"Budget" cable advice, please

Second the Signal Cable. Very difficult to match, nearly impossible to beat for the money. Usually need to spend 2-3 times more to beat them outright. I'm very familiar with the PS Elite. The preamp section is still quite viable, however, and it is a BIG however, the power section is really thin and non-musical. Might I suggest using the preamp section and running say a Hafler 120 or even an Adcom 555. Not much money and they will bury the Elite. Good luck

I agree with Facten .. I have 3 mters pair IC3 Art Audio Cable from CD to preamp and it sounds fantastic for the cheapo price it costs..

My cent!

Blue Jean cable sells Belden cable at any length you specify as well as interconnects. You can also buy Belden from a electrical supply house like Allied Electronics but you will likely have to buy it in either 500 or 1000 ft rolls. However, the only reason that I would even bother to replace the cable you already have is if you need larger AWG. If you already have #12 or #14 wire, then there is really no need to do anything. Ditto for a power cord. Buying new cable and power cord is not going to get you marked improvement - it will not get you an improvement.

First of all, I want to thank everybody who has been so helpful in responding to this thread already. You guys are fantastic!

Shadorne,
Yes, I have certainly considered hanging onto the Monster Cables for my speakers. I'm concerned, however, that the stuff is well over 20 years old, and I wonder whether or not it has deteriorated during that time. In any case, I would still have to have it resized and terminated again, since the lengths I have now are far, far too long for my new listening room. After that kind of trouble, I'm wondering whether it is just worth buying new cable.

Tvad,
I would consider "budget" to be around $100 or less for interconnect cables to hook my CD player up to the amplifier, and, between $200 and $250, maximum, for speaker cables. Maybe all of that's unrealistic, I'm not sure... ;-)

A lot of people seem to like the Morrow cables... the prices are quite reasonable, and he does offer you 60 days to make your evaluation and then return them if you're not happy, so that's one possibility.

Curio and others,
The Signal Cable interconnects and speaker cables also seem to be very popular here. I will give that a serious look, especially since they seem to be running some "bargain" auctions here right now.

Celtic 66,
Thank you very much for the opinions about the PS Audio Elite Plus (my understanding is that the Elite, which came out first, was a 50 W per channel amplifier, while the Elite Plus has 70 W per channel).
In a huge thread on speakers that I started a few weeks ago, the general consensus seemed to be that I get my Totem Arrows fully broken in before making any decisions about amplification. Totem recommends over 100 hours of break in time! At that rate, and given my schedule, I may be fully into my retirement before I upgrade my amplifier! :-)
I'm really quite torn about the issue of upgrading my amplifier. I have heard that the preamp section of my amplifier is really not bad, and, considering that it includes a moving magnet/moving coil phono preamp stage, and that I will almost certainly have to pay extra for a phono preamp with any other integrated amplifier on the market these days, it does bump up the cost of replacing my amplifier considerably.
I've heard a bunch of different recommendations for replacement amplifiers. Everything from JoLida tube or hybrid stuff to Unison Unico. I'm pretty confused...

I can recommend the Unico. It was truly excellent in my system driving some Proac 1.5's. Made my Classe gear sound broken (maybe it was).
Signal Cable is working well in our phono rig. Great value.