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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
whyrichard OP
90 posts
 

Hello all, 

 

I have made the following changes:

-2 dedicated outlets, run with 10 gauge copper and Furutech GTX-D NCF(R) Rhodium recepticals. 

-Anticables v3 power cables to my DAC and Streamer

-Cardas Clear power cable to my amp

-This Chinese power conditioner (it doesn't seem to have a fuse? https://www.ebay.com/itm/364550115777?mkcid=16&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=nxbbnaxjrgw&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&stype=1&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

-At the advice of an engineer of some of my fancy interconnects, I am running ground lift plugs on my grounded devices (dac, streamer). My Amp is plugged directly to a dedicated line. 

-I am burning in one receptical with an extension cord using my fridge, next week will be approximately 300hrs... 

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU ALL!

My initial impressions of this power conditioner is that when I used one of my stock cords on it, the sound seemed very recessed and enclosed. I moved an anticable to it and I think it opened it back up. Will experiment more in the near future more critically. 

What power cord would you all recommend for the power conditioner? What power cord would you recommend with my DAC? In general my focus is on incredible realism and tone, and deep wide soundstage... 

Thanks,

Richard

devinplombier
1,681 posts
 

In general my focus is on incredible realism and tone, and deep wide soundstage.

You are taking literally every step to take you there. 

 

whyrichard OP
90 posts
 

hahaha. so awesome I love this sound....

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
8,080 posts
 

Don’t make any additional changes until you have around 300hrs on the furu gtx-d rhodium outlets. They suck during break in process and the changes in sound will make you second guess your decision. I have installed 2 of these. And each time the sound changed tremendously and for the worst most of the time until that 300hr mark. Don’t make multiple changes at once. You won’t know what you’re listening to. I have no idea what break in process these outlets go thru but I experienced this twice with each installation. 

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
1,103 posts
 

What power cord would you all recommend for the power conditioner? What power cord would you recommend with my DAC? In general my focus is on incredible realism and tone, and deep wide soundstage... 

If you are using that power bar, it is not a power conditioner as I don’t see any "conditioning" in it, it doesn’t matter what you connect to it, it is garbage. Think about it, why bother having an audiophile outlet like the GTX when you are going to put that with it’s $2 outlets, poor connections and I assume (educated guess) cheap metal in the path? 

Have a look at the inside of this "power bar"  and compare it to the one you have: 

(Note the ground lug per the advice from your cable guy)

https://audiosensibility.com/blog/products-2/power-distribution/#!/Statement-SE-Power-Distribution/p/35282488

Now have a look at what a "power conditioner" has inside of it:

Puritan 156

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