I wholeheartedly agree with audioman58, noodlyarm, bellemusique and quite a few others on these points: 1) while there are exceptions (and they are usually at the highest price points, because they have the profit-margin to do it), certainly for commercial speakers (and quite often audio equipment in general), the innards -- capacitors, resistors, wire, etc. -- is very often below par to achieve a cost/price point target. Major gains are possible by upgrading these. 2) cables -- power, speaker wire, interconnects do matter -- the degree can vary, and 3) you can indeed hear real differences. It is not expectation bias, at least in my experience. On average, I critically listen to music probably ~15-20 hrs/week on average, all genres (I do like to do other things, too), have done a lot of A/B testing (on a rare occasion or three even had friends make the changes while I left the room) and you can hear differences. My experience. If your mileage varies, so be it. Live and let live.
Effects Of Power Cords On Electrostatic Speakers
Several weeks ago I took delivery of a pair of Martin Logan CLX ART speakers. I hooked them up with the supplied power cords from the seller. The sound was pretty underwhelming, so I let them settle in. After about 4 days the sound had not changed significantly. I decided to rob a pair of PI Audio power cords from my phono stages and put them on the CLX. Signicant change and was getting the sound I expected.
The question I ask myself is why? This is a low current power supply that just feeds the stators.
If it is indeed significant, and it seems to be, what level of cord is going to meet the needs? No reason to spend more than I have to.
Looking forward to reading your thoughts or experiences.