Cables /power conditioner- Order of importance

Like most, I have upgraded all of the above on your list in some cases several times. For my system, I ended up elliminating the power conditioner in the chain and gone with two dedicated lines. Of greatest importance IMHO are your interconnects, then it is a toss up between speaker wire and power cord depending on what your equipment is and the quality of their power supplies and your stock power cords.

Since I have just recently "discovered" power conditioners and the benefits in my own system, I would like to chime-in here as an interested neophyte. Audioblazer is asking about upgrading? Does he already have a conditioner in the system, or is this a hypothetical system? if so, for pretending purposes only, can we assume an all-Monster Cable system including the power conditioner?.....if so I would suggest replacing the Monster Cable IC and speaker cables first. But my real question is, what is a next logical step up in the conditioner world and is the purportedly over-priced Monster conditioner (any model) a valid starting point?

Hi Programeergeek, I m using an Exact Power Conditioner. B4 that I was using monster avs stabilizer. I found that Exact Conditioner is much better. Beside that I have a Transparent PIXL connected to the power source of my gyro se turntable. my power cord are fr Transparent reference. Have a Transparent reference interconnect between my integrated amplifier Unison research SET S8. speaker cable is fr Transparence reference as well. currently my CDP is Unison research Unico CD(tube) which I m not using now. I preferred the warm sound of tube. Will be changing speaker to VR4sr. Intend to replace my turntable to VPI HRX or Kuzma Reference. Spent a lot on cables/conditioners. Question : need to buy addtional power cord and interconnect for my CDP. Was also considering Transparent PI4 to connect to my amplifier and CDP power cord Eventually will probably upgrade my integrated amplifier to separate amplifiers. If I have limited budget which component is more imp? TQ. Happy listening

Before even considering a line conditioner or any cable upgrade you should insure that your AC outlet is not on a switched circuit, the contact point of which is about the size of a pencil point (as it was described to me). Then purchase high quality hospital grade or audio grade outlets (porter ports, watt gates etc.) At this point you haven't spent much money and the difference you will hear will be profound. Then I would upgrade the power cord until you feel that with your existing setup that you have the clearest most open highs, cleanest tightest most extended bass response and the blackest (quietest) background. At this point you can decide if you need a power conditioner. Like Thorman says, "don't buy a power conditioner unless you need one". Beyond this point it's a matter of synergy and I agree with Dedicatedaudio when he says work downline from the source.

Anacrusis' suggestions to clean the contact points, install audio grade outlets, etc. are good advice.

However, none of those items will clean the noisy AC coming into your house from the pole. Nor will any simply power cable.

And since everybody has noisy AC to one bad degree or another, it is in everybody's best interest to install 'proper' line conditioning asap.

Only then are your components truly able to begin to demonstrate their full potential.

-IMO