My power cord adventure

[jkwest]

hmm...this is very informative thread, but, just like you Gremal...I live in a "old" house. I think an upgrade of this magnitude would be for naught in my case.

Kind of looks like a tube sock...

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by Gremal

A couple quick thoughts. While it is true that your grid and the circuits in your house all play a role, I have seen analyses showing that the closer the electricity gets to your gear, the more important it is to deal with the problem. In other words, there is evidence that power cords will have a greater impact than putting your HT on a new circuit.

Really? I never knew that. That's interesting. Lends more creedence to the thought of replacing the PC's.

I don't have a high-end enough system to even consider such a thing currently, but it's still interesting to me. I have a lot of home improvement to consider before such a thing would occur anyway. Anyway, thanks for letting me pick your brain.

[Gremal]

You're welcome. I can try to dig up the science behind that.

Yeah jkwest, that cotton shielding looks funky but it may be pretty effective. The earlier EG cords had a polymer casing. My buddy just bid on one of the SOTU auctions on audiogon and won an introductory cord for $485. Supposedly, the price is being set at $3000 from now on so believe it or not, that could have been the deal of the century. Anyway, I plan to check out the cord when he gets it and decide whether I like it better than my UKII.

[Driver_King]

When I think about expensive power cords, I used to think "terrible waste of money". In reality, I never had the kind of equipment where it would make a difference. I'm the kind of person who can easily tell the difference between speaker wire and where sound is coming from and pick up little details that people normally ignore so, having upgraded big time to my current equipment, I wonder what kind of difference I would experience if I upgraded my power cables... First I may have to upgrade the fans in my Sony projector and PS3 so I can really enjoy the quiet details that the fans cover up.

[Halcro 1]

Power cords and ICs all make a difference....My daughter has a Monitor Audio I-Pod dock , and I used 2 dollar a foot Audioquest speaker cable , dident tell her she came home from school listend to some music and said why does the music sound better...I dont have a 3k power cord but if you read my sig I do have some expensive cables and they all make a difference ...although the only two big dollar cables I hae is a Cardas Golden cross from my power conditioner(Running spring Audio)And my CD Player (Granite Power cord ) I do have a DIY makers cables for everything else, Amp Pre and even my PS3, the cords were cheap by most standards 125 bux apiece and they even made a difference .. And my sub has a PS Audio power cord ... Every cable makes a difference .... And balanced cables are even better provided your gear has them... My .02

[Gremal]

I may as well post an update on what happened with the UK2 cord that I sent back for repair. I was offered an upgrade path to the new SOTU cord for $600. I decided I couldn't afford that with property taxes due. So I opted for the UK2 repair for $50. To make a long story short I got the cord back and it didn't work, so I sent it back again. Turns out the positive conductor had been broken in half. So the manufacturer either took pity on me or realized how much silver he could melt down in the UK2 because he offered me two SOTU cords for $500. Can't turn down that offer!

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Gremal

I may as well post an update on what happened with the UK2 cord that I sent back for repair. I was offered an upgrade path to the new SOTU cord for $600. I decided I couldn't afford that with property taxes due. So I opted for the UK2 repair for $50. To make a long story short I got the cord back and it didn't work, so I sent it back again. Turns out the positive conductor had been broken in half. So the manufacturer either took pity on me or realized how much silver he could melt down in the UK2 because he offered me two SOTU cords for $500. Can't turn down that offer!

Greg,

Good luck with and enjoy the replaced and upgraded to the SOTU Power Cords. Sounds like a great deal for 2 of them. Let us know your impressions of the audio performance.

Rich

[Gremal]

Will do. The cord maker just told me he will try to repair and return the UK2 in addition to sending the SOTUs...so I am getting three great cords soon. This may significantly impact the sound as I can now use the SOTUs to power both my amps and the UK2 to power my PS Audio Premier (which of course powers everything in my system). If the other UK2 has been repaired successfully, I can use it on my SACD player.

[Gremal]

Got the two SOTU cords today. All I can say is



Images are thrown more freely of my speakers. Bass is much more effortless and full. I put one cord on my SACD player and another on the 5 channel amp.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Gremal

Got the two SOTU cords today. All I can say is



Images are thrown more freely of my speakers. Bass is much more effortless and full. I put one cord on my SACD player and another on the 5 channel amp.

So much for the comments by members that say that power cords make no difference and have absolutely no affect on audio and visual performance.

Rich

[Intamin]

Originally Posted by naturephoto1

So much for the comments by members that say that power cords make no difference and have absolutely no affect on audio and visual performance.

Rich

Power cords make no difference!!!!!!!

Along the lines of power cords, either of you (gremal/rich) have any experience with the PS Audio Power Plant Premier?

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by Intamin

Power cords make no difference!!!!!!!

Along the lines of power cords, either of you (gremal/rich) have any experience with the PS Audio Power Plant Premier?

Hi Alex,

I have no experience with the PS Audio Power Plants. They do make some extremely good products though. My power conditioners are an upgraded Exact Power EP15A and an Isotek Sigmas.

Dave Schulte, myself, and a lot of other people are waiting with bated breath for the upcoming PS Audio Digital Lens which be the long awaited update and replacement of the Genesis Digital Lens. Hopefully this will be available later this summer.

