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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
mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
1,107 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

whyrichard OP
90 posts
 

Wow, big difference. I did just get a cheap for the time being as my other one had a way too long cord. 

Question: If I have dedicated outlets, does that negate the need for a power conditioner? I think someone here mentioned that.... is that so? or still needed?

 

thanks,

Richard

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
8,087 posts
 

I don’t use power conditioner. I sold my Puritan PSM156. Did not like it as it choked even the source components. I would say try a power conditioner and see if you like it but I would recommend something passive like Shunyata or if you want to try an active power conditioner give higher models in the Audioquest line a try. 
My take on it - get the best quality components and power cords and you won’t need a conditioner. Especially with a dedicated line. 

whyrichard OP
90 posts
 

Right now, I am thinking of plugging my amp, DAC streamer and phono preamp directly into my dedicated lines. I would have my DAC and streamer on ground Lyft plugs.

 

what do you all think of that? looking forward to listening to this as it seems like The most pure scenario with little risk  

 

r

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,497 posts
 

Dedicated lines virtualy never negate the need to power condition (with a good quality power conditioner) your non-amp components. It virtually always an improvement as big as direct lines or bigger. 

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