What is the best power cable under $200.00 retail?

PNF make very nice cables but they are a lousy company. Two of my orders took for ever. Once I had to enlist Paypal's help to get them to ship it. The third order was never received and it's been three months. I wouldn't buy anything from them anymore but I definitely recommend their cables in the used market.

Okay, I have experimented a lot in this domain and what I realized is when your budget is too low for a power cord it is best bang for buck to buy a decent copper electrical wire or some neotech wire off the loom and terminate it with high quality plugs from Oyaide. At the lower end conductor material and geometry is pretty much generic and it is the connector which takes the performance to the next level. I have done this extensively.

If you have to buy off the shelf, talk to Chris Ven Haus and get one of his "Flavor" cords based on where you want to put it.

In both these cases if you dont hear much differences you are better off upgrading your source. I would anyday go with first method of highest quality connectors and any decent copper electrical wire.

VH Audio.

I have found VH audio to be a great bang for the buck and Chris is great to deal with. Having said that I find the whole power cord thing annoying beyond belief. I strongly disagree with people who say there is no differnce . Even my wife can hear it. Yes it is different BUT is it better??? Based what I have seen

1) They are just another variable to screw how the manufacture voiced the amp or whatever.
2) They can act like a tone control.
3) Depending the cord/ amp interface one can drasticaly change the sound of the compnent from what it was.

Do I use them, yes but I do not like because I could spend the rest of life changing out cords and never get it right or wonder is it right. .
Give it a try and find out for yourself keith

If a power cord improves something to your ears, it's an improvement period. Who knows what the manufacture intended the component to sound like? Do you use the same components the manu uses to voice his equipment? Or -- using a stock power cord, would you know what the 'intended' sound of your preamp was while listening to it connected to your source, amp and speakers by your choice of interconnects and speaker cable?

It's your system -- you determine what sounds best, just different, or worse.