Ac cords or power conditioning first?

Okay-I have to disagree a little with the posters above....

Dedicated lines yes. Good power cords yes. Porter Ports- yes.

Power conditioning- still yes. Can offer isolation between components, further lower the noise floor, and improve your experience.

Try something like a BPT Signature 3.5 and if you don't hear the improvement I'd be surprised.

I also agree with Danlib,

For me living in Florida where a bazillion A/C units run on any grid namable power conditioning is a must, as is some type of battery backup.

I run PurePower which is a power regenerator and has battery backup as well. Not only are they not current restricting, they will utilize the battery backup to increase output beyond the line level for peaks!!!

I have run several other conditioners and all changed the sound, often cleaning up the background but nothing improved my sound as much as the PurePower units.

Thanks for all the responses. I don't have the ability at this point to run dedicated lines without some demo, but I'll take another look at it. Next question is power distribution. I have 2 outlets where I'm hooked up and right now I have my gear hooked up to a Monster power strip, except for the amp, that's into the wall. I'll definitely do the Porter Ports, but what about the amount of outlets I need?

Again, thanks for your responses.

On all applications I know about outside of audio (where instruments are used to verify effect), it is dedicated lines & power conditioning, period. That is the way I went for noise control on a wide variety of industrial equipment and for my home stereo.I never was able to detect any improvement from different power cords. Will not debate pc's with others, just my experience fwiw.
If you plan to eventually use a power conditioner I expect that you will want/need a minimum number of outlets and will be plugging several components directly into the pc. I'm running my system with a total of 4 outlets & I've got several components. It is nice to figure out a place to plug the non-sound garbage generators (e.g. turntable drives & etc.) that is not on your dedicated line.
Good Luck!

Don't forget the audiophile grade duplex covers as well.