My power cord adventure

[Gremal]

This is real audiophile lunacy territory so those of you who think a stock cord is the same as any other cord might want to head to saner pastures.

My adventures in power cords started a long time ago when I was writing for Positive Feedback magazine. I forget how, but I came into possession of the Electraglide Fatman cord. It helped my amp open up, drive the speakers more effortlessly and sound more detailed than using the other cords I tried. But true to its name, the cord was very bulky and difficult to bend. I also wanted to use it to power my digital front end because it was audibly superior to my other cords. I got in touch with Scott Hall, who personally designs and handmakes all the cords for Electraglide and he agreed to take back my 6' Fatman and send me two 3' versions of his latest cord at the time, the Ultra Khan II statement. He charged me $700 but $350 for cords that listed for 10 times that seemed like a bargain. So I went for it and it turned out to be a good decision.

The new UKII cords sounded as good or better than the Fatman but I had two of them, so I could use them to power not just my amp but my disc machine for even more openness and detail. They were more flexible which allowed me to bend them around the back of my rack and plug them into the PS Audio Premier. Unfortunately, I bent one of them too much. After a while a connection must have loosened and it stopped working. At first I discovered that if I unplugged it, straightened it out and plugged it back in carefully, it would work. But that only fixed it two or three times and then it wouldn't work at all--that was about two years ago. I was so disappointed, I didn't even want to think about it, so I put it in a bag and left it in my cellar.

As I was looking for something down there last week, I found the bag with my UKII cord in it. I decided to be more proactive. Scott Hall was always "challenging" to deal with directly. He's a good guy. He just delays things a loooooooong time. I managed to find an audio shop in Georgia that functions as an exclusive dealer for Electraglide cords. My contact there is responsive and knowledgeable. He told me they'll get Scott to fix my cord and look into the possibility of upgrading it to the latest Electraglide model, the SOTU (State of the Union).





These cords will list for $3,000. Supposedly, they are just now being distributed. My contact says, "There are all sorts of new processes and components in the new line including natural unbleached cotton and organic dielectric materials and we truly can't believe our ears." Seems promising. I just need to know how much he's going to charge me to fix or upgrade my UKII!