So Many Choices - PCords for Digital Sources?

Power cords are the last thing you should ever worry about.Especially for home theater have you tried room treatments,speaker placement,getting cables of the ground.I have a very expensive system and bought into the power cord thing not really any difference for the money. Yes they look better big deal.Most of your equipment is not capapble of drawing enough current to really need a bigger power cord. Even the cheapest cords that come with equipment are capable of 20 amp current capacity .Also since you have dedicated lines which is a great upgrade you will hear no difference I cant believe our industry this is one of the downfalls which i think is part of the demise of hi end.I have worked in the hi end idustry for 20 years and i dont sell power cords.In fact if you ask most desighners they recomend you stick with their supplied cord. I use a cat ultimate preamp the desighner Ken Stevens says in the manuel not to use other power cords because it can effect the sound in a negative way. Save your money buy a turntable and a nice preamp,integrated Primaluna, Vincent, Pathos great products and not expensive and seperate two channel from your home theater in the same room. The preamp section in a Integra piece is not optimized for music. You have got a great dac. The bench is one of the best values in audio.You actually arent hearing what it is capable of with your current setup Im not trying to be rude Ati and Itegra are great for theater but not for music.I also like the Usher speakers to you need to hear how they would sound in a good two channel setup. You hear that home theater will be your second love.

Also if you did a test going back and forth you could not tell me tell me which is the stock cord against the hi end cord on a consistent basis. Trust me i have got good ears for an old fart and my guys that work at my store are twenty years younger and are very experienced listners we do these kinds of test on all kinds of products all the time. I dont get all this stuff better leading edge more palpable it is so funny to read all this stuff. Once capacitors in power supplies of audio equipment are charched that is it. You cant hear the transfer of electricity. You have got to understand would ATI give you a power cord that would limit current of their amp!

Wadia150,
Wow I could not disagree more soundly. Not with your very good advise regarding speaker placement, room treatment, getting cables off the floor and the like, no I have no issue with that. What I DO take issue with is that power cords are the last place one should look to realize a big bang for the buck when upgrading a system- especially when the OP is seeking to improve a digital source. Power cords are one of the very FIRST places I go when seeking to dial my system in. Every aspect of the sound is effected- frequency information (highs, mids, bass), phase information (sound staging, imaging, layering) and the not so tangible but oh so important aspect of "quality" for all that frequency and phase information (smoothness and airiness of highs, pin point imaging in a huge and convincing soundstage, layering, image height, and so on). As for multi-channel, 5.1 is, well, 5.1 x more affected then a simple two channel system :)

As is always the case, listen for yourself and then decide should be the mantra to follow. If your dealer won't let you take a few cables home for a week or two, find a dealer who will. After that you won't have to take anyone's word for it.

In my opinion, what wadia 150 has to say has some merit. I have found that power cord upgrades tend to have less effect than other types of upgrades. That is not to say that pure electricity is not important. It is very very important. It's just that power cords tend not to matter as much as other types of power upgrades. Personally I found that replacing the wall socket with an industrial grade one was more effective than upgrading the cords themselves. Furthermore, certain power conditioners can be very beneficial to your system.

Go to VH Audio or Sonic Craft, in my experience both are excellent sources.

Purchase the required lengths of either Neotech NEP-3002 or NEP-3003 bulk power cable and Furutech FI-11 AC terminations (or some more exotic ones if you've got a lot of extra cash and want to get rid of some). I've found these to be the sweet spot in the price/quality/performance ratio.

Put in about a half hour and you'll have excellent power cables for a very reasonable amount of money, easily within your range.

PS: For power amps move up to the Neotech NEP-3001 or 3200 cable.
PSS: Furutech FI-11 come gold or rhodium plated. Gold is very, very slightly warmer. Rhodium plated cost more. Choose depending on your system.