I have heard Mapleshade interconnect and speaker cables in my system, they sounded quite good. I had a customer come up for a speaker demo with his amp, preamp and cables. Yes they look quite kludge ish. They have a form follows function thing going. I will say the flat foil interconnects are extremely delicate and the power cords would be laughed out of the building at a UL certification.
The speaker cable is inexpensive and effective.
I also really like Pierre's recordings..very live feel. I use them for demos often.
Pierre follows his own road, no doubt. but I find him to be a very knowledgeable and passionate guy.
I don't know what his evaluation policy is, but if he offers a return policy, what do you have to lose ? Greg