Audioquest custom made triple weave design power cable (Storm Series).

If your components are lousy it might help. Otherwise your component power supplies should do an excellent job of filtering out mains and EM noise from the AC power. A power supply (if any good) is already supposed to do what you are trying to do with a power cord.

I have tried braided geometries and they are much more beneficial when compared to a more standard cable geometries.

However, it gets more complicated as you delve further into the "science" of cables.

The best geometry I have tried/built is this Helix (i.e. spiral) geometry detailed on my web site...
http://image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-power-cable.html

It provides a very "black" background together with a very dynamic presentation with a well controlled and deeper bottom end.

Feedback from people that have tried them has been extremely positive - reports indicate they are beneficial regardless of the "quality" of the component they are attached to, but lower-end components will show a significant improvements e.g. are my own componetns...
- NAIM amp - improvements were subtle, but more refined - e.g. venue acoustics more evident and focussed
- Simmaudio Moon LP5.3RC phono state - improved top end clarity and precise image, improved attack
- Blusesound Node 2 - significant improvements across the board, i.e. dynamics, clarity, image, bass control

I use a 10 gauge version for amps and distribution and a 13 gauge version for components, but I am now thinking about a lighter 16 gauge version for digital components

Unfortunately this cable is a DIY solution and is yet to be produced commercially.

FYI: Anticables and Lessloss have both been producing braided cables for a few years and they have some very nice options

Other cables I believe would offer better perfformance than braided PC’s come from Nordost (expensive) and KLE Innovations (more resonably priced)

https://kleinnovations.com/kle-innovations-klei-products/klei-ac-power-cable/

http://www.nordost.com/power-cords.php

Hope that helps - Steve

I guess my components are lousy, because after trying one Audioquest Thunder Power cord in my system, I purchased three Hurricane and two Tornado power cords. I had Wireworld Platinum and Silver Eclipse power cords,  had a home audition of Shunyata Sigma and Alpha power cords. I'm so thrilled with my Audioquest power cords. I say have a home audition of the Thunder Power cord and let your own ears decide.

Thanks for the input above.

Here’s some more info on the existing geometry and gauge of Audioquest nrg4:

http://www.elusivedisc.com/images/aq-pcnrg4inset.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d2/79/bc/d279bc65cc3be29b315bf596488572f7.jpg

Gauge: 14 AWG aggregate
Conductors:
Inside: 2x19 AWG PSC+, 2x19 AWG PSC
Outside: 5x20 AWG PSC+, 5x20 AWG PSC

Any ideas on what to do exactly with the Live, Neutral and Ground found in the NRG4? How to twist it?

I guess "Inside" above means the "Ground" conductor in 4 x 19awg?

"Outside" means 5 x 20awg for "Neutral" and "Live" respectively?

By the way Garth Powell is on record (see below) that the braided design is not for sound quality, but only to make the cable flexible
https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/audioquest-storm-series-and-niagara-ac-power-...

this is review also contains some interesting material on his testing regimen

RE: 

Garth Powell is on record (see below) that the braided design is not for sound quality, but only to make the cable flexible

Pehaps that is the case in his design - however ...
- if you take a 12 gauge extension cable from home depot
-  remove the outer sleeve i.e. extract the conductors
- braid the conductors togther and attach IEC/mains plugs

The braided cable will actually outperfrom Furutech 10 gauge bulk cables that have just had Connectors installed at each end
- improved image, bass depth and dynamic performance

I have observed significant improvements on my system using braided PC's - but the HELIX design is by far the best.

A friend just went through the Home Depot braiding exercise on his guitar amp and reported significant improvements over his stock cables.

I also use a braided power cable on my bass amp
- HUGE IMPROVEMENT!
- deeper bass with much more control

Regards - Steve

+1 shadorne! A well-designed amp (most everything these days) needs NO fancy (and pricey) PC for optimum performance! People that claim otherwise are DELUSIONAL! Does anybody pump gas with a fancy hose hoping for improved mileage? Of course not! If I found ANY benefit to an aftermarket PC I would have been using them for the past 40 + years! 

