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Power Cords - Pixie Dust?

As an audiophile I am always prepared to believe that almost anything can make a difference in the sound. But this one makes me wonder. I have a TNT MKV with JMW 12.5 arm. The stand alone motor turns, via a belt, a flywheel that turns, via another belt, the platter.

I have seen an add claiming that replacing the power cord between the SDS speed controller and the stand alone motor can improved the sound of the table, "increasing upper range resolution and sweetness" or some such thing.

I suppose I can see how a new power cord might be argued to improve speed stability, but for the life of me how can a special power cord improve "resolution and sweetness", when the only function of the motor is to spin a belt, that turns a flywheel that spins another belt that turns the platter?? Does this claim make any sense?
jackcob
judit
217 posts
 
I agree with you, this business of identifying sonic attributes of power cords is twilight zone. Don't spend a single dollar on this until you are ready. As for me, I no longer have any stock power cords in my system.
danvetc
527 posts
 
Pixie dust. Except they are prettier than stock, which makes them sound better to some. Nothing wrong with art for art's sake, so I have some BC65s. Hell, you have to stare at the things for hours on end, no?

Charlie
hdm
1,055 posts
 
According to Bob Crump, the turntable motor is the MOST sensitive component with respect to a power cord change (I believe he uses a Rockport). I have not changed the cord on my table, but even changing the molded plug to a quality Hubbell male plug brought about a pretty substantial improvement; I can recall that I spent about $200 upgrading my speaker cables from Kimber 4TC to 8TC at the time and the $10 I spent changing the male plug on my Gyrodec's cord brought more improvement than the cable upgrade.
jahaira
108 posts
 
Bob recommend the Pass Seysmour and, actually, he use them on his designs (TG Audio). I changed the flimsy cable that came with my humble TT (a 22ga) for a 14/3 that came stock with a Parasound amplifier. It turned to be an improvement. Now, after changing the plugs on a pair of Audio Magic Xtream power cords I am convinced that it is a major upgrade to any affordable pc. I used a Marinco for one and a Pass Seysmour for the other. The PS seems to be more detailed and with more air presenting a big soundstage. The Marinco was less detailed in comparison but timbre was more natural.

I will swap the plug on my TT and left the inside connection hard wired as is now.

Thanks, Jose.
davehrab's avatar
davehrab
380 posts
 
The pixie dust you guys are looking for can probably be found over at the IBM web site. I've seen TV commercials where they use the stuff with great success on their servers. I'm very happy with my ESP power cables. Low impedance, excellent shielding, and Dupont Capton damping. They seem to work well on just about any thing you put them on. I'm about to send all 5 PC out for cryo treatment. If anyone would like to split the cost of a bag of PIXIE dust (including shipping) I'm in. If it doesn't work on our equipment, may be we can smoke it and catch a buzzz ;-))
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