I have the Niagara 1200 power conditioner in my main system and wonder if using a power cord from the same company would be beneficial. (AudioQuest suggests it is, of course! wink wink) I'm looking for recommendations for this unit, taking into account its $1,000 price-tag. I can't see spending a grand on a power cord for something at this price level. (I've seen others using the Thunder on it!) However, the $300 Monsoon looks like it might be appropriate. Is the Monsoon good enough? Would it be significantly better than, say, the NRG Z3? Or is an AQ cord at all necessary? Thanks in advance.
I own a 5000 and here is what I found in my testing. The Niagara series is sensitive to voltage drops on the inbound power line.
I tried a Analysis Plus Ultimate Power Oval 10 AWG cord. I found that with this cord it caused the voltage to be restricted by about 5-6 volts which seems to cause dynamics to suffer. I tried a Synergistic Research Galileo SX cord next and it worked great. No voltage drops and lower EMI than I have ever seen at my house. This combination is the best I have used, but the $6000 cost of the cord is a bit much for me to stomach. Next up I tried a non shielded plain old rubber cord which was only 12 AWG and the EMI went up a little, but no voltage drops. I then tried the Analysis Plus Power Oval 10 and it also did not cause any voltage fluctuations. I stuck with the AP Power Oval 10 as my Niagara source for power.
The Niagara 5000 is different than the 1200. The 5000 requires a 20amp connection. This may account for my testing results. Sorry, but I never tested a AQ cable.
@OP, I own 2 of the AQ 1200's. I use Tornado power cords. At the very least, Thunder power cords, at the best Hurricane's. It all depends upon your budget and system. Bob
You could use any good quality cable on your unit but i can tell you that you would want a ten gauge cable because of the current involved in a multi outlet conditioner and no you do not need to use audioquest. I would consider the kimber pk10 gold best high current cord for the money.
I agree with speakermaster. For my Niagara 1200 I use a Cullen Cable 10GA power cord (I forget which model) from the wall outlet to the unit itself, and then use TWL PCs for the journey from the unit to my integrated and SACD player and it all sounds great.
For my P.I. Audio UberBuss I use a Triode Wire Labs High Power Digital American power cable plugged into my 30A dedicated line. Both UberBuss and TWL cable have 32A Neutrik connectors.
I have a Niagara 1200. I am using an aq blizzard incoming power cable and monsoon outgoing power cables. Was it worth the money, I honestly can’t answer that one. What I can say is that I don’t have any ground loops or noise anywhere. Ground loops always seemed to be a problem when running multiple three prong power cables. No issues this time. Also running aq water xlrs. So for all it’s worth, in my situation it all came together and worked well. I do feel that you can accomplish the same thing with lesser expensive cables. Probably the biggest mark up in the industry imho!😎
Hello, I have the Puritan PSM156 power conditioner. I use their $1000 Ultimate XX power cable. They do have a Classic Plus that is really nice. The retail price in the US is $240 for 2 meters. The reason I picked the Puritan over the AQ Niagara line is because each outlet is discrete. Even on the higher end Niagara the outlets are in blocks of four. Also the Puritan PSM156 or PSM136 come with a cord that works really good. I did opt to go to their best power cable because the sound improved a lot more which I did not believe was possible. If your budget is tight then maybe a 12 awg or thicker power cable from Amazon until you can save up for the cable you want. I bought my Puritan power conditioner from : https://holmaudio.com/ They are in the Chicagoland area on the NW corner of I355 and 75th st. Very easy to get to. They let me try the stuff out before I pony up the cash which is really nice. I have no need to sell stuff that didn’t work out. Today I picked up the Hegel V10 phono amplifier. So far it is really nice. I tried it with MM and MC. It almost makes the music sound live. Maybe that’s a Hegel sound signature. I hope this helped.
Checked out the Puritan. Looks really nice! I like the covered receptacles. One thing that I noticed with the Niagara 1200 us that the plugs don’t seem very tight.
I use AQ Niagara 1200 and use a high current AQ Thunder cable from amp to the Niagara (plugged into appropriate high current receptacle slot), and AQ x3’s for all source components. The AQ z3 is used to plug the Niagara into the wall receptacle, which is an AQ NRG Edison receptacle. The receptacle is on its own 20 amp 12 gauge romex circuit to panel (work performed by me, so saved money here...) I also use a Furman pst-8 for any over flow sources etc, also plugged into the same receptacle/circuit. The pst-8 was designed by the same guy that designed the Niagara. This all adds up to quite a bit of money, however I think it was worth it.
I come from the camp of thinking that brand synergy is best. As an example, my 2-channel system preamp and power amp are of the same brand. For my theater components (processor and 7-channel amp, same brand) I use an AQ 1200 which is connected to the AQ Edison wall outlet via an AQ Monsoon power cable. I use Monsoon power cables for the two theater components connected to the 1200. The Blueray disc player also connects to the AQ 1200 but it has a fixed power cable. These are all on a separate circuit from my main 2-channel system. That system is powered through an AQ Niagara 3000 which is connected via an AQ Tornado high Current power cable to an AQ Edison wall outlet on a dedicated 20 amp circuit. All of my main components are connected to the Niagara 3000 via AQ Tornado power cables, either High Current or Source.
Is it absolutely necessary to use the same brand for all of these connections? I don't believe so. However, I know they are all well designed, engineered, and manufactured. I tend to believe that I just can't go wrong by staying with such brand synergy. I feel better about it. And it certainly delivers on what it is intended to do. I hope this helps you in your quest.
I worked through 7 or 8 different units priced between 1K and 3K, and the only one that made a difference (=an audible improvement), was the Puritan 156. The Audioquest 1000 that I tried did nothing.
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