Any gear owned by an audiophile who cares about his or her credibility among other audio geeks (non geeks really don't care at all) should have the thickest possible AC cable, and that cable should be visible so you can point it out. I have a water hose thickness cable to one of my subs that is completely hidden under stuff, and thus is kind of wasted…it doesn't "sound" any better than a more pedestrian AC cable…but still…this sort of thing is important.
Vintage amps & power cords
Every time I power up my old McIntosh MC2200 amps - a pair running in mono mode, I can't stop to think about those stock power cords. The cords sticking out of my preamp and the amp in my other system look like fire hoses as compared to these cords and yet these amps are rated at 400 wpc as configured.
I completely understand the argument that the designers knew what they were doing but using this argument the aftermarket power cord suppliers should all be out of business.
Curious to hear input from folks with vintage gear and wondered the same thing, and what did they do about it.