Best cable placement

It would seem if the better cable was upstream, and the lesser cable downstream, it would seem the lesser cable would negate the better one. 

That was not my experience.  I found that if I put the lesser cable upstream it choked off the better cable more downstream than if I did it the other way around.  But, the great thing is you get to try it both ways and hear for yourself, which is all that matters. 

I think the logic is what is lost up front is lost forever and that the signal tends to be stronger downstream so is less prone to loss. 

OP…There’s no right or wrong way to do it. It’s what creates better synergy and sounds best to you.

Here’s an example…

Acoustic Zen Matrix Ref II vs Silver Ref II. Or Acoustic Zen Silver Ref II vs Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper. I am talking about same make cables here. In both cases the Silver Ref sounded best between source and preamp. And it is not because the Silver Ref II is a better cable than the Matrix or the Absolute. It is because in that configuration in my system that was the best synergy. Having the Silver between preamp and amp was too hot. In both cases the copper set balanced out what tge silver had to offer and made the best out of it. So just experiment and go by what sounds best to you and hit us up with your findings  

+ mostly everyone 

Generally source/upstream first, but easy to try other components to see which you like sonically best.