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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
brianlucey's avatar
brianlucey
189 posts
 

@ghdprentice I want to counter and say NO NO NO on the "preferred length" of a power cord.

It’s not 6 feet or 10 feet or anything .... changing length changes the sound, could be better or worse, all depends on the cord and what you’re doing with it in your system

 

Also, I tried all the AQ power and they are pricey junk IMO. I did not love anything they make in any application and the more expensive ones were the worst.

Shunyata is a better value for sure. 

 

@whyrichard Any power conditioner is adding things you don’t want.  There is some VERY low cost distribution on Ebay, like $100 that are simple and clean.

https://ebay.us/m/Y8jQnt

celtic66
1,925 posts
 

@mclinnguy +1 on the PC upgrade from wall receptacle to power conditioner.  That is a weird enlightening experience.  Never thought it until I did it.  Furutech rodium outlet/carbon fiber plate, Furutech 4.1 PC to Puritan Labs 156.  Astonishing how much better the Furutech is than the stock Puritan Labs cable.

soix
11,230 posts
 

QUESTION... currently my components run on a 12' Furman Power Conditioner ($30 nothing fancy). They will require 12' from their (upcoming) dedicated socket. Is this Furman "good enough" or do you all recommend something specific which much better results? Or given that it will be a dedicated socket, is this Forman okay?

Well, both the power cord going into a conditioner and the conditioner are important so to have both costing $35 is a limiting factor, so while it’ll work it’s far from optimal no matter what outlet it’s coming from.  It’d be better if you’re going to the expense of running dedicated lines to locate the outlet loser to your system, and you should run at least two separate dedicated lines while you’re at it as the incremental expense is relatively small.  Just my $0.02 FWIW. 

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,397 posts
 
  1. @soix

They matter! Definitely try Transparent or Audio Quest. I spent a year with my amp trying to get the right power cord. I tried every Cardas Clear version, Wire World, Transparent (not the high capacity... I couldn’t afford it), and several others. While the high end ones each improved the sound, each also tipped the tonal balance a little one way or another. Then I tried an Audio Quest Hurricane. It is just completely neutral, more transparent and dynamic.

 

The Audio Quest Storm series came out a few years ago and took the high end audio community by storm (pun intended). My dealer happened to have one because his employees had begged him to get one after reading about them. He shortly thereafter became a dealer for Audio Quest. The storm series is spectacular (Dragon better)... two features set is apart... an anti-biasing (?) circuit and the incredibly tight fit. There are probably other things. I have to hold the front of my 100lb amp so it doesn’t slide. But the neutral tonal balance, low noise level, and dynamics are amazing. I am sure the Transparent High Current is better... but it was out of my price range. 

I use Transparent power cords on all my other components. 

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
1,064 posts
 

@brianlucey 

Speaking of audiophile outlets I am curious Brian what you are using in the mastering studio from the breakers to the power cords- How many dedicated lines, outets, wire spec etc. 

edit: sorry, looked back and see you use Shunyata’s. Did you just get these to match the metallurgy to the their power cords, or did you listen to others to compare? 

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