These hefty, fat blue cables are the newest from Straight Wire. They reach down LOW easily, way low and will suit anyone needing clean performance in even the lowest frequencies: (bass drum, Organ, bass guitar, tuba) . They have a definite "punch" and richness in the mid-range without coloration. Fully detailed, fully revealing, they virtually overpowered my Paradigm Titans making the small drivers & cabinet overwork. (I had these cables BEFORE the Titans) They presented too much midrange and lower midrange detail to my Paradigm Focus, (where the Sextet work well) and my FOCUS' crossover "choked" a bit at all the signal. Both drivers were slightly overworked. These cables didn't work well with the under performing Titans! They were HEAVEN, as expected, on the Monitor 5's given the driver upgrades - at the dealer, the sales person commented on the "sparkle". That synergy is one of the reasons I'm getting the Monitor 5's this summer. For $150 you get quite sufficient detail and musicality suitable for speakers I'd say probably $500-$2000, that are at least full range speakers with bass drivers carrying at least a hefty magnet in sturdy cabinets. The only real factor to note is that you'll need a speaker with ability to handle the HEFTY signal these cables carry. With power going through them, any smaller driver could nudge in to being overdriven easily. They are not for people who want that last little bit of super-fine super-tweeter type highest-treble resolution, or in dull systems as the heft of the bass, lower mids, mid range and treble is quite well developed. Super highs are present ONLY normally with no ultra-detailing, but at least no edginess or brightness. If you listen to piccolo solos, screeching in the upper octaves or have unrevealing upper end driver performance, these might not be the right choice.
