Mapleleafs, You are right, gear first, cables second. I have done the Risch cables as well as others such as various cables made with differing gauges of magnet wire. The results all were excellent. But the results with the PAD cables were much better. Even with the lower end PAD.
Feel free to email me and we can discuss gear. We may disagree on cables but I have read your posts and we agree on quite a lot.
Later,
Chris