Cable Influences: IC SpeakerCables Power Cord?


I recently upgraded my speaker cables from Audioquest Slate biwire to Acoustic Zen Hologram II biwire. (one of the audiogoner's favorites) in search of hugh increase in transpareny. ($200 cable to $1100 cable). The improvements are mainly in the following area: speed, tiny details and a more extended treble. I started hearing nuances in the background and instrument that I have not noticed before. Each individual instrument is more distinct and the treble has more snap. Remarkably, the overall presentation & tonal balance of the music did not change at all. I feel that this is a small step forward but probably not worth $600 (used). Does interconnects exert a bigger influence generally and power cables are even less significant? I know this is system dependent but I am asking this if this is generally true?
Sys:
Ayre CX-7 CDP
Kimber Silver Streak IC
Cary SLP 308 Pre-amp
Nordost Red Dawn IC
Audio Research VS 110
B&W Signature 805s
128x128glai

Showing 1 response by s23chang

After toying with over 100 cables in the past few years, I'm done with cabling.
Think of it this way: from source to preamp to amp to speakers
your signal gets amplify to a greater degree prior to amp. Therefore, any small flaw will show up 1000 times greater when it pass through the amp.
Based on the above, you then ask yourself if IC is more critical or speaker wires?
As far as power cord goes, clean power and larger bandwidth is always more desireable. Too much filtering might also trim off some signals and reduces speed.

The "bigger" difference is all depends on how well your component match with each other.

i.e. If you have a $50 apex dvd player as your source then a $5000 IC will not do the magic.
or If you have a $10000 cd player with $300 integrated amp, the $10000 cabling will not do much good either.

There is no definite answer of what will make a bigger difference.