New abrasive blast cabinet is inbound and I want to prep for the arrival; anyone have an opinion ( ) on the best water filter / regulator combo - or individual pieces - to put in-line prior to the air getting into the cabinet?

A basic regulator/filter is a start. I use HF's "better" version.

In general, sand blasters really like dry air. The blaster may plug otherwise. A long length of metal, preferably copper, tubing with moisture trap at the end is good. A refrigerated air dryer is good also.

Desiccant type dryers work OK for spraying paint but I think they would get saturated fast with the air volume needed for blasting.

A good basic water trap as previously mentioned, A bit down the line close to the cabinet these do very well on a budget
http://www.amazon.com/Motor-Guard-M-60-Submicronic-Compressed/dp/B000WZYKAE

I run a stand up blaster like Challenger1 showed and the Harbour Frieght cabinet and I use a rather small separater and regulater without issue. My air is not necessarily dry or cool in Florida, I take the smart little precautions, I have drops in my system, I drain the system before blasting, I make sure I use blast grade sand, I make sure my sand is dry (usually buying it the day of or just before the job), and drain the system and separater frequently during extended blasting such as when I refill the hopper or stop to let my compressor catch up/cool off.

All great tips. Thank you to everyone that posted comments. I appreciate it. I'll update with pics when I'm done with installation.

I ran 40 feel of galvanized pipe on my wall with a short flexible hose hooked to my compressor. It has a down tube and a ball drain at both ends. It zigzags up the wall to the ceiling and then straight down to a drain. This gives the hot air a chance to drop its moisture as it cools. All parts of the pipe are angled to let water drain to one side or the other.

Another piece of galvanized pipe jogs up at the final down leg about mid-pipe and goes into a water separator. Its never even gotten one drop of water in it after 7 years, because the galvanized pipe dries the air and the collected water falls down to both ends of the drains.

I found the idea for this on Google.

Here's the other end. The air comes out a dry as a popcornfart every time, all the time. Catches a lot of water at the ball valves.