the strands), but the ringing is much longer in duration.

I believe that neither cable solution is correct, since the fast decay of single strands tends to lead to subjective comments like: tight, fast sound, but not rich or warm. Whereas a multistrand cable can often sound: warm, slow with some smearing.

I must point out that copper is much easier to work with, since its subjective ‘frequency response’ is wider than that of silver for comparable single strand conductors. That is why many silver cables appear to sound not quite right, sometimes they might be a little bright or coloured.

I found it to have more of everything and no downsides when doubled up. Definitely more gravitas and presence and also a sense of greater ease. I will be interest to hear if it does the same for you. I thougt about tripling it or even using four lengths per connector, but it wouldn't be the easiest to terminate and would probably rival NAC A5 for stiffness. I decided it wasn't worth the extra hassle so stuck with it doubled up.

I'll have to get round to trying it. Too busy this weekend, been working at the Whittlebury show.

It's a good read, Colin. Thanks.
I love this bit:

I love the comparative results quoted, especially the early Stereo Review one which found no perceived differences between speaker cables.

The system components are rarely quoted in these tests, nor the room, power conditions, ambient noise, familiarity with the music etc.

Surely it should be obvious to anyone that cables come last when the system is already well chosen and working optimally? If it is truly transparent, then cable differences can be easily heard. If it isn't, then cables will all sound the same.