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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
jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,843 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
1,843 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
1,843 posts
 

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

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
1,082 posts
 

+1 to the two experienced audiophiles responses above. And to the poster above who is not an audiophile, well, one of these days he might wander out far enough and discover that there is no edge of the Earth to fall off.

 

-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? 

 

IME the power cord that made the biggest difference was the one that fed the power conditioner. I had read that before though, so it wasn't such a huge revelation. Before that happens your order looks like it would win most polls.

What also may happen is your last upgraded power cord in the system, wherever it is, may seem like the biggest difference, but that is just because if it was the last one to get upgraded it was the last big bottleneck. 

This is why Shunyata will suggest with a certain budget a larger impact will be gained with all cords replaced with lower end Venom's instead of say a few Alpha's used in conjunction with stock cords. 

I suppose you have Fidelium speaker cables as well? 

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