AU24e Interconnects - but warmer

I did not care for the AU24 in my stereo either they had a thin quality.

I second the Gabriel Gold, they have beautiful tone.

ymmv of course...

Your first instincts were correct on this matter. Get Cardas especially anything with Golden in the name. I am quite sincere they lend a rich tone to your sound and are warm. I would stay away from silver or anything crystal clear. Again I am being very sincere. I love my Cardas but could only afford them used. At $400 you will find it a challenge to get one of their top level cables but I would still try if I were you. My speakers are JM Lab Electras which are very clean and use metal tweeters these cables and tube amps absolutely transformed my sound into something incredible.

Check out Wywires, Alex will design to the specs of your system/preference. Worked for my Thiels.

I hesitate to answer this as I am a dealer for the product but VDH The First Ultimate will do what you want. In my case I am a dealer for it because I use it rather than the opposite; it is VERY close to Cardas at 1/3 the price. As a digital cable it is actually better; I was comparing a GR digital to the VDH just last night. I am a Cardas user myself; phono cable, GR speaker cables but all my ICs are VDH. They have a similar sound characteristic, very smooth but also detailed. I have found that many cable makers go overboard in search of detail, the result is that they have a very bright sound which is impressive on first hearing but quite tiring and not really accurate. Metal dome tweeters are especially sensitive to any trace of brightness; I eventually sold my Mini Utopias because I could not make the top end sound as I wanted it to. They are great speakers but just not to my taste; I find the Scanspeak soft domes to have an extended treble range but to be easier to listen to.

Tara labs cables would be a good choice. The air 1 is a pretty good sounding cable and right at your price range.