Guess that makes me and about 15 others quite delusional :-)

The following amps I and others have tried good power cords on the following amps - they showed discenible improvements in sound quality...
NAIM
Ayre
Gryphon
Audio Research
Cambridge Audio
Marantz
Bluesound
Bel Canto

On the guitar side of the fence her are three I have tried
Fender
Marshall
Ampeg

Or perhaps they are just poorly designed?

I guess this debate will go on at infinitum - just sayin :-)

Regards - Steve

Just found this thread...I would like to ask a question of ricred1 if I may divert a bit from the topic?

I have experimented a little with powercords with mostly positive results. I recently purchased 2 Audioquest Hurricanes and I am continuously stunned at how good they are. Did you try a Shunyata power cord on a CD/SACD player?
 I currently have a Shunyata  Alpha Digital on mine.

bultaco,
I had a Shunyata Venom on my DAC, but replaced it with Wireworld Platinum. I never tried Shunyata’s Digital power cords. Shunyata power cords don't work well in my current system. I currently have a Tornado power cord on my Chord Dave DAC and Antipodes DS GT music server. I will replace both of the Tornados with Hurricanes in a month or so.

It should be pointed out the big news, the headline really, for the new Storm series of Audioquest power cords is that the directionality of all wires in the cables is controlled during the manufacturing process.  Yes, I know the power cord is AC. Please, no angry private messages. 

ricred1,
Thanks for the response!
I think you have some idea already how good the AQ storm series are if you have Tornados. Let us know what you think of the Hurricanes when you get them. I just can't believe how good they are. I'm trying to think where else I might want to put some (amp,preamp, CD, ect..).

My plan was to add another one to my Pass Labs amp, instead of a High Fidelity cable, but Pass Amps don't respond real well to power cord upgrades. According to Pass...

“According to Pass.” 😬

One can’t help wondering how Pass amps respond to fancy fuses, uh, according to Pass... 🙄

bultaco,
I already have three Hurricane power cords...one 20 amp Hurricane on my Torus RM20 power conditioner, one 20 amp Hurricane on my Jeff Rowland 625 S2 amp, and one 15 amp Hurricane on my Jeff Rowland Corus preamp. I'm purchasing two more, because I want to have all Hurricane power cords on my components.
"Pass Amps don't respond real well to power cord upgrades. According to Pass... " Funny, I have Rowland and he says the same thing, but I hear a clear improvement across all frequencies. The only way to know is to try it in your own system.

In my poking around this area, I've found that the plugs on the 2 ends make the biggest difference.  I use top Furutech plugs with great success.

One can’t help wondering how Pass amps respond to fancy fuses, uh, according to Pass... 🙄

Yea, really!

The only way to know is to try it in your own system.

I think that's what needs to happen. Listen for yourself. Very interesting Jeff Rowland makes the same claims. Good to hear your as impressed as I am with the Hurricanes. 

 I use top Furutech plugs with great success.

I agree. I have Furutech  FI28 Rhodium connectors on an AudioArt cable and it was a big improvement over a stock powercord. Connectors are the first thing the power has to go through, so yes,they make a difference. 

I have been into audio since 1969 and have heard a good difference constantly when listening to components with a top upgraded cord, but I have held out until last week.  I got to spend time with Garth, Richard Vandersteen and Alex (formerly with Ayre adn now AQ) at Audio Connections in NJ.  Garth had the prototype of the Dragon, Hurricane and Thunder.  He also had his brand new Niagara 7000.  We were playing around after everyone left and I was floored at the positive difference those cords made.  They were in clear jackets at the time and Garth made considerable changes after that, but I knew that I was going to audition them when they came to market.  I have heard them on the top line MSB full system, Ayre, Audio Research, Rowland, DCS full stack and so many more.  I'm blown away.  I have heard a full high end system fronted by Rockport Lyra's that had the top Enklein cables at around 12k each I think.  I wish I had Dragon's or Hurricane's wiht me.   I really have LOVED what these cables do up and down the spectrum.  

