Charles(since you used it above, I'll assume that's your real name, just as Ken is really Ken, despite his quote from Calvin), I'm glad to see that you appreciate relevant articles, so I'll give you a couple to chew on. Part of your wire quandary appears to arise out of the concept that the wire is "carrying" the audio information, but it really isn't in the way that's often imagined. The short version is that the information that reaches the speakers is carried in an electromagnetic wave that travels along the outside of the wire at around 3/4ths of the speed of light. A small part of the energy penetrates into the wire and latches on to the electrons there(which barely move)to guide the wave, but that energy is lost as heat in traveling through the wire and doesn't directly contribute to the sound from the speakers. So the real action is outside the wire and what happens inside just involves a supporting role. Although the resistance in the wire should be low so that little of the wave energy is lost and more doesn't have to be drawn in, the type of metal, the configuration of the strands etc. isn't otherwise significant. Analogies to water flowing through a hose are quite inaccurate and maybe a railroad track is a little closer.
The first article is also from the Audio Critic and involves a discussion by an authority on electromagnetic wave propagation debunking, in language some of which is non-academic, claims about wire. See
issue no.24 and read the the letter quoted by Dr. Rich beginning at p.76(pdf 68)and continued at p.81(pdf 73).
Also, see the discussion to similar effect by Dr. Lesurf in the material he first prepared as introductory material for his students in electronics and physics at St. Andrew's University. In
parts 6.2 and 6.3 the point is made, supported by math which can just be skimmed over, that the real information is carried on the outside of the wire. If the electrons did it directly the sound would take minutes to reach the speakers instead of less than a millionth of a second.
