AU24e Interconnects - but warmer

I hesitate to answer this as I am a dealer for the product but VDH The First Ultimate will do what you want. In my case I am a dealer for it because I use it rather than the opposite; it is VERY close to Cardas at 1/3 the price. As a digital cable it is actually better; I was comparing a GR digital to the VDH just last night. I am a Cardas user myself; phono cable, GR speaker cables but all my ICs are VDH. They have a similar sound characteristic, very smooth but also detailed. I have found that many cable makers go overboard in search of detail, the result is that they have a very bright sound which is impressive on first hearing but quite tiring and not really accurate. Metal dome tweeters are especially sensitive to any trace of brightness; I eventually sold my Mini Utopias because I could not make the top end sound as I wanted it to. They are great speakers but just not to my taste; I find the Scanspeak soft domes to have an extended treble range but to be easier to listen to.

Tara labs cables would be a good choice. The air 1 is a pretty good sounding cable and right at your price range.

I found the Au24s to be harsh too with various electronics...lots of hype a decade or so back...but very disappointing to my ears...same thing with the speaker wires.

I say try Audio Art cables...the are very economical and (to me) very musical and natural...If you don't like them, you can return them... I now run nothing but AA interconnects...(FWIW: I'm not as fond of their speaker cables)

What speaker cables are you running?

Some folks are proponents of having a consistent cable/IC 'loom' from the same vendor.

That should also be factored into the search for overall system synergy.

Aren't the Marantz components known for being 'warm'-ish?

Are you running a bi-wire spk. cable to your spks? If so, try running a single cable to the low freq. spk. binding posts tend use the jumpers that came w/the spks. The reason I mention this, I had a touch of too much detail/treble w/my KRIX Synphonix Floorstanders using an internal bi-wire setup w/ Kimber 8VS. When I went to a single cable just to the low freq. posts, I noticed a little more warmth and slightly less detail. It what was needed. Just a thought.