Acoustic Treatment or Cable Upgrades?

Acoustic treatment. Remember the Big Three: recording, speakers, room. Everything else matters too, but it pales by comparison.

As long as you have a smeared or fuzzy sound stage because of first reflection problems, etc, you will be hard pressed to even do a meaningful cable comparison. So, I'll vote for the acoustic treatment. Of course, I'd say to use drapes and 1" duct board, etc, so you can save most of the money for cables after you finish.

Get the best Radio Shack cables, do the room treatment and then upgrade the cables as money permits.

Two thousand dollars and smart shopping could make an unbelievable difference in acoustics. Especially if you apply do it yourself along with smart buys on used. I would put RPG's, Tube Traps and Room Tunes on the possibility list.

Two thousand dollars should get you room treatment and something better than Radio Shack cables. It's amazing what some fairly inexpensive treatment devices such as Audiocarpet panels, drapes, throw rugs etc. can do.