1. I think it's useful to ask yourself, honestly, whether the $1000 you're considering spending on new cables would be better spent elsewhere (and doing this with someone who will call bulls*** on your reasoning is helpful). Will that $1000 be enjoyed more on the cables than on the myriad of other things you could spend it on? (E.g. with me, $1000 would let me spend more time in Europe, and that is a pure joy for me.)
2. I also think, as many have noted, that it's useful to ask if you're listening to music as opposed to your system. Is your system allowing you to enjoy all the music you really like? Or do you spend too much time listening to the system and how it is reproducing the music? When I do the latter, I stop buying stuff.
3. Nuclear option: Read Peter Singer (e.g. _Famine, Affluence, and Morality_ here: http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1972----.htm). That'll do it, for sure.