where to invest???

btw, i am following the "dumped power conditioner thread" which is in line with your thoughts mr. green. very interesting swing of the audio world pendulum i feel. it was suggested in another thread that powercords have the most impact outside of major system component upgrades as well.

Look for a power cord for either end.. source or amp. In fact, the supply cord to the Blue Circle filter/cond will be as good a spot to begin too.

Bright Star nodes, while a mite priceier than 'pods' at near double their costs, will firm up the sound, and have it more tactile and not as soft.

Wood blocks from any local hobby shop of wood working shop... like Ebony, Mahogany, Teak, etc... found in off size pieces can be cut to equal sizes and used as near no cost footers, with suprising results. Ask if you can check out their refuse bin.

Audio Art, and Micro Pearl, ICs aren't expensive (< $100 pr. new) and do an eye opening job. Also I think a pair of Cardas Neutral Ref ICs should be issued to every audio hobbyist. AZ Matrix ref, SR Alpha Quad, Kimber Hero, MIT Shotgun S3, and others are pretty good non wallet busting signal cables.

I currently use the AA & MP, and have owned nearly all of the others I listed here. Older Synergistic Research & Audience Conductor, cables too are quite good and often traded here... and there's tons of DIY cable making threads online.

do you refer to goertz micropurl? i was vey interested in goertz but the amp oscillation thing shyed me away. i also looked at audio art and rs audio for IC's. but for my first foray into boutique cabling i was hoping to stay within 1 companies products to see if i could learn to hear their sound and switch things in and out 1 at a time, just having fun and experimenting. others i was looking at were kimber 8tc and pbj, pnf, MIT avt1 series, anti-cables. it was a toss-up between the nodes and pods, really and arbitrary choice at this point without listening. i could easily go with the nodes instead. anyway, thanks again, lots of food for thought. so, between upgrading power and isolating all my components(maybe could do both right now, but might have to choose one, and i'm pretty sure, while everything looks very nice, my componenets are speakers are not sitting on stuff that is very good for fidelity)which would y'all choose?

I second the vote for a PS Audio's Premiere power regenerator. I am not giving up mine anytime soon.

gold...and as much as possible