Cable advice

IMHO the lowest priced Cardas, Crosslink is superior to Kimber PBJ. The cost is similar to PBJ, but the Cardas is richer with a more solid 3-D image.

Monster speaker cables must go immediately, for your price range get Analysis Plus Oval 12, $150 new for 8ft pair or go up to Oval 9 for $299. Used look for AQ Midnights. I do not share enthusiasm for PBJ others have here. It is very detailed, but has lean, forward sound which will become more apparant when your remove Monster cables. This may be the sound you are looking for, but for richer, fuller, more natural sound try used HT Truthlink or AQ Opal for $100-125, Sam

PJB is easy to beat even for the price: you can get pure silver Stealths--www.interlinkhouse.com--for about the same. With the Stealth 30-day money-back guarantee, you'd be doing yourself a favor, IMHO, to give these a try, as far up the models list as you can afford (frequent promotions to check out). I made my own cables for a decade or so, including KCAG clones, and PJB clones (but with a fatter braid, which sounded better) for noncritical use (cassette tape, FM tuner), and when I first heard Stealth cables, I gave up my homemade ones completely. Homegrownaudio are cheap but use wire that's WAY too thick to sound good. That's true of a lot of name brand cables, alas. Poor designs but wonderful marketing skills: that characterizes a number of well-known companies, which I'll not go so far as to name.

Firstly, the best advice is to try before you buy. Do not buy anything w/o a right of return. How well any cable will work depends on the interaction between the components in your system and your taste. I agree with advice above about MIT Terminator 2, especially if you can get it at a discount. I have Vandersteen 2ce's and a friend of mine also has them and we have both found MIT speaker cables to work great, especially with a solid state amp. The Kimber PBJ is a great interconnect cable for the price, but may sound a little lean on certain cd players. If you want a little richer sound try MIT, Harmonic Technology, Monster or Audioquest interconnects.

Thanks very much... this is a great start.