Question regarding power cord upgrade

If all your other equipment is 3 pronged you may create a ground loop with a 3 pronged plug on your cd player. You will notice a hum coming from your speakers when the amp is turned on. If you then use a cheater plug 3 prong into 2 prong on one of the component and the hum subsides you probably have a gorund loop. Other than that there is nothing wrong with going from 2 prong to 3 prong. Some other people who respond may be able to elaborate more on this subject. Although you can simply do a search on speaker hum(audiogon) as well as peruse the web under ground loops for more information. If you don't get a hum then I would say no problem.

Ed's question: will a grounded cord fit my machine?
Likely it will if the IEC's are the same shape, but the Meridian simply lacking the third ground-pin. In that case the third wire simply sits unused & not connected at the load end, no problem. The AC cable may still use this ground lead as a sort of shield as well, which being terminated at the source-end only would provide a beneficial shielding effect.
If you want 2 conductor cords check out Mike VansEvers' product line www.vansevers.com

I have a 506.24 with the same IEC configuration. I made a ChrisV DIY PC recipe #3 substituting Furutech ends because of their superior gripping ability since there are only two prongs to connect the PC to.