Cable upgrades

OP,

Honestly the way I do wires is in phases. Speaker cables and interconnects and stop. I will use the 10% as a guide on those. [understand, I have all sorts of wires laying around from the past 50 years of audiophilia]. When I have finished, I will do additional moving speakers / room treatments. Then I will attack the power cords. By this stage I know my system really well and have recovered financially. So, I will then see how much effect power cords have. So, I guess I have always added those later outside of the rest of the budget.

However, the amplifier power cord can often make one of the largest impacts… up there with the speaker wires. If you make sure you get a big sonic impact from each purchase then if you end up spending more it is OK.

@ghdprentice  That is excellent advice re process.  Thanks for that.

I'm trying to take a page out of your book now...after plunging down the XLR IC rabbit hole, I've decided to take a breath and live for awhile, with a couple of options I've amassed.

I've got the Neotech 3001 MkIs (all copper OCC) that I quite like.  So far, they have bested the Audio Sensibility Statement SE and their own Neotech 3001 MkIIIs (20% silver), in my system, for my ears/tastes.

And, I received my Cardas Golden Reference cables back from Bandon OR today.  They did an amazing job refurbishing them!  They put new Cardas wraps on the ends, and in so-doing, brought them into this decade, haha!  They are now certified, and come with paperwork, so if I decide they don't work in my system, I should have a much better time reselling them.

I'm going to live with them for a month, see how they settle in.  If the low bass/slam is still missing, I'll revert to the Neotech MkIs.  (I may also experiment with some AZ Matrix Reference IIs, if a pair comes up on the used market...'cuz I'm a glutton for punishment, it seems!)

Once I get through this phase, I've got next on my agenda -- an upgrade of my AQ Coffee USB cable, and some experimenting with upgraded PCs for the streamer and DAC, and possibly the AQ NRG-4 on the amp.

Thanks again for all the guidance.  I really appreciate the insight and perspective you and others have offered.

Best, JAMES.

Here's some pics of the rejuvenated Golden Reference XLRs.

Now let's see how they sound!

JAMES

Awesome! Looks like they did a nice job and now you can evaluate them and if they don’t work out, you have a great set of cables certified by cardas that will be easy to sell. 
Just give the cables a few days to settle by running a signal thru them before you judge. 

@audphile1 Copy that!  Will give 'em lots of overnight burn-in, with a resting period during the day as well.

Best, JAMES.