How do I smooth out violins?

Zd, I think we are on the same page. I really don't like the change this buy that approach to spending other people's money. Luck is a poor plan A for making improvements in one's system. In the case of the AQ 4, I had direct experience with the cable and didn't like it. Inexpensive cables like anticable and signal cable were way better, so its not likely that loosing the AQ 4 would be a waste of money.

Zd542, while I don't disagree with you in theory regarding cables, in reality, I think everyone uses cables somewhat to 'tune in' a collection of equipment to suit their personal musical tastes. Many times I will see folks who swear by cables that many others will call 'bright' sounding, inevitably, these folks usually are running gear that many view as 'dark' sounding. Then there are others who swear by 'dark' sounding cables as the truth, when I look at their list of gear I see many 'bright' sounding pieces listed.

In the end, I feel that many of us generally arrive at the same destination, though we take many different paths to get there. Since there is no one single cable that everyone agrees is perfectly neutral, I feel that such an animal, a "perfectly neutral cable", does not exist. Therefore we are all tuning to some extent.

I have first hand experience switching from AQ to Cardas in many systems and am sharing my experience/opinion with the OP.Ultimately, this hobby is about our own expeiences and sharing with others what we have encountered. Not sure, why George Cardas would laugh at an person asking if his cables will calm down a bright system. I have talked with Mr. Cardas in shows and he has always been cardial. Has he laughed at you in the past?

I once emailed Cardas regarding my harsh and forward sounding system and they recommended one of their cables that would make my system more laid-back. The reply was signed by George. (I assume G. Cardas).
I'll bet he is very familiar with these situations.

FYI, here is a review from 1990 of the Chesky CD I recommended earlier for use as a reference recording, by Robert Hesson of Stereophile.

Regards,
-- Al