For those who claim that any cable is the same because they all allow the current to flow, you haven't heard these or you are wrong.  Garth has measurements and you can easily try to down play what he's doing, but he's doing much more than just moving the current.  

The second time I heard them was in a blind test sort of.  My friend and I were listening in his top room where he had his best gear.  He then told me that he wanted me to hear a different amp with the system, but all he did was change the power cords.  I was shocked at what it did to the sound.  I asked if the new amp was a better model of the one we had been listening to.  He laughed and showed me the Thunder cord attached to teh same amp.  I left teh room again and he put on the Dragon high current and again, I was blown away.  Then he put on the Hurricane and it was DARN close to the Dragon (that's why I went with the Hurricane instead of the Dragon).  

It all depends on how good your gear is and what they are capable of giving you.

ctsooner,

I concur with your comments. I've tried several different power cords in my system with good results, but I prefer the Hurricane to all of them. My friend had the Hurricane and Dragon. He said, "it isn't a night and day difference, but if you have the money get the Dragon." I decided to go with all Hurricanes.

I almost went for the Dragon to be honest.  I probably should have for my short source to preamp/integrated connection, but I decided to go all Hurricane in the end as I only have the Vandersteen Quatro CT's and will probable get the new Vandersteen under 20k mono blocks once they come out and then I can get two high current Dragon's for them and not have to sell the Hurricanes for a loss etc...  

I wish I could bring my Hurricanes (once they arrive and burn in for 400 hours) to that Rockport fronted system to hear the differences, lol.  That won't happen though. ;) 

Last month I purchased four Audioquest Hurricane power cords for my
system. I put two Hurricanes on my Aesthetix Io Eclipse phono pre-amp
which has two power supplies and is a stand alone phono preamp and
two more Hurricanes on my Aesthetix Atlas Eclipse monobloc amps.
The rest of my system consists of Vandersteen Model 7 speakers, Basis
Debut Signature TT with the Super Arm 9 and Lyra Atlas cart. Other cables are AQ Everest bi-wired speaker cables and AQ Wild Blue Yonder
interconnects.
I was told by an AQ representative that break-in would probably be anywhere from 250 to 350 (or more) hours. Right now I'm at 260 hrs.
I cannot fully describe the impact that these cables have had on my
system. Every aspect of sound that one can think of has improved dramatically. I'll just use the old descriptive phase and say that a large
curtain has been lifted from the soundstage to reveal sense of reality
that I have never experienced. In some ways it is shocking.
I recently was looking at some old TAS magazines from the early 90s.
There were 10 reviews of equipment with a list of components for each
system used in one of the magazines. Out of the ten reviewers, only
one made any mention of power cords. The other nine only mentioned interconnects and speaker cables. The year was 1992.
Garth Powell has taken us to a new level reproductive sound that most
have not really experienced. I have attended one of his presentations
and would suggest that, if possible, all of you do the same. 

Thanks Charger.  Garth is a great guy.  I can't wait for his 'next' set of products that I'm sure he's working on. He just gets it so no matter what he's working on, I'm sure it will be awesome.

It's my understanding that they're coming out with a new Hurricane. I don't know what they've changed, but it's supposed to be different from the original release.

Elizabeth,

They are horribly stiff and I submit their stiffness will prevent more than a few sales. I should have called Audioquest first. Their customers service said, "they may come out with a source version", but nothing anytime soon.

Regarding stiffness, yes they are but not unacceptably so and they do hold their shape. 

I have the Dragon HC so as stiff as they come. You need a 3' or so turning circle to get them to go into anything. So in my case with power amps alongside power conditioner I can get them to work with 3' for them to make the arc. You also need to dress them so the orientation of the outlets align. The SR Black outlets in my conditioner are not the grippiest so I must take care not to disturb once they are in but as the cables are uniformly stiff they hold their shape well and do not sag causing the plug to pull itself out (as my long SR Galileo power cords do)

Overall provided you have room you should have no issues.