Rich

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by Intamin

Along the lines of power cords, either of you (gremal/rich) have any experience with the PS Audio Power Plant Premier?

My gear would not be able to perform near its capability without the Premier. I have had problems with it, and had it repaired twice. I wanted to get rid of it, but every time I took it out of my system it was a big disappointment. Where power conditioners make the imaging more pinpoint and seem to constrict the tones, the power plant opens up the soundstage and lets me hear more detail. I do find that power conditioners constrict the sound, although it is better than plugging in to the wall. But PS Audio's power plants are the way to go.

[JJ]

Gearyt just linked me to the PS Audio Power Plant over on my other thread - after reading the entire first page about all its benefits I was sold on the product, wondering why I had never heard of it - of course, then it's $2,200 price tag punched me in the face and made me relax. So it stays with a power conditioner for now, regrettably. Alas, like you said Greg, it's better than the wall.

[welwynnick]

There aren't many places on the net where you can admit to being able to hear the difference a power cord makes, without having your finger nails pulled out as you type. My background is entirely technical (physics and electronics) so I approached this with a highly sceptical viewpoint. Then some time ago, some like-minded friends and I did some experiments, and were quite gob-smacked to hear a difference. All we could do at the time was make my system sound worse, but even that result was contrary to everything we had learned, and baffling to explain. Intro out of the way, there are two things I think I can add to this discussion.

1. You don't necesarily have to spend a lot of money on power cords to get a difference. Cheap ones can make a difference too.

2. As with all cables, its probably not worth trying to explain their effect in terms of R, C & L, its got to be more complicated than that. My view is that the improvements cables make come from a variety of contributions:

Connectors
Impedance
Dielectric
Microphony
Radiated emissions
Radiated susceptibility

I have a basket full of power/line/speaker cables and connectors that I need to get on and test, but just need the time to do it.

Nick

[Gremal]

Yeah, Nick, I was skeptical too until I heard it.

Now that I swapped in the SOTUs, the system has actually changed for the better, which surprised me. I was not expecting a signficant difference. But it was immediately apparent. Even in the click/hum burst that I hear whenever my preamp switches over from one source to another, I just heard gobs more bass and detail...yes in a burst of noise!

As for how it impacts the actual music, I included some description in the audio section of my write-up of the amazing 2L recordings I just reviewed:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movie...96&show=review

One of the great advantages of reference-caliber samplers is that they serve as system stretchers to gauge the performance of your gear and any tweaks made to your system. As fate would have it, I had just received a pair of Electra Glide "State of the Union" (SOTU) power cords from manufacturer Scott Hall. Nearly 10 years ago, I found that Electra Glide cords had a significant impact on my system, fleshing out tones from top to bottom and allowing my components to perform optimally. After auditioning several cables, I first settled on the Electra Glide Fatman, which optimized the reproduction of bass as well as the stereo soundstage--an indication of higher frequency performance--showing advantages throughout the dynamic range. Over the years, Hall perfected his cords, moving from the Fatman to the Ultra Khan to the Ultra Kahn II to the Statement, finally evolving to the new SOTU design. The new cords feature many new processes and components, including natural unbleached cotton casing and organic dielectric materials (see photo above).

Evaluating 2L's fantastic recording, Britten's Boisterous Bourree of his "Simple Symphony", using a stock cord powering my Classe Omega SACD2 player, and then using the new SOTU cord, it became apparent that Scott Hall has created an amazing audiophile product. The imaging opened up across the soundstage, delivering more high end detail in addition to midbass presence. The presentation of massed strings was optimized with the SOTU, essentially allowing the digital front end to help the speakers disappear, throwing images effortlessly. Sounds that were stuck to the speakers with the stock cord imaged freely with the SOTU, allowing the recording to shine.

I should probably have held off on publishing the review until the cables had more time to "cook in". The cord-maker claims they sound better over time and "age like fine wine" and he hasn't lied to me yet.

[welwynnick]

Yeah, one of the things that surprised me at the time was how much power cables affect the actual music. It seemed to me that it was possible to speed up or slow down the tempo of the music depending on the cord being used. I've been trying to explain that to myself ever since.

Nick

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by welwynnick

Yeah, one of the things that surprised me at the time was how much power cables affect the actual music. It seemed to me that it was possible to speed up or slow down the tempo of the music depending on the cord being used. I've been trying to explain that to myself ever since.

Nick

Nick,

Many audiophiles can hear differences that others say should not be there. It is just unfortunate at this point that science and engineering can not necessarily explain why we are hearing the differences. Ultimately in the future it may be able to be explained, but at present it can not and as a result many people will dismiss what we claim to hear.

Rich

[Johnny Vinyl]

I'm not in a positon to upgrade any of my componants at present, but I do have some room for better cabling (which I've started) and was wondering if a Power cable upgrade would make some sort of difference on my Yamaha HTR-6190B receiver, and also for my PS3 while I'm at at it.

Any input is welcomed.

John

[rded]

Originally Posted by John72953

I'm not in a positon to upgrade any of my componants at present, but I do have some room for better cabling (which I've started) and was wondering if a Power cable upgrade would make some sort of difference on my Yamaha HTR-6190B receiver, and also for my PS3 while I'm at at it.

Any input is welcomed.

John

The guys at Music Direct swear by this.

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/74336