audiphile power cords

"Has any component manufacturer ever gotten on board with recommending any aftermarket power cords for their equipment?"

Mitch4t, one example: Joule Electra recommends Purist Audio Design power cords for their preamps. I contacted them and this was their preference and recommendation. Price of entry though can be steep. I had a used Ferox Dominus once.

Lots of different opinions. I think that's what makes this hobby interesting. Sounds like the best approach for me is to maybe purchase used merchandise and see how it works out for me in my system. Is 50% of new retail in line for used merchandise in good condition?

The right price as a % of retail will vary, especially with wires.

Best to set a budget and go with that.

Wires are excellent candidates to buy used in order to get the right price.

I bought a very high quality $300 retail Pangea power cord new for $90 from Audio Adviser via Amazon recently. So you can see that manufacturer retail prices are often not a good indicator of actual value, especially with hard to nail down products like expensive wires.

Bojack gets my "best post of the week" award...agree or not, it's fabulous. I like power cord descriptions from Pangea and the like as the bombast kills me...it seems that any system without premium AC cords must sound like screaming death bats, and with them the electrons are SO much happier and more organized when entering the labyrinth of fuses, resistors, transformers, the spleen, chokes, filters, etc., that your system will suddenly rise from a cloud of stinking mud fog and fix your life.

I put a pair of 'upgraded' power cords on a pair of electrosstatic speakers once for a friend and all of a sudden, when the refrigerator cycled on, he no longer heard it through the speakers. Not only do better power cords do a better job of delivering power to your coponent - they do a better job at keeping things out.