As much as these Audioquest Storm Series power cables are improving systems, I can't help but wonder how good was my system after hearing the Hurricanes improving it ( I'm now up to four).

I thought I had a pretty killer system (over 50K) until I heard what is possible with these things. I'm plugging them into 2 Niagara 1000's and using 1 Audioquest NRG outlet and 1 Furutech GTX-D NCF outlet.

The Niagara 1000 by itself was a big difference. One Hurricane running it was an even more incredible improvement. Not only can I hear sounds in the audience during live recordings, I can hear them getting out of their cars in the parking lot...

I just installed the Tornado PC I bought from ricred1.
I have only listened to 4 album sides so you can take this with a grain of salt but all I can say is awesome. It allowed my amp (Aesthetix Atlas Signature) to just open up. It sounded more powerful (not louder I actually turned volume down a little) The soundstage was wider, deeper more there, I think some of the secondary activity in the music became more prominent which made the whole presentation more believable. Anyway I was a sceptic and now I am a believer. I made no other change to my system other than to connect my amp using the Tornado. 

sgunther:

Now that you've experienced what just a Tornado can do, you owe it to yourself to get an Audioquest Niagara, any of them (1000, 5000, 7000) to really get the full benefit for all your gear. They made a believer out of me. 

I had the Audioquest 1000 and Torus RM15 at the same time. All systems are different, but I suggest you try to get a hold of the RM15 and try it in your system. I did sell my RM15 and now have the Torus RM20. 

I went ahead and got three Hurricane's. They are burning in, but right from teh get go, I realized that something special was going on in my system.  I'm floored so far, adn it's getting better by the day.

Someone on another forum stated that an Audioquest Rep. told his Audioquest dealer that there is a V.2 Hurricane coming out and it will be "blue" in color. That was all the information that was related.

I talked to Audioquest, per their technical support there aren't any changes to the current Hurricane. They are looking into the possibility of a Hurricane source power cord in the distant future, if it materializes at all.

Maybe that's it. The "source" powercord will be blue to differentiate it from the HC one. Now that i think about it, I'm surprised there wasn't a different color for each of the storm series PC's. Why was the Hurricane the only non-black one? 
Audioquest loves their products being colored (Vodka, Coffee, Fire, ect.)...

Previous owner of NRG-4, NRG-10, NRG-1000 and NRG WEL Signature. The Hurricane is definitely one special cable. A lot of energy, bass and slam, very dynamic even thunderous... My BAT VK-600SE is well fed!

I'm in shock guys. I only have about 80 hours on the three cables and it's a HOLY CRAP moment.  It's sounding better and better the more I listen.  I have a totally different system right now.  Don't even recognize it.  I never expected this.  Not in the least.  These Quatro's are sounding better than I've EVER heard a pair sound.  That's saying a ton as I have heard these in some awesome systems in stores and houses of friends.  I can't wait to get my Memory Player/DAC into the system. They are using a new dual DAC in it and I know Mark will tune the heck out of it and make it sound world class like all his products are.  The Memory Player right now is the best digital source I've ever heard and I've heard most of the top ones on the market.  I should have a chance to put these Hurrican's up against the 12k Enkleins soonish.  I have a feeling they will at least compete.  Those Enkleins are CRAZY good when I've heard them.

Don’t feel like you have to hold back. 😬

Promise I won't. Honestly, if I didn't think they made THAT much of a difference, I would have gladly posted that also.  :). 

ctsooner's reaction to his new Hurricanes was exactly the same as mine
when I started the burn-in process of these power cords. But you should hang on ctsooner because you have a bunch of those magic moments ahead of you. I just had a major improvement in over all sound quality at 
roughly 280 or so hours (I'm serious) and I suspect that is not the end of it. stsooner has 80 hours on his Hurricanes and is only just getting started. Expect more posts from him.

