Great post, Barry. I'm more in the sceptical camp with interconnects - as long as good quality wire, connectors and construction are present, I struggle to grade them appropriately, but probably my system is not good enough to reveal the differences.

Having said all that, having just tried some of the "off the reel" Belkin speaker cable, the difference compared to my current Belden/Mark Grant was immediately obvious to my cloth-ears, and IMHO not a good difference!