Most Beneficial Cable Upgrade

Schipo: all well and good. i used to scoff at power cords etc. Then i tried one that really made a difference in my system. The complaints are ALWAYS theory, the positive claims are alway experiential. The one area that one can SEE is a video screen. it really makes a difference on a good screen, like my Plasma.
So some stuff does have an effect, from my own experience. All I can say is if you do not like them, then do not buy them.
I agree that most of the aftermarket tweaks are overpriced garbage. Much of the stuff can be made with ordinary (cheap) stuff.
So all I can do is agree with you on the main, but still have to say i have found that cords do make a difference... though I would personally never spend big bucks on a powercord. (more than a hundred) But i have spent a LOT for a power conditioner (the Furman I found here on the gon' for $1,400. a good deal)

don,t we discuss this once a month? haha i think,,,can,t prove,,, that when i swapped my moderately priced ac cords out of my cd player, pre and amp and replaced with the stock cords that the bass sq went south of he--. i have also done this with the ac cords one at a time with similar results. i gave them a day and it never got better. when i put the moderately priced ac cords back in and listened after playing for a few hours tight defined musical bass returned almost immediatly but got much better over the next day.. can,t prove it but i heard it.. so i have decided that all my cords, cables and wires are going to be the best i want to spend on and leave it at that for now. i also don,t do a/bs because i think i can hear and know what my system and good systems are capable of. i could be wrong.

My point was that when you speak of upgrading it depends on what your upgrading FROM. You can't tell what the weakest link is until you know what the links ARE. That said, anyone who can't hear the difference between power cords in either profoundly deaf or has a crappy system. I have tried substituting cheap cords for good ones many times and have always been disappointed. I wish this was not so as I am as cheap as the next one. I think the reason many systems sound bad is insufficient attention is paid to peripheral gear.

Preamp to amp interconnect, then Speaker cables in my system. I have good PCs but didn't notice a meaningful difference beyond not using the $1 stock cords especially after dedicated circuit.

the question of why does the last 3 feet matter when there are miles of the other stuff out there has not been answered yet