A Couple Little Things I'm Wondering About

The drift velocity of electrons in copper wire is around 1 inch per minute!
Current occurs immediately almost at the speed of light.  Kijank is right that the dielectric affects the speed and field strength. But also important is the presence and distance to the return. If close the fields cancel out.

jcole, I have what you would call a reasonably high end system. I do not waste my money on any of that garbage. Cable elevators are just a cosmetic thing to show off your stupidly expensive cables. Any sonic improvement they make is purely psychological. As for shorting caps, I tried them once and did not note any improvement in the system's signal to noise ratio. I have never used them again. Careful ground management and balanced cables where ever you can are the way to go. 

The audio industry discovered a long time ago that there is a visual aspect to people's buying habits. If it looks cool it must sound better and psychologically it does....for a little while anyway. Look what they have done to turntables. My own philosophy is that if it looks cool don't buy it.
I would prefer to spend my money on good engineering and parts selection than shiney chrome parts. Compare an SME turntable to a VPI turntable. The SME is far superior but is mundane looking in comparison.