power cords/surge protector-conditioner

Thanks both. Dekay, do you plug the power cord into the HTS 2000 or direct to wall outlet? If the wall outlet, then whats the point of the HTS 2000?

Dekay is correct, plug HTS 2000 into wall and plug power cords into HTS 2000. You will easily hear improvement over stock cords that came with equipment. You can buy used here
and then sell for almost same price, or try Cable Co which has cable library which allows you to try cable first for a small deposit which is applied to purchase or any item in store. Analysis plus makes AC cords which are supposed to sound great, never see them used here. Be careful about buying cords that are too stiff, they can be a big headache.
Check out Cable Co here www.fatwyre.com

Argent you may want to try HTS 2000 also, it was clearly better than HTS 3500 for audio only in my system, several other people here experienced the same thing, you can buy new HTS 2000 for $125 at www.globe-mart.com

I run everthing through the HTS2000, including my amps. Some people, though, find that they prefer the sound of amps run directly from the wall (without conditioning), but then they are left without surge protection (which is a risky propostion where I live in LA). I have been experimenting with using two HTS2000's in series (one plugged into the other). The amp plugged into the first unit and the digital gear running from the second one. Due to the HTS2000 having three different filtering levels (depending on which outlets are used) there are quite a few possibilities/combinations to try out. The digital outlets have more, preamp/receiver outlets moderate and the amp outlets the least filtering. Also since I have two HTS2000's I am considering upgrading (hardwiring) the power cord on one of them to see if this will change/improve the sound and if it does then maybe installing a male IEC plug to one of the units as well (which would make it easier to try different cords). Why modify a $125.00 power conditioner? Because I am curious and cheap.

For power cord info look at the cable asylum under audioasylum.com. This should get you started on DIY: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cables/messages/7885.html

Dekay: I knew I liked you for a reason! -Jerie