Power cables make no objective difference in the sound of a stereo but, as pointed out, they provide a lot of profit for the companies who make them. Same with interconnects, digital cables, etc.
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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@bruce19 cannot find a a schematic but: on a 300B pins 1 and 4 are connected to the 5V AC of the transformer. A pair of 50 ohm resistors are in series from 1 to 4. The center tap is then connected to the main cathode bias resistor and its bypass cap to ground.
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I see the Triode Wire Labs IEC’s he uses are Furutech Gold. Not sure if you already have done this in your system or not yet, but you should get the Furutech Gold outlet to match in order to be better able to tell the differences between power cords, and for better sound overall of course. And believe it or not, my experiences are all components, and I include cables and receptacles in the heading of components, need 200+ hours to stabilize so even if you don’t believe this, do it anyway before arriving at any conclusions. If it was the rhodium Furutech outlet more like 300-400 hours. Seriously. https://furutech.com/product-category/receptacles/ And for my 2a3, which of course is an oddball build and quite different to yours, I find the driver tube, a single 6dj8 in my case, makes more of a sonic difference than the output tubes. For 2a3’s I currently have RCA’s, Black Treasures and I am trying a set of JJ’s as of last week. (The JJ’s are not working at the moment, discussions with the retailer ongoing). If I was going to spend big bucks for a new set of 2a3’s it would probably be Emission Labs mesh plates. 5 year warranty is unbeatable. Takatsuki’s I can’t justify currently, knowing there are a dozen other things I could change in my system (like power cord on the amp) that would change the sound more for half the cost. Congratulations on the new amps! |
@mclinnguy the receptacle is Furutech gold. I had ordered a set of ACME 2A3s but the order went pear shaped with import issues so I am using the RCA black plates. My try EMLs eventually. I have several 6SN7s to roll!
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I haven't tried every 2a3 tube out there of course, and never will, and I am not paying stupid money for RCA single plates, like I said I can change a cable elsewhere to get the same upgrade in clarity and resolution, and the advantage with that is the cable doesn't wear out, but my math tells me if I have 2 pair of output tubes to rotate the RCA's should last twice as long Looking forward to your power cord comparisons. |
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