All those seem like sensible things to do. Thanks for the update.
I have trouble imagining how a cable connecting any audio source to a pre-amp could cause such trouble as amp failure. In fact, I can't imagine how using balanced connections (assuming that the electronic items in question have the circuitry to make fully balanced connections possible) could matter. As far as I understand, fully balanced connections are needed for very low output items, such as microphones, where they will have long cables. The output for most microphones is in the range of 1.3-3.2 mV, whereas the output of most audio sources (line level), such as CD players, is in the range of 100-200 mV. Moving magnet record player pick ups do have a low voltage output of 4-5 mV, similar to microphones, and moving coil pick ups are even lower, as much as 10-fold lower. But I have never seen a turntable/pick up with a balanced connection. If I understand correctly, record player pick ups are not balanced sources. Just the same, I have much less trouble using relatively inexpensive 3-conductor balanced (XLR type) cables instead of those mysterious voodoo filled MIT cables.
Audio magazines or online publications often do submit their review articles to the manufacturers of the product before publishing. But, to my knowledge, no one sends their reviews out for independent peer review. The amount of verbal diarrhea in these reviews is usually directly proportional to the selling price of the item. Stereophile is among the worst in that regard. If I look at a Stereophile review, I skip the turgid prose, and go straight to the measurements. John Atkinson's measurements are reliable indicators of a speaker's sound quality, however his words accompaning those measurements tend to soft pedal any flaws in a speaker. The other source of reliably done speaker measurements is the Canadian National Research Council, published online as
SoundStageNetwork!.
I can only offer this anecdote about tube warm up time. I worked many years in biochemistry labs. A common tool was a ultraviolet spectrophotometer. It uses a source of UV light, passes it through a narrow grating to get a very narrow range of wavelengths, and passes that light though a biochemical solution to see what wavelengths get absorbed and by how much. The source of UV light was a lot like a vacuum tube but it was filled with deuterium gas. When the filament gets hot, the gas emits UV light. So they have to warm up to work. Typically, we let it warm up about 10 minutes in the morning and left it on all day. Some perfectionists wouldn't use them until they warmed up as much as 30 minutes.
At one point, I got a new spectrophotometer that had lots of digital bells & whistles, but it still used a tube filled with deuterium as a light source. There was even a temperature sensor at the light source. The spectrophotometer sent out all it's measurements as data points in a spreadsheet file. If you wanted to look, you could monitor the light source's filament temperature as soon as you powered it up. I distinctly remember seeing how it finished warming up to a stable running temperature in less than a minute.
I've heard of those recommendations before, and I think they are worse than silly, they're backwards. It wouldn't be the first time that audiophiles (or other contrarians) oppose common sense in an effort to be noticed.
Let's go back to signal voltage levels in a typical audio system. If a typical sound source (line level) signal level is 100-200 mV, after a pre-amp (pre-amp level) those voltages are in the range of 0.1-10 V. After amplification those signal voltages are again increased by another 10-fold, or more. Those lower line level and pre-amp level voltages are much more prone to EMI/RFI interference than amp level voltages. That's why those interconnect cables (RCA or XLR) are shielded. To me, it makes much more sense if the low voltage signals go through short cables and the high voltage signals run through longer cables, as needed. I've never heard or read a reasonable justification for doing the opposite.
If you get a chance to look inside one of those MIT boxes, crack off all the gorp they slathered in it and take a photo. I've heard they're nothing but some caps and coils, and maybe a resistor. Why would an audio cable have passive filters? I and many others suspect that Wilson speakers suffer from poorly designed passive crossovers. How could adding more filters upstream improve them? These filters were MIT's one size fits all solution to an unknown problem. None of them are custom made for the owner's speakers. It's more likely a method of siphoning funds from purchasers.
If RFI or EMI is a problem in an audio system, it is easily heard. More often, it isn't a problem. As I mentioned earlier, all cables meant for low voltage signals, RCA or XLR interconnects, are shielded. Speaker cable, downstream from the amp, does not require it. Shielding shouldn't hurt anything, but I've never encountered a need for it in home audio.
