Power Chords and Line Conditioning

I would suggest you start with the power cords. A good budget to work with is 10% of your investment in each piece of equipment. You must spend the time tring a few, and be sure to listen for over an hour to see if the initial WOW is not something you'll grow to hate. Cords like any wiring require a break-in (allowing the electrons to align) so if you can try used ones that is perfect! Also I would suggest you purchase used cords. They tend to loose 50% of there value right out of the box, but then retain the remaining value for years. Once you've found good cords you'll be in a far better position to evaluate conditioners (if you need one)

I think most would agree that a decent power conditioner does more to improve sound (especially in areas of dirty AC) than any power cord by itself. For example, reduction in noise floor is major with a Power Wedge, and huge with a Cinepro Line Balancer, and for uncontroversial theoretical reasons. It's amazing that power cords can help as much as they do, and that, I believe, is less well understood. But I'd certainly start with the power conditioner. Does anyone disagree? I'd be interested to hear.

Oops, I see that Jadem6 DOES disagree. I've only done it one way myself, but having both good power cords on hand (Stealth HAC) and an excellent power conditioner (Cinepro 20 Line Balancer) as well, I suppose I could experiment. But I won't, since I'm 99.9% sure already that if I remove the Cinepro from my system, the plunge in quality will make me not want to listen, even for the period of an experiment.

Break-in "allow(s) the electrons to align"? Would someone explain this in terms of known physcal laws, please?

For the best value, I would start with the power conditioner. Years ago I brought home a Tice Power Block, and it took months to get my jaw back off the floor. Since then I have experimented with power cords from Shunyata, JPS and Synergistic. The only cord I kept was the JPS Power AC, which I use on my amp, plugged straight into the wall (on a separate circuit, too). The front end is plugged into the Tice with stock cords. The after market cords were usually an improvement over the same component plugged into the wall with stock cords, but no where near the improvement of the conditioner with stock cords. The after market cords plugged into the Tice generally make very little difference, and not always for the better. My experience is also that the after market cords that are affordable don't work nearly as well as the more expensive ones. But if you buy, say, 5 Black Mambas, you've spent much more than the cost of a good conditioner. With a good conditioner you treat the whole system (or front end at least) for about $1m. I like Tice (I bought Tice Solos for my theater and multiroom systems, too), but I would love to check out the PS Audio gear that everyone talks about. Good luck, be patient and try before you buy.