Hi John,
 While I've already written somewhat of a message on this topic, you
mentioned Monster Cable, and that brought back a demo I saw from them
once.. They had a sound system setup at a convention that was running a
"typical" speaker cable and an A/B switch to go into Monster Cable
instead. The sound system that had been stable, went into instant
feedback as soon as the Monster Cable was switched in. Moral of the
story: Monster Cable allows you to have more gain, at least that is what
they were trying to get across. I do generally like their products
though.
The best cable is the shortest length possible, of the least resistance
(largest diameter) and no solder joints or changes in metals anywhere
along the length.  Anything less is a compromise somewhere. Like the
expensive interconnects that require gold connectors, usually soldered
terribly like you pointed out meaning that from the amp to the speakers
requires two gold connections, two solder joints, and two runs of wire
or some sort (the more exotic, the more you can charge for them).
Forget the gold connectors, the crappy solder joints, and join the wire
on one end to the speaker, and to the output terminals on the other
end with a good wire, and you'll do better than most of the fu-fu cables
out there. Just use excellent solder. Doesn't this seem to make more
sense?
 Bonnie *:>
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