Sonic performance using unterminated Neotech solid 12awg to each speaker terminal
Good start and affordable, but it will not compete with the best cables out there. First, you will have to put Teflon insulation on bare wire or put it inside Teflon tubing. Then, twist the + and - wires together tightly. This is to lower inductance.
Smaller wire gauge is better, but you need lots of them. Less skin-effect.
The other alternative is flat ribbons laminated together.
The two good solutions create a "high-Q" transmission-line, which sounds decent, but suffers from reflections and standing waves. Like the difference between a piece of rubber and a brass bell. The bell rings. To stop these anomalies, you need a termination technique. This is present in many cables, as a small box. Most of these work to some extent, but lots of them are designed without understanding the physics and therefore end-up being nothing more than filters. A filter is not what is optimum and it will roll-off frequencies or reduce dynamics. It's a technical exercise. This is why good speaker cables are worth the money.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio