Tweaks, money pit or real value?

Speaker cable marketers claim energy from the signal gets into the dipole molecules of the insulator and returns back into the cable to distort the signal. Try this test. Tie the left channel cable close to the right channel cable. Connect only one of the cables to its speaker. and disconnect it from the amplifier. Connect the other speaker cable to the amplifier and disconnect it from its speaker. Turn up the volume and listen for this insulator stored energy distortion with your ear up against the connected speaker. When you can't hear any you will not only have proved to yourself any speaker cable marketer warning you about the need for special insulation requiring you to spend hundreds or thousands for their cable is scamming you. It will also save you from embarrassing yourself by mounting your speaker cables on little tripods to keep them away from the floor. The audio industry uses some of the most extreme junk science to prevent you from getting what you pay for. If you catch one manufacturer using such junk science as care to ameliorate skin effect, which diminished signal Voltage to speakers by about 1/100th a Db over DC at 20 kHz, they are already exposed as con artists and you should not listen to anything else they say nor should you pay their price gauged retail.

They're upgrades.  That way it doesn't sound like I wasted my money or self justified.  But the stuff I bought improved my system.  Someone whispered "yeah right".  Please don't rain on my parade.

If we talk about cables and another tweak turned on to through the Forum,

Silversmith Fidelium speaker cables! They replaced $6K cables which are now relatively junk. It has been said by a reviewer or two that they can go against the $30K stuff. $1200 an 8’ pair.

Nothing is more valuable than having a good relationship with a dealer that lets you try before you buy in your own system. I also like manufactures that have a no questions asked return policy.  

In 50+ years of using good to great audio equipment in 5 audio rooms, I've removed three times more tweaks than those I keep.  For example, I had the SR Atmosphere XL4.  Sure it could improve recordings but at what cost?  I found that there were too many options and too much time/waste of time adjusting for each recording.  

Here is what I use: Two pairs of Hallographs to focus and gain ambiance with my typical box type dynamic speakers, 34 SR HFTs throughout the room and on speakers which adjust tonal balance and also disperse early reflections, boxed mounted and hanging Acoustic Fields foam absorption panels, SR blue outlet duplexes and three blue fuses on multiple amps, various types of footers, SR Mig Sx under one stereo amp, Stillpoints and one set of old Aurios under equipment with a Townshend seismic sink under a VPI TNT 6. 

Stands and cabling are considered tweeks by some.  The biggest tweek was building a custom high end audio listening room for $160,000.  My cheap Legacy Focus speakers sound fabulous (only lacking in ambiance of really expensive speakers/lesser speakers and monitors do have some superiorities but at the loss of many other factors).