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Diving into Power... Cable recs for my system and ears....?

Hello All,

 

I have been enjoying a full system upgrade over the past year... the interconnects and digital cables were an eye opener! Now I am bringing my attention to power...

I am currently running my components off a power strip that is 10' long... supposedly designed for audio. All my major components are plugged into this. This power strip is plugged into a wall outlet, which is shared with some lights etc. Also plugged into this power strip is my wifi router. 

 

I have a few questions:

-What is the most important in regards to impact to overall sound if I were to upgrade the power cords? My guess its: 1: Amp.... 2: DAC... 3: Streamer... is that right? Or is it the opposite? 

-Should I have an electrician setup a dedicated outlet to my electrical box, and run my main components off that? Is this worth it? or is there another setup between my electrical box and my components? Or if there is no detectible buzz, should I simply not bother?

-If I should begin looking into power cords as the first upgrade here, what cord would you recommend if I yearn for the following: Extreme startling presence and separation... magic midrange, highs blissful, voice acoustic jazz violin, piano... essentially startling presence as if the instrument is right there... 

I have been enjoying Anticables, and they have a well rated cable in the $300 range which supposedly is as good or better than $1000 cables... but I am open to recommendations...! 

 

Thank you all!

Richard

 

 

 

 

Currently my system (also outlined in my virtual system profile) is as follows:

    • SPEAKERS: Pure Audio Project Duet 15 Horn (Mundorf Silver Gold Oil Cap upgrade and customized crossover w/high pass filter and sweeter meds), Anticable 4.2 Flex Internal wire)
    • STREAMER: Nagra Streamer (Cardas Clear Coaxial)
    • DAC: HoloAudio Spring 2 Level 3 Kitsune edition (Silversmith Fidelium RCA Interconnects)
    • AMP: PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP Integrated (RAY TUBES EL34 Reserve power tubes, RADIOTECHNIQUE NOS 12AU7 Gain tubes w/Mullard NOS and Brimar NOS tubes (Anticables 4.2 Flex to speaker)
    • PHONO: Music Hall MMF-9 and McIntosh MP 100 Preamp (Audio-Technica AT160ML MM Cartridge, Anticable 7.3 and Silversmith fidelium Interconnects)
whyrichard
ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,465 posts
 

First thing. Plug your amp directly into the wall. You can do this now. 

You will get very significant improvements with direct lines, amp power cord, and power conditioner for your non-amp components, then get power cords for your components. 

The first three will probably have the biggest impact. Together they should be very significant. I’d schedule an electrician for the direct lines. 10 gauge ROMEX can do the job well... much more expensive options are available, I’d just do the ROMEX. I just used hospital grade outlets to begin with and upgraded to high end later so I could understand the impact. They were notable, but my system was really at a high performance level by the time I did these. 

I would start shopping for a very good quality power conditioner. I’d look closely at Shunyata and IsoTek. If I had to buy one now I would get an Everest... consider it something you will have for 20 years. So, it is worth getting a good one. It improves all your components other than your amp. Mine is 25 years old... and is still considered excellent. 

Power cord for amp. Look at Audio Quest storm series or Cardas. Cardas will be a little warmer... the Audio Quest Hurricane is absolutely wonderful... although the Dragon is even better. 2 meters is best... think of them as power conditioners.,.. the longer the more conditioning. 

Finally, power cords on you components... very worthy. I use Transparent on all my equipment (all wires) except the amp... The Transparent high current was too expensive for me at the time. 

jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,842 posts
 

There is NO engineering/scientific proof that power cords affect the sound of audio components. All there is are anecdotal subjective impressions by "golden ear" ’philes. I trust engineering evidence. It’s your money. If you want to throw it away go ahead.

jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,842 posts
 

The sound of an audio component starts with the power supply. What comes out of the wall outlet is of no consequence. Power conditioners are useless and a waste of money. Let the brick throwing begin!

soix
11,242 posts
 

You will get very significant improvements with direct lines, amp power cord, and power conditioner for your non-amp components, then get power cords for your components. 

Completely agree with @ghdprentice.  Dedicated lines can be a very cost effective upgrade relatively speaking, and you should get at least two lines installed so you can plug your noisy digital equipment into one outlet and everything else into the other.  For power cables there are good direct sellers like Ice Age (Frankencable), Veritas, Triode Wire Labs, Snake River Audio, etc. who offer generous trial periods and you’re only out return shipping in most cases if they don’t work out.  There are reviews out there on all of them so you can see which ones exhibit the sound characteristics you’re looking for and have at it for very low risk.  If you’re budget restricted something like this Audience aR2p power conditioner is something you can plug your power strip into and at least get some good power conditioning to all your components on the cheap (I did something similar to this).  Just some thoughts FWIW, and best of luck.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650251239-audience-ar2p-tod-power-conditioner/

jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,842 posts
 

The people making and selling power cords are as honest as a 3-card monte dealer.

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