Power cord or conditioner for ARC VT100?


I have an ARC VT100MkII with the stock power cord that I'm plugging directly into the wall....I would like to get a power conditioner with surge suppression, & am also considering a power cord upgrade. Any advice? Two other factors: I'm using a Power Foundation III for my source components & preamp (which has no surge supression). Also, my outlets (older house) are not grounded. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks....
steveaudio
As a rule, the most "bang for a buck" is instalation of dedicated power lines. Next, is power cord and finally, power conditioner. For ARC 100 try Marigo Ultra II or muchbetter Electraglide COPPER (not silver) Fatboy.
I have a VT 100 and use a synergistic master coupler power cord with it. Tried running the amp thru my Bybee power conditioner and found that ARC amps need to be plugged directly in the wall and not use with a power conditioner. The amp has circuitry in it that power conditioners fowl up. I agree with the previous guy that you need some isolated lines put in with proper grounds. I haven't tried any exotic cords other than the master coupler. I haven't bought into the $2,000 power cord upgrade to better the amp's performance.
Try a resonable power cord before upgrading. I've built a couple dozen of the Bob Crump design DIY power cable and it really rocks for the $$$$. You can buy a built one for less than $50.00 and if you later want to try more expensive cables at least you have a quality reference to start with.
Ohh... please spend some money on grounding your system and changing your outlets. You don't need to spend a lot of money. Get the Pass & Seymour 5242 outlets and hire a electrician to run a ground to the fuse box. I would also recommend upgrading your house ground with 2 or three grounding rods. If you have the old alluminum house wiring you might ask how much for improved Cu Romex.
Please, before you purchase anything get those outlets grounded! The line cord and conditioner are absolutely useless without a good ground at the outlet. It could potentially be dangerous also.
I hae tried the King Cobra on my VT100 MKII and the results were excellent. The KC was the only power cord that I tried that I preferred, overall, to the stock cord. Other power cords such as the Black Mamba, Electrglide,Audio Magic Illusion and ESP outperformed the stock cord in some areas. However, on balance I preferred the stock cord. But, I could not justify spending $2000 on a power cord. So, I ended up with a RGPC for about $500. I plugged my PH2, LS25 and VT100 MKII in the RGPC. The improvement in the overall musical presentaion was signifcant. If cost is a factor, I would recommend the RGPC