Fuse and Power Cable improvements 'how'? - Nuprime ID-8


Hi Everyone,

    Thank you ahead.  I recently bought a pair of Kudos C2 speakers through Audiogon and upgraded my amp to Nuprime ID-8.   Even with 100watt RMS I'm not able to power the C2 to satisfaction.  It'll be a long while before I can save up for the high quality 200+watt range amps.  I've been reading that others install better power cable and fuses into their amps and get sonic improvements.   I'm wonder how does that work and how much improvement would that really bring (considering that's $300+ extra parts for a $999 amp)?  Hoping to get educated on the subject.  Thanks.

Lincoln

hifineubee

Showing 2 responses by auxinput

The B&W 805N were very nice speakers, but they could be on the bright side - which may explain your loss of some "openness" in the vocals with the Kudus speakers. Do you still have the B&W or Yamaha? You could try swapping either/both of these items into your current setup to see. The older Yamaha might be built better than the very small Nuprime amp. Power supply is somewhat limited in the NuPrime. This generally affects how much current is available to drive the speakers. In your case, you indicated the Kudus are relatively easy to drive, so it is probably not a concern.

Based on your comments, you’re getting good volume, but not getting enough resolution and soundstage depth. I do think power cord and fuses can help tremendously here. In your situation, I would get some Furutech FI-15 Plus (R) Rhodium connectors for both IEC and Male ends and attach them to your stock power cord. These Furutech connectors are generally $56 each. The Rhodium plated copper elements will really improve resolution as well as bass punch. I have used these particular connectors in several situations and they are excellent for the money (same rhodium/copper elements as there more expensive connectors, so it makes them an excellent value). If you wanted, you could spend $20-40 on some DH Labs power cable wire if you wanted better than the stock cord.

Combining this with a rhodium Furutech fuse will really help smooth out the sound if the stock fuse on the Nuprime amp sounds too bright. This can happen sometimes with Rhodium power cord connectors as they are very fast and transparent.

Keep in mind that the Rhodium plated stuff will require 150-200+ hours break in before sounding best.

@alpha_gt - while I agree that two different 10awg cables will still be able to flow the same amount of current, one thing that is not looked at here is how fast the amp is able to pull that current from the A/C line.  In my testing with power cord connectors, I can completely change the sonic character of the sound just by using different power cord terminations.  A very good example here is comparing gold plated to rhodium plated terminations.  I have found that the rhodium plated power cord connectors ultimately give the best sound.  The bass is very tight, punchy, and powerful.  Mids/highs are very clear and clean.  When you switch to gold-plated connectors on the same power cord, the sound becomes more laid back.  The bass becomes more loose in a sense and loses the punch/tightness/detail.  There is still a full amount of bass (which means the amp is getting the large amount of current), but in a way the slew rate of the waveforms are somewhat slowed down because the gold-plating is giving you a more gradual power transfer.  The Rhodium plating will give a more immediate power transfer (in my opinion).  The contact materials matter when you have two elements mating to make a power circuit.