Hi Charles ,
Sorry to avoid directly answering this question but I must comment on these spectacular 101d-l W.E. replicas. I couldn't resist and felt the urge to try them back to back with my already excellent Hi Fi series 101's. Right out of the box their sound quality improvement was immediately noticeable; which I always take as a good sign . I have about 15 hours on them now and I have to say that these truly are spectacular and very special tubes. They are more organic, ( I know, hard to believe,but very noticeably so)and impactfull that the instruments and voices sound so much more visceral and real. They are definitely more tonally balanced with greater extension at the frequency extremes with a clearer more life like midrange. My Franks never sounded as good and have ,hard to believe ,even more magic than they had with the already improved( over stock) 101's. I have never been so drawn into the music as I am now. There is much more detail conveyed in terms of harmonics that helps create this magical sense of palpability . I believe this is also partially due to a fairly obvious lowering of (an already low) noise floor. Experience has taught me that I am never aware of the impact of noise floors until I actually lower them some more. This , combined with the visceral impact and organic qualities and frequency extensions that these new tubes impart on the sound, have transported me to a surprisingly higher level of enjoyment and love for listening. I am sincerely shocked and amazed by these extraordinary tube. I knew they may be a bit better than the Hi Fi series ,but really , they blow them away. They are definitely in different leagues; like the standard Shuguang 300b tubes are with the Sophia RP,AVVT32'and of course the king,the Takatsukis. I believe and actually feel that this is something you MUST do...
Sorry for the long rant but these babies are special just like those special 300b's mentioned above , that I ,and many other lovers of true organically sounding visceral music lovers love.
I don't just think you will love them but I will go out on a limb and say you definately will love them.
..........Now for addressing your original question . The new CST Extreme AC cables were definately an improvement over the originals and you know what I thought about the changes.
I would have to say that the W.E. improvement is so great that it's magnitude of improvement is larger . But the CST upgrade is no slouch either and definately worth the money.
I haven't heard the new 101's with the older CST cable so I cannot accurately comment . However perhaps they do help allow the 101's to let their magic show . But really there is no question in my mind that you should consider doing both . You will really be happy you did.
David
