Looking For 90% of the performane of the super expensive cables for much less money

Hi Kjl1065,

You have a solid set up. However, as suspect you already realize - you are not maximizing the true potential of your components. Just like veins deliver the blood to muscles and organs - cables deliver electricity to capacitors, drivers and transformers. Either way the more juice the better the performance.

What you need to wrap your mind around is that cabling is like having another component in your system. So you should abandon the idea that you are going to accomplish your goals for under 2K. It took me a long time to appreciate this fact.

Ideally one would like to spend 25-30% on cables. The retail amount of the components you have listed are about 45 - 50K . Based on that 
a retail cable budget would roughly about 15K. But it does not mean that you need to actually spend that amount if you are buying used and or NOS. Keeping this in mind, you do want to formulate a planned out, well informed direction so you are making an investment that will last a lifetime.

If you are serious about having 90% performance in a less expensive package - And you are willing to make a realistic investment then this is the company to check out. They will be the last Interconnects, Speaker and Phono cables you will ever buy.

If you find yourself leaning this way, I have two pairs of Thales interconnect Dealer Demos I will let go for 50% off retail. I upgraded to XLR versions.

Best of luck

Thales Precision Cables
www.tonarm.ch 

As far as Power Cables check out Analysis Plus Oval 2 Silver.
www.analysis-plus.com

Nothing like a stage 3 Concept Cables, but they are a solid
upper tier performer.

Stage 3 Concepts just to check out whats out there. 
www.stage3concepts.com

I would also suggest a Power Distributor if and when you are ready:
HB Cable Design
www.hb-cable-design.com

How does a cable get outdated? Fair enough question. Let’s see if we can figure this one out, shall we? Let’s count the paradigm shifts to see just how far behind the power curve some people are, shall we?

1. Oxygen free copper 
2. High purity copper 
3. Long crystal copper 
4. Cable geometry optimization
5. High purity silver wire
6. Teflon and air dielectrics 
6. New welding techniques and materials for connectors 
7. Cryogenic treatment of cables
8. Controlled directionality of cables
9. Addition of graphene to cable conductor 
10. Contact enhancers, e.g. silver/gold and graphene 

Don't forget that solidus lattice structures, wire,  (OCC, etc)

Amorphous metals, with different structure.... 

Then liquid metal....

That all three are different in how they handle the delta of the complex physics of electrical function. That the OCC vs amorphous are very close on a 1 to 10 scale, like 1 and 2. Where the liquid is like a 8 or 10 in that scale -- in it's difference and distance from the other two.

Uh, Teo, you’re not supposed to pump your own products here, you silly goose. I left liquid cables out on purpose to see if you’d react. 😬 I left off carbon cables, too. I could have mentioned lead conductors, fiber optic cables, and I’m reasonably sure I left some other variables out, too, MIT cables, gold tainted silver cables, etc.

pop quiz, what happens when you cryo liquid cables?

A $50,000 mousetrap is overkill.  It could be better but not 200-300% better than existing methods to kill mice.  In audio reproduction, $50,000 to obtain 200-300% better sound is wildly appreciated if it can be done.  As of now, I haven't heard a high end system which can improve that much for $50,000 unless it could be the Masterbuilt cables of $400,000 replaced with $50,000 in cables.  That is reverse of what mousetrap analogy is.  Then the best system I heard would be only $1,050,000.  I still couldn't afford it.