amp question

Personally I've always spent every drop of budget on the major components...and then proceeded to experiment with cables etc. and thus exceed the original budget.
..maybe a bad habit, but I've been unable to break it so far.

However, I've never spent $5k on a power amp and then bought a $3k power cord for it.

If I had to estimate, I'd say on my current system, the cables etc. probably comprise 10-15% of total system cost.

Spend 80% on your hardware. The rest for tweaks.

Dude, don't waste money on a "Magic" power cord. Get a good power cord to match a great piece of equipment, I say spend 90% of your money on gear, including a power conditioner, which I consider a component. But no high end power cord improves sound. As long as you have a solid connection, and there is a free flow of electrons, the sound will come from the brilliantly designed circuits in the amp and the upstream components.

your pre and amp are exceptional

At last finally back of work! I rather rushed the original question during the last 5 mins of my lunch break ( hence the uninspiring title!) To clarify. This is not necessary something I'm considering doing. I was just interested in hearing from anyone who had gone this route. I think for example that Roy Gregory based on his writings would be a proponent for the cheaper component with more expenditure on supports and cables .
One often reads review's that say how an often much cheaper model in a companies line very nearly matches the top of the line models. Of the top of my head an example would be the Audio Research LS26 versus Ref 3 line stages, price difference between the two= $4000 .
Well my question is which would provide the better performance for the same price? The LS26 with say a custom Silent running audio's Ohio class or a Minus K platform or even a whole HRS SXR rack . Or the Ref 3 sitting on say a wooden chopping block!
As no dealers near me carry such specialist devices. I'm unable to do the comparison myself. We've all read the reviews and forum posts that basically say " I have the ....Vibraplane etc and it made my...... amplifier... sound much better" But what I'd like to know , and its mainly only really out curiosity sake is did it made a cheaper but similar component perform equally or better than its higher priced stablemate?. Or is it all baloney!