Enjoying my Audience Au24Sx Speaker Cables, wondering how much better are the Front Row?

I am a long time Audience cable fan. I am using a few versions of Audience XLR (AU24, AU24SE) | speaker cable (Ohno). I am looking to splurge on the Audience FrontRow speaker cables for a new system.

My question is how important would you rate the cable quality requirement between a preamp and amp (XLR). I am thinking of having only my amp between the speakers and running a long XLR from the preamp to the amp (15 -20 feet). Now I do not think I would want to do this with the Audience FrontRow, due to cost. I am thinking of using the lower cost Audience line if I did this. Or, would I be better of putting the system stand between the speakers and use a short FrontRow XLR betweem the amp and preamp?  I am in a very small room so the anything between the speakers would be adjacent to the speakers (not behind).

I am also going to get a FrontRow XLR between my DAC and the preamp. I will use lower level Audience XLR's for my other analog sources. The amp will be the Luxman m900u and preamp will be the Luxman c900u.

Well, let me just say from what I've experienced (not having auditioned the Audience Front Row SC) I'm convinced more than ever that the digital cables and power cables may make just as much of a difference as the XLR's.

Recently I tried the Black Cat Digit-75 BNC cables in place of my Black Cat 75 MKII digital cables and it made all the difference in the world! A larger and deeper soundstage and imaging, meatier midrange and deeper bass without becoming overly "bloomy,"  "muddy" or exaggerated. But as if you are sitting in the front row!  Again, I preface this by not having auditioned the Front Row speaker cables.

Keep in mind I have the Audience Au24SX XLR cables running from the Chord Hugo TT2 into my Gryphon Diablo 300 Integrated Amp and they are excellent!  But don't overlook the need for a very resolving digital cable either.  I think it boils down to the "Weakest Link" theory.  And from my experience, I believe going with the Audience Au24SX speaker cables combined with a very good and resolving digital cable from your DAC into your preamp may be where your money should be spent.

But, you may ask 10 folks and get 10 different replies.  So, audition!! audition!! audition!!!  That is really the only way you'll truly know!

But make sure you also find some good power cords to audition as well.  Believe it or not, they DO make a difference.  I recommend the Synergistic Research's Galileo UEF Power Cords.

I spent some time last night going over the various permutations of how to rack my system and the best location for the rack. Taking into consideration issues like my single power conditioner that I currently own and not wanting to run very long power cords to the conditioner (from amp), I have decided to get a relatively short 2 or 3 shelf rack and place it in-between the speakers. I think this will be the best compromise for my space and should not effect the stereo imaging too badly.

I will run my tuner from my office desk area with very long cheaper XLR interconnects to the preamp on the rack. I use the tuner for music discovery and it does not have to have the best wires on it. It already  sounds rather good (for a tuner) with cheap Canare XLR's.

I think I can avoid digital cables entirely by going with a Lumin T2 or X1 streamer DAC. If I cannot afford an X1, which can take in a fibre optic Ethernet cable and output an XLR analog signal to my preamp. I will consider setting up the Sonare SystemOptique, which can do some cleanup of copper network noise, though not as well as the Lumin X1 direct fibre optic input.

I have a varied set of old power cords I bought maybe 20 years ago. I am still using some but I think I may dump those old cords and get something new. This will be the last thing I do since I can get up and running without new upgraded power cords. The new Audience power cords also have gotten good reviews and there was a interesting description of the design approaches taken in the construction. If I remember correctly the gentleman who came up with the new design passed away and the PC was the last thing he designed for Audience.

http://audience-av.com/morre/