Shorten those lengthy power cords?

Do not shorten electrical cords. It will hurt resale. And how many miles from the generator to your house. 2 or 3 more feet will have no effect in fact cutting it raises only problems. GIVE ME A BREAK!

The Bob Crump designed 'Asylum' DIY power cord is made with Belden 19364. I've used it for exactly the reason you describe, to make cables that reach my components without having a lot of unnecessary clutter to hide. The 19364 with Marinco plugs is very easy to put together, affordable and has worked very well for me.

If you go the DIY route, check out the Chris V website. There's a ton of info on what PC fits which application, how to measure, different recipes + all the parts.

For a basic power cord, I suggest getting some 12/3 Carol cable at Home Depot & some inexpensive ends at Parts Express. This recipe makes a decent cable.

Just make sure you wire them correctly to keep them in phase. The little GB elecrical outlet tester works fine & Lowes sells them. The IEC to AC adapter can be found here

I agree 100% with Vernneal. I just don't see why it is nessary to continue to change and buy outlandishly priced power cords..its the room first then power amp and speakers that really make the most of what is going on in your room. To pay attention to 5' of power cord really gets us no where.

I don't think that the OP was looking to improve on performance but to improve on esthetics. All of my IC, speaker cables and pc in my second living room system are custom lengths to minimize the visual impact of the wires and cords. Go the DIY route with high quality connectors. In future, if your needs change, you keep the connector and swap out a longer cable.