Parasound - Funny you should say you don't even audition speakers anymore. Since I joined my local audio club a few years ago, I have been able to audition dozens of speakers, plus electronics of all sorts. As my earlier posts explain, I love doing this. While before I had the Ohms, these auditions would always send me home completely unexcited by my own rig, now I actually look forward to coming home and firing up the Ohms. I have heard speakers that cost 10 times as much, and more, than my 2000s that I would not trade for. It's really amazing. In fact, the few times I have felt that someone's system was superior was not with mega-buck speakers, but with good mid-priced speakers, like an older Martin Logan model. And yet, I think that front-end, cable and acoustic improvements will get me there, all without a speaker upgrade. I haven't ventured into that "speakers to hold onto for life" thread, but more and more, I am realizing that these might well be my last loudspeakers (barring a lottery hit).
Mapman - I have been dipping my toe into the power cord waters. An entry level PS Audio cord seems to do no harm to my amp, and is perhaps just slightly quieter. A more expensive pc from K-Works, for my preamp, did indeed lower the noise floor and increase apparent soundstage width. Since I will soon need a longer pc for the amp, I expect I will try something else, perhaps Audio Art. Once I get that done, I will finally upgrade my speaker cables, which are older Kimber entry level. I'll keep you posted.
