Does the manufacturer include the cables in the base cost of the amps or is it extra? That is the best test of how much he believes they really improve the sound.
When a power cord could obviously affect SQ
I have been a bit of a non-believer in power cords having magical effects on SQ but I have been discussing with Frank Ng a pair of PP 2A3 amps I am purchasing from TriodeLab. He is supplying a pair of his preferred cables and he points out that the 2A3s’ cathodes are fed directly from the mains transformer.
The amps (UPS willing) arrive tomorrow - this should be quite an experience - it has been quite a game finding great tubes.
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I have never tried special power cords, but I pulled the trigger yesterday. I have been on the modernization/upgrade path lately and wanted to see what cords could do. So I ordered four power cords from Patrick Cullen, along with some interconnects and a digital coax cable. All his stuff is hand built in America with American parts except when unavailable, which I love. He also recommended a power outlet that the Hospitals use as a foundation which will grip the plug without fail. My plan is to run everything through a burn-in period and at some point revert back to old cable one component at a time, then all at once to see if I can hear any difference. If not I’ll have some nice looking kit and tight fitting plugs into gear and power conditioner. By the way I really enjoyed my conversation with him, as he walked me through which cord fit best for each component and didn’t oversell. In fact quite the opposite, I was going to go higher and he said don’t waste your money, go with such and such. |
@bruce19 the cables are not included in the base price, but they were "comped". @richardbrand the MIT Z-Cords that I use have EMI/RFI filtering. They did make a difference in NYC with equipment of the '90s. My belief is that the PS in a component should do that filtering (bidirectionally) - but the DHT purists want AC to the cathode, straight from the transformer.
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@retiredaudioguy What brand/make power cable has Frank supplied? If it is beyond the basic generic cable that Triode normally supplies (I have a Finale Audio integrated) than it would seem that he has answered your SQ question on this specific amp |
There may be a tube directly connected to the transformer, but that tube must be a rectifier. It’s not a magically sensitive amp. AC must get to DC before the signal amplifying devices touch it. Now, what IS magic are the tube amps that have no output transformer or caps and drive ESL’s directly. That is pretty cool. |
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