i am flabbergasted that anyone would say that the purchase of a $3,000 power cord equates with a $15,000 increase in the price of an amp upgrade. where in the world did you come up with that figure? my system is worth considerably more (at msrp) than the one put together by metaphysics and none of it was bought used. all the wire in it comprises less than 5% of the total value. adding a $3,000 power cord to a $5,000 pramp is the equivalent, in my opinion, of stuffing a corvette engine into a geo metro; it may be faster off the line but it's still a metro.
Cable Costs Relative to System
Since making a spread sheet with my audio system prices, I have been thinking(shocked) about my total investment in cables. My total system retails at $67,000 (Digital and analog front ends included). I purchased all of it here on Audiogon so my investment is about 50%. Of that I have about 10% invested in interconnects and cables and another 10% in Power Cables (Shunyata Hydra included). That's $13,000 worth of wire. I'm starting to question whether it might be more effective to put some of this budget into acitve components. It would take forever to listen to all possible combinations, but would like to hear others experiences with relatively high end systems and cable selection. It would seem to me that the point of diminishing returns would be reached sooner with cables than with speakers and amps. Do most of you follow the 10% "rule" for cabling? How do PCs fit into this rule? Are there any super bargain cables capable of keeping up with highly resolving electronics?