Cable vs. Electronics: biggest bang for the buck

A cable can only color or subtract from the quality of your component's output, it can never improve upon it. The laws of physics, not opinion or marketing hype, govern the transmission of electrons through a wire. I am not, however, claiming that an obviously inferior conductor may outperform one of better design. I do appreciate the effects of capacitiance, skin effect and susceptability to electromagnetic interference, amongst others.

While the sound of your system may be more pleasing with the Purist cables in it (perhaps less or different coloration), you will see greater improvements by upgrading your components. To suggest otherwise is falacy. Use cabling of a "reasonable" (whatever that is, maybe allot ten to fifteen percent of your system cost) and uniform quality throughout. Take the opportunity to audition several different cables in you system. Consider borrowing from friends and your dealer as well as "churning" some used cables on Audiogon. You may find that the price of a cable does not directly correlate to its' performance in your system or you own tastes. Don't fall for the flawed logic, anachronisms and magical thinking that marketing consultants and "expert reviewers" employ. Don't let yourself believe that because it costs more it has to sound better either. Some blinded listening tests might be appropriate to help you make up your mind.

Sean, you bring up some interesting points. However, you're actually agreeing with me in that a cable can only influence the performance of a component in an adverse way. I wouldn't dismiss a component as "junk" because its' performance is negatively affected by the load of the cable (or downstream electronics). I'm not that arrogant! In such a case, the cable is merely poorly suited to the source. I absolutely agree with you in your contention that trying to "tune" a system into much more than it is with cables is a futile undertaking.