What are 6 feet going to do for me?


After doing my homework, and listening to many line, power, and regenerator conditioners I went with the Audio Magic Stealth. I love it. Now here's the deal. The person I bought it from said that I may want to, one day, consider an Elrod ac. He said the difference is amazing. PS Audio suggests their expensive ac for added greatness to their stuff, What is going to happen in 6 feet, (from hospital grade outlet to Stealth), that my Stealth, or any of these conditioners, can't do? All my electronics are fed into the Stealth using Lat International cords. Should I get all Elrods for $6000? Where do I stop? I would think that the electric that comes out of my Stealth is ready for my components. What else needs to be done? Are the power cords overkill at this point? If I didn't have my Stealth, would hooking up all my components with Elrods be the thing to do? Would I still need my Steath or any of the other possibilites?
128x128warrenh

Showing 2 responses by ozfly

There are many opinions on that. Where do you want to spend your money first? At the end of the day, everything from tweaks to pc's seem to matter even if there is no reasonable explanation. Since we don't have unlimited budgets, we have to make tough decisions. The killer is that, regardless of how we choose to proceed, we can't know all the right answers in advance -- there are just too many variables (acoustics, component selections, what you hear, cables ....). Do your research and listen to a broad variety of opinions and experiences. Then, pick an approach and stick to it (despite new marketing hype). For each decision. let your ears determine the choice.

My personal approach is to go for level A components, level A speaker cables, level B interconnects (that's my next upgrade), level C power cords, level B+ dedicated lines, level B+ power conditioners (it may be better than that) and level B+ acoustical treatments (though my room itself is better than that). Down the road, I may find that $6,000 of PC's is the next step. I'm not ready for that yet and would rather spend my money on other things right now. By the way, there's a used Elrod for sale here on the Gon if you decide to go that route.

Once you get to dedicated lines, you may find you don't need the Stealth and can then decide whether to sell it. Unless you get isolated transformers on your dedicated lines, I would bet you will still keep the Stealth though. Power cords by themselves will not, I believe, replace the functionality of the Stealth. Don't sweat it. Just keep trucking on your road to audio nirvana and know that there's always another potential tweak ahead.
Audioengr, nice explanation. Two quick questions: 1) Would larger/more capacitors negate the need for a low inductance cord (i.e., is there a substitution effect?) and 2) Are shorter cords better than longer cords since the inductance would decrease? Thanks.