Shorten those lengthy power cords?

Sure you can. You can use Hubbell 8215C (about $20) or Wattgate 5266i (about $15) power plug. No need to buy anything ultra expensive.

Another excellent choice is the Marinco 5266 or 8215 plug, very easy to install and a very secure method of securing the cable ends inside the plug.

Consider resale (if that day comes) otherwise go for it.

Xt16,
I'm thinking of just doing the ones that are detachable,
therefore replaceable.

If these are just standard computer iec cords, nothing special, it may not matter what plug you put on them. If you plan on doing DIY later down the road and making some better cords, go ahead and buy the expensive plugs - you can always use them again when you make your own cables. Just saying, as long as you are buying the parts, you might want to make some DIY cables.

That's a great idea Peter. Any information on cable that is recommended?

A little different advice here,try to keep the power cords away from your interconnects.Also try not to run IC's and PC's parallel to each other.Power cords down one side of stand, interconnects down the other will help. The power cords could have radio frequency plus other bad noises in it that the IC's could pickup and degrade you music.

I am a stickler for stock power cords. I especially like the hard wired ones. They eliminate the possibility of connecting the wrong power cord if you have several pieces of equipment with detachable power cords because I want to use the cord the equipment was designed with. I have tried numerous cords over the years and everytime I get the same impression and it's not a good one. If your system is not sounding right look for the problem instead of applying a band aid. The problem may be your room or speaker placement, resonance control/isolation, star grounding, poorly matched tubes and the list goes on. Are you the first house from the transformer or at the end of the line? The problem might not be as easy as unplugging one power cord and plugging in another one, but the rewards will be worth the effort.
But what do I know?

I forgot to mention,if your interconnects and power cords need to cross each other,try to keep them at 90 degree angles when doing it.If you can't,the more distance between them helps.

Hifitime, Good advise.
I was recently at Best Buy. I heard they have a little inexpensive coax speaker receiving great reviews and I wanted to check it out. I approached two sales people and asked where their hifi speakers are located in the store. They both looked at me with confused looks on their faces. Finally one of them ask me if hifi was a brand? I said no, I'm looking for hifi speakers, you know hifi stereo. They still didn't get it.
Anyway, it was refreshing to see your name with hifi in it.

For rolling your own, Virtual Dynamics has DIY cable fabrication instructions available on their website. There are several others as well, whose names I don't recall but no doubt someone else will chime in here.

Do not shorten electrical cords. It will hurt resale. And how many miles from the generator to your house. 2 or 3 more feet will have no effect in fact cutting it raises only problems. GIVE ME A BREAK!

The Bob Crump designed 'Asylum' DIY power cord is made with Belden 19364. I've used it for exactly the reason you describe, to make cables that reach my components without having a lot of unnecessary clutter to hide. The 19364 with Marinco plugs is very easy to put together, affordable and has worked very well for me.

I agree 100% with Vernneal. I just don't see why it is nessary to continue to change and buy outlandishly priced power cords..its the room first then power amp and speakers that really make the most of what is going on in your room. To pay attention to 5' of power cord really gets us no where.

If you go the DIY route, check out the Chris V website. There's a ton of info on what PC fits which application, how to measure, different recipes + all the parts.

For a basic power cord, I suggest getting some 12/3 Carol cable at Home Depot & some inexpensive ends at Parts Express. This recipe makes a decent cable.

Just make sure you wire them correctly to keep them in phase. The little GB elecrical outlet tester works fine & Lowes sells them. The IEC to AC adapter can be found here

I don't think that the OP was looking to improve on performance but to improve on esthetics. All of my IC, speaker cables and pc in my second living room system are custom lengths to minimize the visual impact of the wires and cords. Go the DIY route with high quality connectors. In future, if your needs change, you keep the connector and swap out a longer cable.

Schipo, You are right. It is unfortunate so many audiophiles make an insignificate change like a power cord and hear a difference and most of the time any change is perceived as an improvement. I recently read a posting from a guy that was willing to spend $800 per power cord to improve his system's dynamics.

I see once again there is a tendency for some of the posters to state their superfluous views & turn this thread into another cable bashing, personal decision deriding campaign.

The OP did mention the possibility of using better ends, so I take it that means he's interested in an improvement. Additionally, he responded to the DIY possibility wanting more information, hence the multitude of suggestions.

no bashing expecting a shorter electrical cable when it travels hundreds of miles to your house is on par with a gold plated printer cable thinking it will print in more vivid color

all Doubting Thomas's sound the same

Rrog,No HiFi or Stereo at Best Buy,oh well.I guess they wouldn't want me working there because I wouldn't have any idea on what kind of iPod to recommend.

Hifitime, That makes two of us.

And many audiophiles are guilable. Electricity is electricity. A foot shorter will sound the same.

I made DIY 20 amp power cords for my Guardian 2,they are about as long as my half metre Shunyata Annaconda Helix on my Hydra 2 for my amps which have standard length Annaconda Helix on the mono blocks.

Originally the DIY was the same length as the amp power cords, but I cut the power cord in half, and then doubled the cord, using one 4 strand set of wires for the L and the other 4 strands for the return.

This improved the bottom end so much, I dobled up on another pair and made another doubled up power cord for my cd player.

Definetly upgrade the receptacles, even if you never change the wire.
I have had good results with the inexpensive copper connectors from Furutech.
Someday I may make the move up to Oyaide.