Effects Of Power Cords On Electrostatic Speakers

@ricevs   Did you seriously replace a quarter amp fuse with a 30 amp fuse?  Classic audiophile idiocy!  And feeding a 12V regulator with 30V means it has to burn off a lot of current, markedly shortening it's lifespan.  But safety does not seem to be your primary concern.  As for hearing a difference between power cables to your pre-reg, I say nonsense.

I sold the OP the CLX ARTS. I never used the stock cables BUT once off for a time they require a long time to “sound right” 😎 BHBH

@jasonbourne71 

Hi Jason.

Re your first post, most of us keep our ESLs connected to power full-time.  So when OP switched cords the speakers were already fully powered with electricity supplied via the low quality cord.

The low quality electricity is what comes through the low quality wire. OK my tongue is a little way into my cheek. The high quality comes through the allegedly high quality wire.    LIke in your book, wire is wire in my book, when it comes to power cords.

The capacitor starts full of 'low quality' electricity because that is already in there via the low quality wire.  The high quality electricity arrives only after the high quality wire is connected and replaces the low quality electricity over a period of time, related to the capacitor's storage capacity.  This is quite large on the CLXs at least, demonstrable by disconnecting the power while the music is playing.  So at the start of his AB on the trick cord, OP was still listening mainly via the low quality juice and was tricked by expectation bias.

I'm just going out to buy a £3000 power cord to run my record player...  NOT.

But I might get one to power the lamp that lights the player.  It will surely sound better under better light.

@clearthinker ​: what is 'low quality' electricity? Why do you say that it fills a capacitor first before 'high quality' electricity. So you've invented a new phenomenon for the "golden ears" crowd to obsess over!

By the time the OP switched power cords his ESL's were fully charged. So naturally they sounded far better than initial turn on! Nothing to do with the power cords!

1.   My CLX Anniversaries came with pretty heavy trick expensive looking power cords.  They sound wonderful to my ears.  What I say is substitute them with regular 12 gauge and see if you hear any deterioration.

2.   OP says he substituted the trick cords and listened.  But the big capacitors in the speakers will have stored the 'low quality electricity' and it will last a while before being replaced with the 'high quality' stuff.  So if he heard an improvement immediately, he was still listening with electricity from the regular wire.  Must have been expectation bias.

3.   There is no scientific evidence that power cords can change the nature of electricity.

@bellemusique : I suggest you become better acquainted with technical knowledge than relying on hearsay from the "golden ears" crowd!

A better choice for ESL’s are regular transformer-coupled tube amps. Their output trannies provide isolation against such low impedances.

@bellemusique -1! OTL tube amps like my Julius Futterman H3aa's are uncomfortable with speaker loads below 8 ohms. ESL speakers drop to 2 ohms or less at high frequencies. OTL amps lose power and are stressed by such low impedances. So not recommended, though they are fine with the capacitive load of ESL's.

Hello guys, I have owned ALL quad ESL speakers and now I own Sound Lab A645. While the difference is not huge, power cables do matter. So... anyone that says it's a BS, shall upgrade other elements in his system, as the difference realy came into focus when all other components of your system are sufficently resolving. You do not have to purchase particularly expensive power cables, but I strongly recommend to test at least a couple of good audiophile-grade power cables. One of my clients is using Fadel Art "Coherence Cables" that are known to work extremely well with electrostats. Mr. Fadel was obsessed with ESL speakers, and was a big admirer of Roger West's work. This cable provides a phenomenally deep soundstage. I use custom built cables made by Mr. Hai from Paris (those are cheaper and to my ear even better sounding). I would recommend any cable that works on Faraday's cage principle. For exemple in France we have WhyNot cables that use that principle, but I'm sure you will find simmilar cables in USA as well. Everything matters, less or more, but that's how audiophile world works. And by the way, your ESL speakers need OTL amplfiers to give their best, as you already know.

@jhnnrrs ​​​​​+1! Nice to hear a voice of reason here!

Peter Walker's discovery of the million ohm charging resistor was the breakthrough that made ESL speakers possible! Since ESL's draw so little AC current even a 22 gauge cord will work fine!

I use ordinary zip cord to charge my KLH Nine full-range ESL’s. Same for my Quad 57’s. The argument that "everything matters" in audio is just plain BS!

@mrskeptic+1! Yes, the OP heard an improvement - but it had NOTHING to do with the power cord! ESL speakers charge their diaphragms through a 1 Million  ohm or greater resistor. This slow charging can take more than one day (24 hours). So the wrong conclusion again by the cable believers!

