Kimber cable - good or bad?

I'd go with the 8TC, and spend the money you save on a season pass to your local symphony. This should leave you with enough spare cash to buy some more records.

I am using a pair of Bi-Focal XL's and am very happy. They connect my Bryston 4b to my ML SL3's and it seems to be a very good marriage. I highly recommend them.

Bi-focal xl's are sounding great between my cj mv-55 and Alon II's. I too had seen reviews saying they were a bright sounding cable. I believe this coloration may be system dependent and/or due to lack of break in. Up to 150 hours I thought cables sounded unaturally bright giving digital playback an edginess that was fatiguing. At aprox. 150 hours this edginess disappeared but there was still a bit of brightness. At aprox. 275 hours the cables began to bloom, sounding richer fuller, more dynamic, increased soundstage depth and height as well. I now have aprox. 300 hours on cable and expecting further improvements. It seems that reviews claiming 500-600 hours of break-in are likely correct.

I've had a pair of Monocle XL's for about a year and a half and love'em. They made a huge, if not stunning, improvement in my system (at the time, AH!Tjoeb, VTL, Bryston, and Thiel, in that order). That said, I have never compared them to comparable, or even vaguely comparable, cables -- so I really can't be of much help other than to say that, in the absense of meaningful comparison, the before v. after improvement was so great that I just stopped caring about looking for anything else. (I got'em for a real bargain, so I couldn't resist trying'em out).