"I bought the analog interconnect, the speaker cables and the power cord for 2 dollars shy of a Grand after tax!
PLEASE tell me I did alright!"
You did alright!
That said, I think it was a foolish thing to do for a couple of reasons. To start off with, its crazy to buy expensive cables without demoing them first.
"This exact system is no longer in stores and I don't think many places would let me bring my gear in and switch out cables...and it would have been a total hassle even if they would."
Any decent audio store will let you bring your own components in so you can demo equipment with your own products. As far as it being a hassle, I would suggest that it was probably a bigger hassle to earn the $1000 than it would have been to spend a few hours moving your system around.
Also, what you paid for your cables cost several $100 more than either your amp or CD player. The components you have are very good but I don't think but I don't think they justify that kind of investment in cables.