Power Cord up to $100?

I'm now trying out a 3 meter Pangea AC9 which is replacing a Volex that I terminated myself. I've had it on for about a week on a Sim Audio amp that I leave on most of the time. So far it's a disappointment in that it has tipped the audio up to the treble and I have lost the slam at the bottom. It does some nice things with the high end and imaging. But that doesn't compensate for the loss at the bottom. Kind of surprising for a thick cord. Could it be those fixed terminations? Do you think more break-in will help? Or am I wasting my time?

Melm, The AC9 typically firms things up, but power cord performance varies in different systems.

There are no absolutes with power cord performance.

200 hours should be enough break in time, so I would wait until you reach that point. I would also turn off the Sim for at least a few hours at the end of the break in, and then turn it back on, let it warm up and see what you hear. If the low end is still absent at that point, I'd return it.

My experience with the AC9 was almost the opposite, Melm. After a couple of weeks of break-in, it excelled on the bottom-end and added warmth without sacrificing detail. Bear with it a while and let s know if anything changes.

Here's my report on the Pangea AC-9 referred to above. I've always been a power cord skeptic, and am now surprised at how they can differ.

Many years ago I replaced all my IEC cords with Volex 17604 which was highly respected and cheap. I wasn't much into power cords then. All were stock except the cord to my 200 waat per channel amp. I had read that some times the crimpings were not so great, so for the current hungry amp, I cut the 14 AWG cord and terminated it myself.

Now for the Pangea. The bottom end, very weak at first, surely came back. However the top end remains a bit gritty and a lot of the depth is gone as all instruments are moved forward. Most of my music is classical. Though I change the cords on the amp without changing the volume on the pre-amp, the music seems louder with the Pangea, but also somewhat confused with a loss of focus.

During this period, I changed the Volex cord on my Oppo 105 to a Supra Lorad with cheap Chinese Oyaide knock-off terminations. This inexpensive cord gave me a distinct improvement in smoothness (anti-digititus) and focus, that is, it's more like analog. So I went back to the Pangea to see if the two cords complimented each other, but no deal. The Pangea goes back.

Now I'll get a 3 meter Lorad and some more cheap plugs and give my amp a try with it. It's 13 AWG. If it doesn't work I can always cut up the Lorad and use it on preamp, tt and such.

For well below $100 there can be made many feet and many lengths of DIY power cords in excellent quality. For some years now I've been happily using PC's throughout my entire system comprising 16AWG solid-core copper installation wires, bought at the equivalent of Home Depot for a measly $3 per 5x1 meter(where each wire is individually insulated and then bundled under one outer sturdy insulator, which requires some stripping/cutting work to free the individual wires from the outer "casing"). The coppper quality is top notch, despite what may be claimed to the contrary, and though the insulator is PVC I'd not worry about it, seriously; much more important is that the wires are not stranded but SOLID-core. The lead and return wires are twisted(~3 twists per 4 inches) and the ground wire is then twisted around these in the opposit direction. Each length of power cord is a little over 7 feet. The power cord from the outlet is heavier gauge 14AWG solid-core installation wire due to some 15 feet run, constructed the same way.

I urge you to try out the above. It requires a little work, but it's cheap as hell and I'm fairly certain the sonic result won't disappoint, making for a true cable-bargain and loosing no sonic face to much more expensive alternatives I've tried.