@ctsooner and @chargerfan ,
What are your opinions regarding the lesser Thunder model?
My pockets aren't quite as deep....
Bob 

Bob, those are incredible and for the price, it's a no brainer.  I have heard all of them on a $250k plus system and then a system that costs less than mine does.  It didn't matter as the cables made very audible differences.  Bob, call Johnny and talk to him about them.  The Thunder is probably the best cord for the dollar out there.  I don't like most cords to be honest.  Most companies just use their speaker wires to make a cord.  It doesn't work that way.  

I can honestly say that Garth's new cords are a true component upgrade and not a tuning device.  I personally hate using any cable or cord as a tuning device.  That's NOT what they are supposed to do.  I was blessed to be able to get the WEL balanced interconnect for my DAC to amp and will now sell my Niagara and Water cables, as that step up was also another major upgrade.  

I find teh AQ products the most neutral, but there are some small companies who are playing in another price range that are also great.  I hope to get my Hurricane's to my friends house once they are burned in and once he gets his just ordered Enkleins burned in.  I want to see how they stack up.  I have a feeling that they may be more neutral and tonally dead on as most AQ stuff is.

Bob,

After my home audition of the Audioquest Thunder, I decided to purchase a couple Hurricanes and Tornadoes. I had Wireworld Platinum and Silver Eclipse power cords,  had a home audition of Shunyata Sigma and Alpha power cords. Although I didn't directly compared the Thunder to Tornado and Hurricane,  I can say I preferred the Thunder to Wireworld and Shunyata power cords. I say try the Thunder in your system. The results may surprise you. 

@ctsooner , @ricred1 ,
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I will give the Thunder a try. 
I am currently using a bunch of Zu Audio power cables. I find them very neutral, but I know AQ really makes a great product and want to give them a try.
Bob

Bob, I disliked their former power cords.  I also don't like MOST cords on the market.  These and Enkleins are the one ones I've heard that I love.  I was told that the Elrod's are also special, but even with any discounts they are very expensive.  

Bob, When Garth Powell attended our audiophile society meeting last month he used the Thunder and Dragon-Source cables on a CD player
only as part of his demo. The Dragon was compared to a 17K power
cord and was easily judged superior. He did the same thing with the
Thunder, but I don't remember what cable it was compared to for the demo. What I do know is that The Dragon and the Thunder, which are
far apart in price, shared some basic characteristics. The soundstage
was big and images were in stark relief. Dynamics were really powerful
and yet realistic within the soundstage. There are differences between
the cables in the Storm Series, but they still share the same fundamental
qualities that make them special. That is what I took away from Garth's
demo. I had always thought that the addition of the Basis Super Arm 9
was the biggest single improvement in my system that I had ever experienced. Now, I can add to that the AQ Hurricanes. When some of my society friends came over to hear my system with the Hurricanes,
they were amazed at the improvement. They said that everything sounded so right to them. One said it was the best he had ever heard the Model 7s sound in a normal home environment. I must give the Hurricanes much of the credit.

Great share Charger.  Very cool stuff and I totally agree. I nearly pulled the trigger on the nice Basis arm when I owned my Basis, but couldn't find one used that fit, lol.  I am in shock over how good these cords are.

I finally received the Hurricanes that I ordered to replace the Tornadoes. Now all of my components have Hurricane power cords and I hope I'm done(I'm still playing around with the thought of changing my speakers). 
The newer Hurricanes outer jacket/sleeve has changed and the grip on both ends appears to be improved.

changed?  How?  I just got mine a bit over a week ago. I wonder if I have the these or not.  I doubt that the sound has changed at all.

The original Hurricanes had red in the outer jacket/sleeve. The latest hurricanes are solid blue. So, you have the latest version if the outer jacket/sleeve is blue. In addition, I stated the grip on both ends appears to be improved. I never stated or even suggested that the sound has changed.

No, that didn't read well on the sound part, sorry.  Yes, I have the blue outer sleeves. I wonder why they changed them.  I love the plugs. They are the nicest I've ever seen adn that includes the top Furetech or Oyides.