Thanks to all who responded. the technical viewpoint is relevant, however, my main concern is, as someone suggested, the difference in the "quality of the sound". There seems to be so many different views on both sides of the question. My only experience with cables is this. I have a pair of Harmonic Tech XLR pro-silway from amp to pre, and it replaced a cheap set of rca's. I heard no difference, although I must admit I didn't do a lot of critical listening comparing the 2. However, when I replaced the cheap rca's from cd player to pre-amp with a set of Cardas quadlink 5c RCA ends there was a noticeable improvement.
thanks, joe
thanks, joe