I got an AC-14 SE and an AC-9 last week. Upon opening the AC-9 box I was taken aback by the size and unwieldiness of this monster. Originally I was planning to use the AC-9 with my integrated amp, but the diameter (1") and bend radius are so big I plugged it into my bass amp instead and forgot about it for a bit. Normally I use a 12-gauge Monarchy Audio power cable on the bass amp, so the Pangea wasn't going to have an easy time justifying itself, and my current power cord on the integrated amp is a PS Audio Prelude (10 ga.).
A couple days later I plugged in my bass guitar and gave it a test run. What I heard was an unexpected smoothness and organic naturalness to the tone. Sure, there was good bass fullness as one would expect from a 9-gauge feed, but it was the refinement that hooked me. Still, it's an awfully unwieldy cord to gig with. If I send it back, it'll purely be for mechanical issues, not sonic.
Right now I have the AC-14 SE plugged into an Oppo DV-980H, which I use for CDs and SACDs. At $45 for a 1.5 that one's a no-brainer. Very sweet, detailed, refined. Digital never sounded so organic in my house.
*** 15-minute break ***
I just wrangled (and I mean *wrangled*!) the AC-9 onto my integrated amp and am playing a variety of music I just played this morning. Wow! This is a good power cord! It is *very* smooth, but not at the expense of transients and dynamics. The sound is richer and more organic, like what I heard on the bass amp, but obviously able to handle and delineate the much more complex waveforms of recorded music.
If you can live with the weight and stiffness, the AC-9 is ridiculously good at its price. My amp is an Onkyo A-9555 switching amp, and this cord makes it sound its organic best. If you're thinking of getting the 1.5M like I did, spend the extra few bucks for 2M because the big bend radius takes up a lot of the length going around corners.
A couple days later I plugged in my bass guitar and gave it a test run. What I heard was an unexpected smoothness and organic naturalness to the tone. Sure, there was good bass fullness as one would expect from a 9-gauge feed, but it was the refinement that hooked me. Still, it's an awfully unwieldy cord to gig with. If I send it back, it'll purely be for mechanical issues, not sonic.
Right now I have the AC-14 SE plugged into an Oppo DV-980H, which I use for CDs and SACDs. At $45 for a 1.5 that one's a no-brainer. Very sweet, detailed, refined. Digital never sounded so organic in my house.
*** 15-minute break ***
I just wrangled (and I mean *wrangled*!) the AC-9 onto my integrated amp and am playing a variety of music I just played this morning. Wow! This is a good power cord! It is *very* smooth, but not at the expense of transients and dynamics. The sound is richer and more organic, like what I heard on the bass amp, but obviously able to handle and delineate the much more complex waveforms of recorded music.
If you can live with the weight and stiffness, the AC-9 is ridiculously good at its price. My amp is an Onkyo A-9555 switching amp, and this cord makes it sound its organic best. If you're thinking of getting the 1.5M like I did, spend the extra few bucks for 2M because the big bend radius takes up a lot of the length going around corners.