Used cables $1k - SF Amati and Bel Canto RF1000??

Just want to say that when it comes to balanced IC's be sure to take it real slow. There's a lot more disparity in performance among single-ended IC's than balanced (exactly why I've never found a satisfactory answer). My point is you may be able to find extremely suitable balanced IC's at big savings...the loaner cables available from most of the used cable websites may be worth their weight in gold here.

All things considered, I actually tend to agree with what Jkj25 is saying. If you do indeed have a considerable frequency response problem, then cables are likely not the best solution. That's partly because cables very generally fall into one of 2 camps, or somewhere inbetween: those that have sparkle, air, dynamics, extension, openness and transparency, or, those that have rich harmonics, tone and somewhat rolled-off highs, but typically at the expense of the positive traits of cables that belong in the first group. Also, it may be time, as Jkj is suggesting, to review more closely your source/preamp/amp/speaker chain to look for any possible Ohm's-law violations. Even if everything should check out, you may still need to consider and investigate things like room accoustics and/or power conditioning. But, unearthing the real cause whatever it may be would indeed be the better fix.