wnat to downgrade my cables

S23...liked your first post a lot...but not the knee-jerk assessment of tight correlation between price and quality of reproduction of the cable market your second supports. Have you ever tried the cheap Canare starquad cables all the pro recording engineers use? I suggest Stuart spend $20 for a pair of these while rescaling his system. Remember, he wants a slightly warmish cable...probably not the Nordost SPM I use nor another $$$ rare-metal snakeset....

Great post, Trelja! I just got an email from another "Stuart" who insists upon spending $500-1000 for a PC. Funny coincidence. Happy New Year.

Chang, You're all over the place, so it's hard to follow you. Try decaf.... I never mentioned power cords (The Volex IS low-performance) nor that the Canare star-quad are MY cables. It's just that the Canare StarQuads are purchased by the MILE for serious PRO recording use. I just ran 40 ft XLR pairs from Earthwork omnis on my Steinway B to an Alesis Masterlink, through my Aleph P/Aleph2/Parsifal Encores system (in the same room), all set up by the head prof of recording engineering at Berklee College of Music, and we both agreed that in some ways (lack of room splatter), the recorded sound betters the live!
It was an interesting decision when hooking the Masterlink into the Aleph P: does one continue with 1m of the Canare again ($20), or do a brain-side Pro-to-audiophool switch and go to the Nordost SPM I use throughout the playback end ?! Ha! Much more important to practice the piano....
So let's just help this thread-head out. He should start with a good, cheap well-referenced set of ICs, then play from there if necessary. Yes, speaker placement/treatment tweaks are almost always more important that cables, but let's keep this on topic, eh?
My favorites are the Harm Tech Truthlink for warmth, Nordost Blue Heaven for zip on budget, or SPM, but I always have buddies start with Canares to establish the system in the room in a fine, neutral way. Only if the room is overdamped, they're suffering from too much hearing loss, or the front end is SUPERB do we then trot out the lucid Nordosts.

I liked the Discovery Essence a lot, but couldn't really tell it from my previous Red Dawn...both a bit too lean. SPM solved the balance problem. Again, pricier flavorings....