Next upgrade: cables. But which ones first?

I'm no expert on power cords, but I have recently come to the conclusion that there are better than entry level power cords. DIY is an excellent path for pursuing value in better quality power cords. On a dollar per dollar basis the component quality in DIY far exceeds equivalent commercial products. You simply don't see Furutech or Oyaide connectors on $100 power cords.

my two cents is that i would buy an inexpensive power cord to try on each of your components and a set of interconnects to see if you're interested in changing your sound.

i've had blue heavens and red dawns in my systems and i never felt they let the other gear work at 100%. if your speaker cables work as well as anti cables, you're good to go with them unless you're itching to just experiment, i've got a set of them and they punch well above their price point.

and i agree with the idea that the power cords are the easiest way to jump on the cable wagon - the thing about them (in MY experience) is that a good power cable ALWAYS sounds as good or better than a stock one (sometimes a lot better), while interconnects and speaker cables can just sound different sometimes - not necessarily better or worse. and i really don't want to start an argument here, so please, please no one hijack this thread to start this debate again, but one thing i've had to watch out for in my experience is that you can't judge some cables right away (particularly power cables), they often do have to run in for a few days to sound right.

if i had your system and i was playing around, i'd buy a power cable from one of the adiogon guys (my audio cables, element, cullen, etc.) or find a big, fat, shielded ps audio cable for $100 or so and then buy some interconnects in whatever price point that you want to experiment with.

any mit or analysis plus or most of the van den hul interconnects (disclosure: some people get a hum when they use a vdh first or second interconnect with tubes, as they are carbon, not metal), for example, would sound better than the nordosts, i would think.

but it's all up to the audio gods in the end....
good luck!

Inna- power cord- "not shorter than 5ft."

Why?

I read it here somewhere that generally it is not recommended. I myself did not compare, all my power cords are 5ft. I think, the idea was that shorter cords don't have enough "time" to filter the current. Probably depends on particular cords and applications.

Great feed back. Thanks to all!

I'm leaning towards power cords to get started. For the time being it will be one power cord, actually. I can go for a $350 PC. So I could buy 2 Oyaide connectors and still have about $150 for 3 to 5 feet of conductors/shielding/etc, or could buy a used cable.

Several Lamm preamp and Mc amp owners I've gotten in touch with have had very good results with Purist power cords, but they were using really expensive ones, like Dominus, which is 10 AWG and well beyond my budget. Looking at used Purist PCs closer to my budget, like Venustas, I see they are only 14 AWG...which kind of leads me to wonder if their entry level is good for these applications. Thoughts?

Keep it coming!