Power Cords and Power Conditioner, How to arrange?



For cables, many Audiogoners say power cords will make the most impact in their hifi system. I wonder which power cord is more important, before and after a Shunyata Hydra power conditioner?

Shall I buy a better power cord to connect the mains to power conditioner, and lesser cords after the conditioner?

Or shall I just connect the conditioner to the mains with the same quality wire in the mains, and invest all my money to the power cords after the conditioner?

Any experience and ideas?

Many thanks
zdeng
Power conditioners always degrade my system. I stay away from them. Richard Grey is the worst.
For me my best powercord did the trick on my powersource ( KEMP). I discovered the benifits by accident when I was swapping around some powercords. The powersource has a 20A IEC connector and recently I bought some ARC stuff which also have 20A IEC's. The Harmonix Studio Master is now the connection between powersource and wall.
Tip: try your less best powercord between powersource and wall. You know what you don't like about that cord and that will probably be magnified now !!
I'll also go with Samuel's account. however, you can and will experience different sound characteristics depending upon which cord is where.

the Hydra is not an active cond. Passive only. Just a filter. I've tried a couple types of pasive filters Shunyata, and PS Audio. both have their pluses.

On my amps, I run a lesser priced pair of PCs off a PS Audio Duet, which is supplied by an Elrod Sig III.

On the sources & preamp however, I run the taipan helix alpha to the pre, and a VooDoo tesla II to the CDP... a VooDoo Black Dragon supplies that particular Duet.... so how you set up things will vary on what you feel is good for you.

You're just gonna have to get some or one, keeping all others stock, and see what happens with that new aftermarket wire supplying your Hydra... and go from there. gee, that might be the only one you'll need.

have fun.
Doesn't it feel good to have a definitive answer? lol... Play and trust your ears....
I have a PS Audio Power Plant and I find that the power cord from the PS to my preamp and phono stage is the most important one. Intuitively, it could be explained that the power plant is fixing a signal fed to it, so why would the plant power cord be most important? It may be different on a conditioner.

Based on years of trials and feedback, we learned that if you are plugging multiple(3 or more) components into a Hydra, the power cord going to the wall is the most important, and by a wide margin.

The fewer components you have on a single line (Hydra), the more things even out in terms of the importance of power cords to sources/amps versus the power cord to the wall. There are _no_ cases in my experience, where you should apply better power cords to components than you do from the wall to the Hydra. The power cord from the wall to the Hydra should -always- be at least the same quality as power cords attaching individual electronics to the Hydra. In my experience, this is true of other power distribution products as well.

Regards,

Grant
Shunyata Research
I agree with Warrenh. That is what works for me. Theoretically, let's assume your conditioner is effective. Most power cords degrade power as it passes thru them. Using your best cord after the conditioner should hopefully retain the benefits from the conditioner & may even enhance them, as my MIT cords do for me. Experiment though.
I have found that from the wall to your conditioner is what carries the most sonic signature.
I find the best power cord should go from power conditioner to source/amp/pre etc. That's what works for these ears, with Audio Magic power conditioning....
I recommend putting the best power cord on the conditioner.
Trial and error suggests this to me however each system and your location can vary the sound results.