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Power Cords - Just Say Yes

I'm the biggest cable skeptic on the planet. I've never been able to tell the difference between one speaker cable over the other. I've never a/b tested because I just can't handle that sort of thing when all I want to do is listen to music. The power cord however is a whole different beast. I know. I just replaced a 18/3 that was powering my Rogue Cronus Magnum for two years with an Audioquest NRG4. I know some people aren't fans of AQ but that's what my local guy sells and I support him 100%. He sold me a broken in demo which is exactly what I wanted. I didn't do an a/b test and I didn't have to. I pulled the old one out and tossed it in the copper recycling pile and replaced it with the AQ. I fired up my amp this morning and let her warm up. I pulled out Sylvain Luc & Bireli Agrene's 'Duet' and hit the play button on the remote. Right off the bat I had to blink my eyes to make sure I was actually in my house. Everything tightened up with a dead silent background. I feel like a fool for waiting so long to come around on this one. I'm still skeptical of whether or not I will notice a difference when I replace the power cord to my CDP, but if you tell me I'll notice I might believe you. Either way, that's my next investment.
donjr

Showing 6 responses by polk432

polk432
1,142 posts
 
Ok. I took the plunge. I just ordered 1, 2m and 4, 1M power cords to replace my stock 2M cords. Nordost Vishnu and Blue Heavens. I'll be getting the QB4 to hook them up to. 1655.00 hope it helps. I've never liked stock cords anyway.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
I should be getting a Nordost Vishnu 2M power cord and 4 Nordost Blue Heaven 1M power cords tues and will hook them up 1 by 1 to hear the differences before letting them settle in. Soon I'll have a Nordost QB4 hooked up for a further experiment in sound differences, if any, and finally an octet of Gold Lion KT-88 tubes that I'll run on one side of my amp, leaving the stock ones on the other side running my tuner in mono and stereo modes. I've done this with speaker wires and speakers (one left side one right side) to really hear if there is enough of a difference. The tubes will be equally biased. I hope 2,015.00 make some improvement, even though the prices of the individual parts were better than retail cost. I've been hearing how much difference power cords make I figured I'd give it a try. Stay tuned.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
The 4 new power cords that I just added do make a difference right out of the box, so maybe they'll get better with some burn in, or maybe not. I do have a dedicated line, and I'm getting a Nordost QB4 box in a few more days, 8 Gold Lion tubes for my amp, so hopefully I'll be done for a while.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
Mapman, If you enjoy your system, great. Too often people buy cars and other things to impress or please others. Questioning the value of everything and anything is a great way to go the extra mile weather you have the money to burn or not. Happy listening.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
Powder, I actually have the QB4, more of a grounding devise, with an all tube system running through it. The 4 new Blue Heaven power cords really made most of the differences to me. As far a the Qx goes maybe a Qx2. The other devises are more than I'd want to spend. I feel the money would be better spent on upgrading equipment.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
Sorry, I meant I may try the Qv2. Try some power cords first. They made more of a difference than going from Electro-Harmonic Kt-88 tubes to Genalex Gold Lion tubes. I'm still burning everything in. Good luck.
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