thought I'd pass along my summer project:
Had a pair of original M1000 patch cords from around 1980 if memory servers... to my ears, they sounded "perfect"... with both my last best of the best stereo and in my new HT set up for the Jolida phono preamp to receiver. Sadly, the RCA plugs on these used compression onto the wire casing to hold them partially in place... and after all the interviening years they gave up the ghost.
I contacted Monster and since they have a lifetime warrantee they took my vintage patch cords back and sent me their latest and greatest version.. unfortunatley, the newest version sounded NOTHING like the originals.... bass was still good, deep and fast, but the highs were completely missing... even after what would be considered a generous break in period (if you beleive in breaking in wires)....
I started a search for replacements and ended up talking and trying some pure silver wire connects ... these didn't work either, in my system, sounding like the entire audio spectrum shifted upward from midrange on... but I did convince him to sell me some of the silver wire he used, just to play with... note that these are not shielded wires.. just silver wire from a spool with a seperate stiff braided cover.
I took the M1000s and tried every combination possible: one run of silver to both the center and another to the outer ring, one run to just the centers, one run to just the outer ring and two runs to both the center and two runs to the outer ring.... solder/ listen, unsolder, solder/ listen, unsolder lol... what a royal PITA.
The end result was that I was able to create near perfect patch cords (to my ears and in my system), even better than the original M1000s by using one run of silver wire soldered to the outer ring connector.... I liked the results so much, I made a second pair to use for the CD player... again a significant improvement from all the other pairs I tried.... (at least five) ...
Just passing along my personal results/ observations.... of course your results may vary. FYI, I was sworn to secrecy and cannot divulge the name of the guy/ company that sold me the silver wire/ cover... but it is nothing that you cannot buy on ebay etc.... the labels were removed from the spools... I know it is 99.9999 pure and 18 gauge.... there was no coating of any kind on the wire... found it easiest to solder using a little bit of flux. slid the silver under the RCA outer cover, soldered one end, cut the sleave to length, slid the wire into the sleeve, slid the wire under the other end RCA outer cover, soldered.... used electrical tape to hold the sleeve/ wire to the M1000i ... I have not experienced any interference from the unshielded wire, even with the pile of wires stuffed behind my rack... 7.2 system, phono preamp, blue ray, cable box, cd player and Adcom amp for zone 2 ...
