A couple months ago, I bought the 2004 MK II off of AudioGon. I have had quite a few great amps, but this one beats them all with ease. I recently replaced my Carver TFM-35x with this amp and can honestly say I made the right choice. It runs almost ice cold with my Tannoy Mercury mX3's. I can't wait until I get my Triangle Zephyr 2's back up and running and hooked up to this amp.
By no means is the 2004 rolled off on the high end. It is very natural and neutral sounding. For interconnects I'm using MagWire Nakeds and speaker cables are Kimber Kable 8TC. Even with the little Tannoys, everything is excellent sounding. Actually, these little speakers are quite amazing for the money, but I rather have my Triangles back.
If I were you, I would first replace that lamp cord with something good. And then I would start looking around for some better interconnects. But I seriously think the lamp cord will solve most of your problems.