BEST POWER CORD FOR UNDER $200.00

David, you've already made up your mind, but I'm gonna tell you my opinion of the HT 11 cord anyway. I tried one for 3 months, and didn't prefer it to my amp's stock Belden cord, and preferred the MIT Z-Cord 2 on my CD player. I'm still looking for better cords, and will be trying Shunyata Sidewinder and Black Mamba, and also Purist Audio Proteus (too many bastards interested in the Shunyatas lately, so I've had to wait my turn!). Another one I've tried that outperformed the HT cord was an ESP Power Flow. It was much smoother, much higher rez on both CD player and amplifier. However, neither it nor the HT cord were tonally neutral, both had a forward treble with both amp and CD player. If you need a forward treble, the ESP would fit the bill.

I have had good results with the VansEvers cords. Their standard cord sell for $150

Hey if you want to have some fun with power cords, try the Edge power cord. I bought a few of these cords through auction and compared them to my MIT Z-Cord II and Kimber Kable(PowerKord). The Edge cords outperformed these cords in all areas. Detail and imaging was improved. The Edge cords are very neutral and musical. In fact you probably get 4 of them for under $200. But don't let the low price fool you, they work excellent and I ended up selling both the MIT Z Cords II and Kimber Power Kords with a lot of extra money left over to buy more CDs.

Definitely go with Powersnakes Sidewinder model which just came out, $280 retail but you can get for under $250 if you do some searching, also would not go with too short a length as this does not improve performance. Cable Co. has them now www.fatwyre.com Also check Powersnakes website www.powersnakes.com for more info on Sidewinder....."get bit by the best"

I have tried power cords up to 500.00 and found that LAT International cords are giant killers. You can buy 2 for 200.00. In my system, the more expensive cords were only marginally better(if at all) Good luck.