Thank you to all who responded. I wish I had relatives who were as courteous.
Nevertheless, I need to study each response.
BTW, there is a toggle switch on the back of the Ayre CD player that offers either RCA or XLR connectors. More than likely I will buy a better XLR to RCA interconnect if such exists than the Signal Audio cable.
As far as CD player, I currently use an older Harmonic Technology "Truth Link" IC which sounds good and is well made. The speaker cables are HT's Reference Pro 11+ which was highly praised in past reviews. No BS in the reviews, the cables are highly coherent and deliver good sound. Unfortunately, they as thick as an Anaconda snake.
P.S. We all know that as soon as you make a :"mighty" product decision, something else pops up on the radar. In this case, it is a almost mint BAT VK-3i tube pre-amp with remote. It offers both XLR and RCA inputs. It is tempting to buy it and pllay Russian roulette with the CJ and the BAT pre-amps. It is available by a vendor on e-bay that sells by auction only
However, I don't want to give the wife more ammunition to commit me
Alas, happy holidays to all sunnyjim