Harley quote

@mahgister- very true. There is used equipment out there for very reasonable prices (I finally recently sold a very good sounding B &K amp and Belles Research preamp form the 80s and 90’s for a total of $400. Great core for a fine sounding system. Would have kept them if I didn’t want a volume control ina a remote.

 I was lucky to find an integrated with ONLY volume and mute functions on the remote- no extra noise with source or other controls, and I still have it for 15 years. No reason to switch unless it breaks (crossing my fingers) and if it did, I would most likely get another used or demo model with minimal functionality (no digital tuning or streaming crap). I got tremendous improvement from putting my turntable on a a wall shelf ($179) and putting in a vibration control platform on it - a little more but WAY less than a new cartridge or turntable which would not have made anywhere near as big an improvement for 3-4 (at least) times the investment.

"Diminishing returns " is the subjective excuse by budget Audiophiles for not putting more into their system.  It's an excuse for Lower Fi. Pretending you're doing all that, without doing it.  :(
Mostly, the phrase is used by people ignorant of the performance spectrum.  

Do people who swap out the manufacturer's supplied power cords also swap out the innards of the component they wish to improve on? If they believe a company is skimping on their power cords what makes them think the connection point is going to be any better? Why do you suppose a company would invest so much into R&D and spend so much time and care on the internal components of their equipment to end up saying "Well shoot, let's top this masterpiece off with a cheap power cord?" If you spend thousands on a power cord but you don't upgrade the supposed poor internal electronics what have you achieved?

@douglas_schroeder - so you don't think the law of diminishing returns applies to audio equipment or is an excuse for LowFi? It is not an excuse, but a fact, and LowerFi is in the eye of the beholder, and sounds very snobbish.You can't tell someone how much $$ to put in their system. People have all different values, even audiophiles (self-described or otherwise). 

Hopefully, audiophiles have an idea of what they've spent on their system or what it lists for or what it's currently worth or some measurement of expenditure. 99% of people have some limit. If you are part of the 1% (no similarity to Bernie Sanders' comments intended) then good for you. I know I spent a hell of a lot more of my available cash on stereo equipment and records when I was in college than I do now, but what I spend now is greater than when my kids were still on the payroll. Everything is relative. If they are not part of the 1% and have no idea what they have or are spending, I'd like to play poker with them.

If you're part of the 99%, then you recognize, and consciously or subconsciously act on the law yourself, and are not operating with Monopoly money. Whether you are going from a $2K system to a $3K system, $5K, $10K, $20K, $30K, $50K, $100K, $150K, $250K, $500K or $1M+ with each jump should come SQ improvement (unless you got terrible advice or don't know how to set it up) that you can hear and appreciate. Whether it (or any purchase) is worth the expenditure is up to the consumer. Frankly, any investment should be judged by the sound improvement it makes; equipment, sound treatments, cables, tweaks, whatever. Some quasi-audiophiles only care about how cool or nice their system looks, and if that's what floats their boat, even include that in your value analysis as people consider it furniture, which certainly can change the equation. And it's OK to care about both.

I don't think anyone who contributes or reads this sight is IGNORANT of this, and there is no reason for antagonizing anyone in the name of snobbery.

@dadork - its common for amps and other components to come with junk power cords or none at all because people have preferences. I don't think it reflects whatsoever on the inside of the boxes.

Of course they make a difference, just beware of the law of diminishing returns.....