Heh, questions are good. Ask LOTS of questions. Ask 'em before you dip into your wallet.

I'm probably not the best person to ask about using cables as expensive tone controls for equipment. In my mind, the best cable is one that is "invisible" and that doesn't "do" anything to the music other than transport the bits from point A to point B. Of course, the devil is in the details and getting people to agree on what constitutes "invisible" is a never ending quest.

Having done quite a bit of time in recording studios, I feel like the Canare cable is as neutral as it gets (at least to my ears) and they are widely used in studios around the world for mics, patch cords, speaker runs, etc. They're resistant to induced noise, they make great connectors, and it's all priced within reason. No smoke and mirrors...no diatribes about clever little cables pulling magic music bits out of the ether...etc. They just plain do what they're supposed to. Of course, they don't look as fancy as having MIT Oracle cabling that's as thick as a donkey's (bleep) and there are no fancy boxes on the end that are supposed to mysteriously "make the music better." But if you like to listen to music instead of look at your equipment, they rock. :-)

As for the Outlaw cables, I've got no complaints. They're a little expensive, but are well made. The locking connectors can be troublesome on the 990 due to the close spacing of the inputs on the back. I've actually been slowly removing them from my system in favor of custom (Canare) cabling that I've cut to appropriate lengths. I haven't done that because I was disatisfied with the Outlaw stuff...just trying to tidy up the spagetti.

Cheers,