Ok, you said you welcome opinions, so here's one that's very direct:
With your plan you will spend $20k to achieve closer to $10k sound. You make a fundamental mistake by equating cabling with tweaks. Cables are legitimate components in today's rigs. You should not overlook cabling from the power cord to speakers. If you do, you will choke the entire system's performance. You would be wise to set an amount, maybe 15% of the budget for cabling. Your money.
If you don't believe it, once you're set up with your $20k of components and speakers with stock cords, replace the power cord on your cdp with a decent upgraded cord (Try, say, a mid-line Harmonic Technology PC, which I've used in the past; at used price this is a fairly trivial expense considering the price of the rig). If you don't hear the distinction clearly, then cable changes won't we worth it to you. If you do hear a distinction, you blew it on your plan because changing out the cabling on the entire rig will transform the sound, but maybe you'll have enough money to rectify it.
With your plan you will spend $20k to achieve closer to $10k sound. You make a fundamental mistake by equating cabling with tweaks. Cables are legitimate components in today's rigs. You should not overlook cabling from the power cord to speakers. If you do, you will choke the entire system's performance. You would be wise to set an amount, maybe 15% of the budget for cabling. Your money.
If you don't believe it, once you're set up with your $20k of components and speakers with stock cords, replace the power cord on your cdp with a decent upgraded cord (Try, say, a mid-line Harmonic Technology PC, which I've used in the past; at used price this is a fairly trivial expense considering the price of the rig). If you don't hear the distinction clearly, then cable changes won't we worth it to you. If you do hear a distinction, you blew it on your plan because changing out the cabling on the entire rig will transform the sound, but maybe you'll have enough money to rectify it.