Dwhitt,
You can save your money on a power cord for the NAD C-717 because it has a dedicated lamp cord hardwired through the chassis.
If this system really intrigues you, you also ought to look at desktop units by Onkyo and Denon, and maybe JVC. I have one of the Onkyos on my desk at work and it sounds pretty good with the stock speakers that came with it in the box. A decent set of speaker wires and a little silclear or similar contact enhancer on the AC plug and you are in business. My Onkyo is CD only, but I seem to recall the DVD units sounded at least as good.
With that said, 20W of budget class D amplification gets the leading edges and sounds "speedy" and lively, but lacks some in terms of body and warmth. Given your audio history, you may want to look at one the larger NAD all-in-ones. Audio Advisor has the NAD-L73 DVD/CD Surround Receiver on sale for about $500 right now - $200 less than it's 2 channel sister unit the L54. I have heard this system driving Era Designs and B&W CM-1's and it sounded like music. An active subwoofer would still be needed to get movie effects or deepest bass passages right.
