Help with Stereo Setup


Hello,
Thanks to anyone who is willing to help me out with this. I need some help and advice setting up some equipment. My dad died four years ago at this time of year, just a year before retirement; he had melanoma. A few months ago I received his stereo equipment as an inheritance. Family squabbles prevented me from receiving it earlier. Haven't set it up yet mainly because I don't know how, plus haven't had the time. To be honest, I am pretty overwhelmed.
Before my dad died, he wrote a short note to me describing how to set up the equipment. His handwriting was very poor, but I will do my best transcribing it. But first, here is a list of most of the equipment:
McIntosh C1000T Tube Preamplifier
McIntosh C1000C Controller
Ayre C-5xe Universal Stereo Player
Hydra Model-8 Power Conditioner (Shunyata Research)
A pair of Guardian 2's (Shunyata)
MC 501 Power Amplifiers (two of them)
A pair of Wilson Audio Sophia 2 speakers

And some cables:
Two xStream Power Plus (PS Audio) cables
3 Power Snakes. Two of them are Taipan Helix Alpha C19, 20 Amp IEC Version. One of a Taipan Alpha C19.
Nordost ODIN Supreme Reference Cables
A bunch of Cardas cables and plugs.
Some foam pieces and some little wooden blocks, a shelf, some other stands, etc. All of this stuff came in original boxes, with all original packing and instructions. 

Here are the instructions he left me:
1. 2 Shunyata Power Snake (purple) go from wall plugs to Guardians.
2. Use shelf under each Guardian.
3. From Guardian run xStream cable to amp AC (upper corner).
4. Cardas from Amp (R) balanced to Tube (R) main.
5. Speaker cable from speakers to 8 ohm/ can use either 8 or 4.
6. AC Cardas/ 1 from Digital A (Shunyata) (over foam) to Ayre AC 1" x 5 1/2
     AC Cardas from Analog A (foam underneath) to 1000 Controller 2 1/2 x 6
7. AC for Shunyata directly to A/c use nice silver A/C cord
8. From CD/R Analog to (R) inputs/CD on Tube
9. From CD/L Analog to L
10. Large Mac cords   C- to C-
                                    D- to D-

Okay, that's all he wrote. There are some things I don't understand. First, where does the Hydra-8 fit in all of this. Is that the Shunyata that is referenced in steps 6 and 7? Also, in step 5, where does the speaker cable go? And should I use a different Guardian for each xStream cable running to an amp? Also, if anyone has any general advice on setup (dos and don'ts), I would be very grateful. I am going to attempt setting this up today, slowly. 
mblight
You know what? There's a whole lot of really nice people who belong to this site. 

Frank
+1 oregonpapa...

mblight sorry for your loss.
Feel free to send me a PM if I can be of any assistance.
mblight... What a treat to read your post about setting everything up and listening with your wife and feeling a connection to your dad. If that isn't exactly what music is for then I don't know what is. Peace...

Been listening with a lot of pleasure to a variety of music the last few days. Had a couple other questions:

1. Once when I turned off one of the 501 monoblocks, the "Power Guard" light flashed. I had turned down the volume knob on the C1000 Controller prior to turning the switch on the amp. Is this normal for this light to flash, or did I do something specifically wrong?

2. One of the xStream cables by PS Audio had a weird fit. When rearranging the equipment one time, I tried unplugging the cable from the monoblock and had a lot of trouble getting it off. I worried for a minute it actually wouldn't come off without damaging the connection. And when I went to put it back on, I noticed that it didn't go on as easily or as deeply as the other one. I didn't understand why, so I disconnected both xStream cables and examined the female ends of both with a flashlight. They looked pretty different: the interior of one of them had the metal parts (sorry for my layman's approach) all up to the tip of the interior, while the other one had about a quarter inch of some sort of soft PVC-type lining before the metal began, so that when you put it on it slid on quite easily. The other one not so much, to the point that when I try to put it on it's almost like it's not supposed to fit at all. When I looked at the boxes that the cables came in, I noticed although they are both the same (xStream Power Plus, 2.0 meter - US plug), underneath the description one says "XPL-V1-US-2.0," while the other says "XPL-V2-US-2.0." Maybe the V stands for version, and somewhere along the PS Audio changed the way these are supposed to connect? 

Anyway, it wouldn't bother me so much except that I am pretty worried that something is going to be damaged while I am either connecting or disconnecting the amp.