I agree that is an eminently sensible approach to start with the speakers. The "striking gold" part is inconsistent, however, with the rest, which was the point of the OP.
I know this isn't the forum where people want to discuss this, but the frequency response of your cables better be flat, or your cable is defective. Fortunately most are, to a nearly perfect null test with one another.
I know this isn't the forum where people want to discuss this, but the frequency response of your cables better be flat, or your cable is defective. Fortunately most are, to a nearly perfect null test with one another.