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Dream system - but no aftermarket power cords

Hi,
after tweaking many other aspects of my system, I have had to deal with substantial noise from my Piega C10Ltd speakers recently.
This has led me to order a Synergistic Research Tesla PowerCell 10SE which should arrive later this week.

So, after getting into the "power" game and reading up on some PC reviews, I am still lost with regards to the baseline strategy to upgrade the stock cables on all components.
Here's my current setup for my 2 channel speaker system:
[Squeezebox Transporter] - [McIntosh MDA 1000] - [Piega P1 Mk ii active subwoofer (RCA loop-through and cut-off at 75Hz)] - [Marantz MA9-S2 mono amps (2x)] - [Piega C10Ltd]
All active components will be powered through the PowerCell.

So here are my preliminary thoughts, please feel free to comment:

1. Order of upgrades
1.1 Frequently, it's recommended to "upgrade the transport" first. In my case, would that be the Transporter (I guess? Or upgrade last because it's only feeding the DAC?) or the MDA-1000 (which is serving double duty as DAC and preamp, so could I double the impact from a better PC??)
1.2 The Marantz amps with their massive capacitors ought to be the least power sensitive piece of gear (??? not sure about that), so it would make sense to upgrade them last?

Of course the whole question about order of upgrades is related to
2. good-better-best strategy
2.1 what's considered a solid baseline for a highend system like mine, I don't have the money for (new) Valhalla everywhere (I need 5 PCs total)?
2.2 back to order of upgrades: looking at the individual pieces of equipment specifically, where do I get to the 95% point of diminishing returns? e.g. Synergistic apparently recommend Tesla T2 on sources and T3 on (pre)amps, is there a reasonable "segmentation" strategy?
2.3 how high should I value system synergies, specifically considering the fact that I will use a PowerCell; in other words, are there unwanted side effects from other cords (e.g. LossLess) trying to filter out stuff that the PowerCell has already taken care off and leading to a "lifeless" sound?

3. Looking at the list of components above, any recommendation about what you have found to work well with any one of the components listed above would be appreciated (e.g. Jerry Seigel recommended PS Audio PW 10 for the Marantz amps, I am reluctant to go there based on my general preference to avoid too much shielding)

Any help/suggestions much appreciated (I promise to report back my findings after trying out some of your recommendations in return!)
Thanks!
Jofte
jofte
jofte OP
6 posts
 
I am scared about the Perfectwave AC-12 after reading the review on Polkaudio by DarqueKnight; he found that it constricted his preamp and transport and was only happy using it for his amps. Also not happy to hear that the cable wasn't able to power a turntable without causing speed drift -- do I really want to let a cable with such side effects anywhere near my equipment?
Another consideration is the built-in shielding -- very hard to predict if it would work well (i.e. not sounding stale) after my PowerCell conditioner or only "straight from the wall".
Finally, seeing how 2m AC-12s are in steady supply for $250-300 on Ebay, I am not sure what to make of this. I wouldn't expect such a drastic price cut without a reason (?? just speculation, but a bit irritating to watch ??).
So in total too many cons (for me).
I have to admit that the temptation is great because at $250 every other cable in the same league as AC-12 (supposedly) would cost 2-3x more.
Post removed 
jofte OP
6 posts
 
Thanks Al, unfortunately the subwoofer already only has a groundless connection (factory default) so I know it's not part of the problem.
I cannot use balanced connections to the amps because I need the low frequency separation at the subwoofer (so there is only the preamp-RCA-subwoofer-RCA-poweramp route or putting the subwoofer in the chain after the poweramps using the speaker wires (IMHO worse than RCA); this 80 Hz split yields a big performance improvement for the speakers similar to the effect of bi-amping. Not happy that the sub doesn't support balanced in-out for this purpose, but things are what they are ...
At different times of day my issues with the hum are almost unnoticeable so one of the next steps will probably be to get a separate line (or better two) from the main distribution box to the music system (I don't think that this can be avoided).

Spending money on power related improvements so far has been worth it (PowerCell performing better day to day after settling down).
jofte OP
6 posts
 
Following your lead, just ordered Hologram D for the Logitech Transporter.
I never understood why power would affect digital as much as analog, I will let my ears decide if there is something to be gained (... of course noise will stay the same and I am already using a balanced digital connection to the MDA1000).
Thanks!!
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I cannot use balanced connections to the amps because I need the low frequency separation at the subwoofer (so there is only the preamp-RCA-subwoofer-RCA-poweramp route or putting the subwoofer in the chain after the poweramps using the speaker wires (IMHO worse than RCA); this 80 Hz split yields a big performance improvement for the speakers similar to the effect of bi-amping. Not happy that the sub doesn't support balanced in-out for this purpose, but things are what they are ...
OK. Given that I would suggest that you perform an experiment in which you completely disconnect the sub from the setup, and connect dac/pre to power amps via a pair of balanced xlr cables. If you don't have any suitable ones presently, buy a pair of inexpensive pro-oriented cables such as these Mogami's.

If that results in the noise issues going away, then buy a Jensen Iso-max, similar to those shown near the bottom of this page, configured and specified in consultation with them to adapt the rca outputs of the sub to the xlr inputs of the power amp.

Their transformers have an excellent reputation for sonic performance, and using one between the sub and the power amps would allow you to drive the fully balanced amps with balanced signal pairs (be sure to make clear to them that that is part of what you are trying to accomplish, so that you'll get the right kind of transformer), which will improve the performance of the amps as well as presumably resolve the noise problem. If that doesn't resolve the noise problem, then also add a transformer between the dac/pre's balanced outputs and the sub.

See this paper for some good background on interfacing balanced and unbalanced equipment.

Regards,
-- Al
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