Good to see your system up and running.
Regarding the XLR/RCA conundrum, i would scrap the Van Damme's at your local yard and put the money you raise towards Atlas XLR's of the same ilk as the RCA's and then do a comparison. I cant say for sure the XLR Atlas would be better than the RCA but that's the only way you will find out for sure. The Van Damme's are truly awful (sorry Van Damme users) even worse than cheap QED's (sorry again) and thats saying something.
Enjoy your listening and remember there are NO limits!