I have a degree in electrical engineering and have worked in the computer field for 16 years and the a/v business for 5. I have yet to see a formula that shows that one cable has any significant advantage over another one at frequencies below 20khz and certainly not at frequencies below 100hz (ie bass cables). All the effects manufacurers such as Monster mention (skin effect, distributed inductance and capacitance) are true, but only for signals of much higher frequency such as computer data and video. Resistance difference in different guage wire (14awg to 22 awg) are on the order of tenths of ohms. Lower gauge wire for audio will make your system slightly more efficient, but will not effect sound quality. If you are using thinner wire you will simply need to turn your amp up a tad higher and it will sound the same. You will not set your wire on fire or heat the room appreciably. There are people who claim to be able to pick out high end cables in a blind test, so it may be possible for the manufacturers to make the signal different, but not necessarily better. The main advantage of higher priced patch cords to me is that the connections tend to tighter and less likely to fall off if you move equipment around.