I think changing power cables provides the biggest bang for the buck (as opposed to interconnects/speaker cables) AFTER you do the fuse upgrade suggested earlier in the thread. (The QSA Light Blue fuses are amazing in terms of improvement per dollar spent everywhere I’ve tried them.)
I have a PS Audio power cord from that era and in my experience, it sounds worse than a good Chinese power cable that came with a PC that I probably bought 10 years ago, every time I’ve tried a comparison. (Try one or two that you have laying around, you never know.) I really don’t think that the amount of money spent is always equivalent with the audible benefits of any given cable in a given system.
That said, I would suggest looking at used Shunyata Research, Audioquest, or Nordost power cables of relatively recent vintage. I went with Shunyata and Nordost Frey 2 ultimately, but I use Nordost Heimdall 2 cables that are very good as well and should come close to your price objectives on the used market. I find that I like the Frey 2 with my solid state system and my low/mid-end Shunyata Viper power cables with the tube amp system. The Frey 2 helped even a $400 NAD D3020 sound really, really good with high-quality speakers that would realistically never be in the same system with that amp. (Not the normal set-up, but I was having fun when I first tried the Nordost cable and the amp was available, so…)
The nice thing is that mostly these cables seem to trade for more or less what you pay for them if you purchase them used and don’t like them in your system. The key is to only buy them with all of the original packaging and sell them the same way, because people are worried about counterfeits (and rightfully so, particularly with Nordost cables).
Fair warning: I found that I adding Frey 2 speaker cables and interconnects made everything “even more better” with my solid state equipment. Even at used prices, that can run into some $$. Ignorance may be bliss. But most importantly, have fun!
I have a PS Audio power cord from that era and in my experience, it sounds worse than a good Chinese power cable that came with a PC that I probably bought 10 years ago, every time I’ve tried a comparison. (Try one or two that you have laying around, you never know.) I really don’t think that the amount of money spent is always equivalent with the audible benefits of any given cable in a given system.
That said, I would suggest looking at used Shunyata Research, Audioquest, or Nordost power cables of relatively recent vintage. I went with Shunyata and Nordost Frey 2 ultimately, but I use Nordost Heimdall 2 cables that are very good as well and should come close to your price objectives on the used market. I find that I like the Frey 2 with my solid state system and my low/mid-end Shunyata Viper power cables with the tube amp system. The Frey 2 helped even a $400 NAD D3020 sound really, really good with high-quality speakers that would realistically never be in the same system with that amp. (Not the normal set-up, but I was having fun when I first tried the Nordost cable and the amp was available, so…)
The nice thing is that mostly these cables seem to trade for more or less what you pay for them if you purchase them used and don’t like them in your system. The key is to only buy them with all of the original packaging and sell them the same way, because people are worried about counterfeits (and rightfully so, particularly with Nordost cables).
Fair warning: I found that I adding Frey 2 speaker cables and interconnects made everything “even more better” with my solid state equipment. Even at used prices, that can run into some $$. Ignorance may be bliss. But most importantly, have fun!