@mrskeptic

But what happens if do not expect to hear a change? Do we then have unexpectation bias? If so what does that prove?

Yes but we have expectations. I expect to receive a paycheck every two weeks. When I get it does that mean it is a false paycheck and not real compensation? Isn’t it funny how we live and order our lives with expectations and yet people like you demean others for having them. Tell me, when you bought your audio equipment did you not have a set of expectations? If so how can anyone believe that your answers of anything audio have any level of validity?

@jhnnrrs

So you know the "truth". How comforting.

And what makes you think I own a lava lamp?

As a truth teller you should get the facts correct and not lean on conjecture.

Power matters to ESL’s. I have upgraded my Quads’ power supplies to the premium version offered by Electrostatic Solutions, and the difference is startling.

I also upgraded the SUT’s (big improvement) and delay ladder (very small improvement). Perhaps the biggest improvement was removing the protection circuit - which I could do because my amps were designed so that they could not under any circumstances drive the speakers into the danger zone.

ESL’s are the great, but stock versions of all but the best examples can be improved. IMO

When I worked for MFA years ago they had some Soundlab A3 electrostats there. I told Scott Franklin that if you replace the very small fuse with a super large value the sound would be much better.......so he went out to the workshop and got a 30 amp fuse and replaced the quarter amp fuse........It sounded way better, expecially the highs.

EVERYTHING MATTERS. Even the power on your lava lamp.....he he.

My first serious A/B of power cords was on a SOTA turntable back in the early 80s.  I had built a pre regulator (30V) and then a cable went to the turntable where there was a 12? volt regulator then the motor which turned the belt.  The power cord was from the wall to the transformer for the 30V regulator.  The best sounding power cord was made using Mogami wire (one of the few serious wires in those days).  Every single thing in the 30V pre regulator changed the sound including the transformer (I tried at least 4 transformers and they all made the sound different).

Of course, I am making this all up (not).  WE all kNOW that the only thing that matters is the measurements.  How dare we listen to things to KNOW what they sound like

An open mind and an open heart = happiness.   I wish you much happiness.

You can make up all the reasons you want, but the truth is you heard a difference because you wanted to hear a difference.  Just like the people who hear a difference when they "upgrade" the power cord on a turntable.  What's next?  Upgrading the power cord on your lava lamp?

I found the same thing with my Xstatics when I changed from the stock power cables to audiophile cables (Mark Tunis Black Magic cables).   I attributed the improvements to stabilizing and lowering the noise floor of the stators.   Whatever the actually reason, I liked the difference and I’m not switching back (though I did test this to make sure I wasn’t making things up).

Expectation bias.

I upgraded their average Xovers inside which made a substantial increase 

across the board , and a good power cord which we used AQ Thunder 

made a additional increase in fidelity through a AQ Niagra 5000 power conditioner .

electrostats are very sensitive to changes.I no longer own them I also owned the ML Evolution with the powered Bass , as with most speakers in mean 90% in truth go cheap on Xover parts inside . I have for the last 20 years always looked to see 

what mess they offered ,Maggi worst junk out there , those steel inputs pathetic mass os resistance fifty cent resistors and junk capacitors , Klipsch is another one 

I have owned 3 models of each ,sad but truth ,since the Xover is the ♥️ of all loudspeakers, and Xover less doesnot cut it ,no one driver can do everything 

having owned a Audiostorefor a decade and 40 years in Audio 

rule of thumb 25% on average goes into your speakers or electronics including packaging ,the rest R&D overhead and markup ,unless you are spending $$ expect average parts at best inside your product ,$$ is the driving force 

even in $50 k loudspeakers not even close to the best Xovers like Duelund 

and on any SE models they charge 4-1 in $$markup in parts ,

cables far more markup. Just to inform others .research inside your product or go to  Google    Images to possible see what’s under the hood.

Yes. To the best of my knowledge.

@neonknight 

I have CLX ARTs I purchased used.  They came with Martin-Logan supplied power cords.  Are those what you got from the seller?

To be safe I should try the Belden again and see what happens. No reason to spend money if I don't have to. 

I have a pair of CLS speakers.  I am a power cord believer for amplifiers.  however, I haven't used heavy power cords on the electrostatic speaker.  

The power supply to the electrostat puts....you guessed it...a static charge on the panel.  It doesn't power the music so there is no need for short dosages of high current during dynamic sections.  So my thought is that power cords are irrelevant and I've been using generic 14 awg cords.

Based on your post I will try better cords and see if I can hear any difference.

Jerry