interconnects vs speaker cables vs power cords - which make the biggest difference?

it is notable advice from a guy who sells cables

if a double blind test shows significant differences from interconnects then somebody really effed up the design of your components

if a double blind test shows significant improvements from speaker cables then you most likely have a speaker with unusual impedance match requirements ("not that there is anything wrong with that")

if you like your speaker cables then you can keep your speaker cables

if a manf. went to a lot of trouble to design a high cost component then it makes perfect sense that they would eff up the sound with a crummy cheap power cable, .... right???

The PC was from a Sony high end TV...does everything right and doesn't screw up the frequency balance or roll anything off!!  Had lots of Transparent including Gen 5 Reference.  Results were, how do I put this nicely...lackluster.  Their best stuff was the XL TECHNOLOGY...open and spacious with crazy detail and liquidity.

It makes no sense to me, but power cables have made the most difference in my system. Easily.  Inner connects next, then speaker cables. This is the exact opposite of what I would expect, but there you are. And, power cables made much more difference I n my sources and preamp than in my amps themselves.  This could be because I have class d mono blocks (bel canto). When I had other solid state amps, I never changed power cables because I couldn't imagine it would make any difference.  Wrong. 

I normally do not reply to such topics, but I’ll live on the wild side a little.

I have never had any major improvements from power cords, but I still buy aftermarket PC’s because I want my gear supported properly due to all the money invested. My Dude preamp (up for sale) never responds to power cables. It does not care.

I agree with the Transparent designer - the most critical cable is from source to the preamp. I’ll get back to that.

With speaker cables I have experienced very nice results and today truly enjoy my Cerious SC’s that I cannot fathom ever taking them out.

So a little real-time info for you, since my Dude is for sale I have been bringing in other preamps of the passive style and have found one that is highly rated but the sound became bright and edgy immediately upon inserting it into the system. My present IC’s are Audio Magic Trinniums which are a hybrid ribbon cable and with the Dude were pretty darn good even though I knew from past experience that something a little more full-bodied should eventually be tested.

So I grabbed a pair of older Audioquest copper IC’s and changed out the preamp to source cable with this low priced parts-bin cable and immediately lost the brightness and added some bass because the cable shifted the frequency range by rolling off the top end, etc. which a non-silver content ribbon can do. So I proved to myself that I could perhaps live with this preamp but that really means I need to find a compatible IC. Is this tone control? Don’t really care cuz I trust my ears.

So I have a pair of Cerious graphene IC’s and a pair of Morrow MA-5’s coming to see how they do since that are about as far from a silver-infused ribbon cable you can get. I have owned Morrows before so have some familiarity. So stayed tuned.

This is the first time where I have deliberately selected cables to change the sound in order to keep a piece of electronics - or to put it another way, the preamp may be so revealing a "bright" cable is the wrong choice. In about a week I will know.