My CPT arrived today. Will begin listening tonight. It is heavy..in the central area, but fortunately fits in my system going to my Lumin..the cables sections are easily manageable...
Has anyone tried these stunning new CPT power cord?
Considering the many, many brands of power cords I've tried in my very well accomplished high-end system, I have never been so impacted by these Core Power Technology power cords. Within a very short period(15-20) minutes my system literally came alive. Soundstage opened wider and deeper. The background became dead silent, space between instruments and stage members were more focused and everything sounded cleaner and musical than ever. My highs had a glorious crispness and symbols shimmered. Midrange through my 2" horn became more dynamic and punchy. My 15" bass driver tightened and dug low with great control. My Rel G1 which is a fabulous sub on its own but with a CPT 150 on it is another story. Running high pass from my sub to my Audiozen Noah amplifier, music depth is just stunning. Lower end bass is authoritative and clean with solid grip and impact.
My experience with these power cords is truly magical. The scary part of the above is I only have one 150 on my sub and one 300 from my wall to my 6 outlet bar. I still need 3 more to complete my system. I could just imagine the level after that...In closing, I cannot emphasize enough to try one of these in your system. I CANNOT and WIIL NOT take these out as they are that good. But hold your jaw, cuz what you've been listening to will just become real after Core Power Technologies.
Cheers....and let the tapping begin.......
My experience with these power cords is truly magical. The scary part of the above is I only have one 150 on my sub and one 300 from my wall to my 6 outlet bar. I still need 3 more to complete my system. I could just imagine the level after that...In closing, I cannot emphasize enough to try one of these in your system. I CANNOT and WIIL NOT take these out as they are that good. But hold your jaw, cuz what you've been listening to will just become real after Core Power Technologies.
Cheers....and let the tapping begin.......
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@calloway , question about your lumin..... Which model do you have and can you give us the quality you hear with the cord you have/had on it and after you put a CPT on it. Reason is I have great interest in buying a lumin and would like to hear what you think of it and how it performs. I've heard lots about the D1.....thx.. |
bacardi...the Lumin model i have is the A1...i use a specially made outboard PSU from a gentleman need Kenneth Lau who makes superb PSUs for Lumin and other gear.Anyway...it is an amazing product. The S1 is their top of the line.I will be posting my thoughts on comparing My HF CT-1 ...the CT GE pc and the CPT later next week. i have a few friends coming over Sunday to help decide...There are about 5-6 models of the Lumin. Their support is second to none ...IMO..They are great.. |
Hi Calloway:I was wondering how you'll conduct the shootout between the HFC, CE, and CPT power cords when your friends come over. From what I've been reading, the HFC and CE cables need considerable time to "settle in" before a proper evaluation can be done. Your posts are always informative to me. Thanks, Jeff |
yoby....you are correct...it will not be an idea 'shootout' as the CPT and CT GE are fairly new to me although the CPT has been burned in prior to my demoing it. I have had the CT GE on for 3 days now so it will, at least, be warm.My CT-1 has been in my system for about 1 year..Nothing is perfect but will try to make a quasi-scientific evaluation...My friends are long-time audiophiles and are younger so their ears will be better than mine too. |
Bacardi.....no..just the CT-1.My system sounds so good that when i did add 3 of Rick's CT-1 pcs to the CT-1U interconnect and the CT-1U speaker cables that i was totally happy with what I was hearing.They are great cables.BUT.......I am always curious about pcs and decided to try the CT GE and found it to be an amazing pc..especially at its price point. I decided to try the CPT also ..thus the 'shootout'... |
knghifi....i do go directly from my Lumin to my amps..You will not go wrong with the Lumin..whichever model you choose. The reviews are 100% glowing and rightly so..and the designers will get back with you in a minute if you do have a question. one of them is always on 'audioshark.com' to help with a question. I have not had the first problem in 2 years.. |
Hi, I also go directly from my Lumin to my amplifiers but I do like to swap out amplifiers from time to time. We found that after trying many different outboard dacs from $15000 and down into the Lumin; just running the Lumin on it's own was pure magic. I will say that after testing over 90 different power cords, the CPT 150 was the best match we have heard with Lumin or any digital product we has tested, It took about 20 minutes total before we knew the CPT was a stunning match for Lumin. It only got better over the next 500 hours. We have tried 4 different Lumin products and CPT is the power product for Lumin, in my opinion. Cheers, |
@calloway , ok , what's the price of a 5.5'CT-GE? It should be close to a 5.5ft CPT @$649. There is a hundred dollar difference so they are pretty close. Reason being is this shootout between the three company's makes the CPT and CT -GE pretty much in the same price range. But the HF is just under $6000. That's 8x the price....that's apples & oranges....that'll make for a great shoot-out. From what it sounds they should destroy the HF? What do you think? |
Bacardi, The Cerious would be less then 520 at list price for 5'.5 so yes it's close but still about 130 cheaper than Cpt.. The Cerious at 5' was going for only 299 at special pricing.. I'm sure from what I've read from some well respected Audiogon members on here the CPT are great cables as well and would love to hear them someday soon but for now I will just enjoy the Cerious cables which to me sound amazing at there price point. Have a great weekend!☺ |
Hi Ozzy, Here is exactly what I stated in an earlier post on this thread; We are an audio distribution company in Canada and we like the CPT product so much that we decided to distribute the CPT cords in Canada. My suggestion would be to try a CPT cord against what you consider your favorite power cord because you might just be shocked, as I was! Ozzy with the amount of equipment you have purchased off my company, you should know we are always 100% up front. Cheers, |
@ozzy , the shoot-out can be done with a CPT -150 as the 300 is the same quality but for more beefier wattage. The 5.5ft CPT 150 is $649. In the very near future I myself with be conducting an honest shoot-out with a Core Power Technologies 150, HF CT-1/or CT-1Ult and Cyrious GE power cords. My conclusions will be posted in a descriptive and honest manner..... |
Just my opinion of course but the CPT 300 due to its size and balanced nature is best suited for multiple components. Giving all that is plugged into it the benefit of balanced power. The Graphene cables are best suited for the individual components. I own and really like both cable brands. Buying all CPT cables for the individual components really would add up the $$$ and you would have a huge pile of balanced transformer boxes. Bacardi, the price for the Graphene Extreme doesn’t just double when the length is doubled. But, I bought mine early on (about $300 for 5 foot) so I’m not sure of the actual current pricing. Also comparing the CPT 150 which has only a 150 watt capacity is not in the same league as the Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme which use much larger conductors in their design and would power much more than 300 Watts. The CPT 300 would seem to make sense for comparison pricing. The CPT 300 5 footer costs $850. My point was for all to keep the prices of the individual cords used in the forth coming shoot outs in perspective. |
bacardi..my testing will be on the same component...My Lumin player. i will be using the CPT 300, 5 footer also...and the CT GE 3' and my HF CT-1...all on my Lumin A1..i will not be declaring a 'winner'. Just what i hear with each of the pcs using the same tracks on my system..Declaring a winner would not be fair due to the cost differences..If i find that the CT GE, at the lowest price...can give someone ,say..90% of what the CT-1 can ..at 1/10 the cost then that would be important to some folks, especially those just starting out on a limited budget.There isn't a 'BEST' power cord. |
A couple of friends of mine, last Sunday, sat down to compare 3 power cords. One of these was my High Fidelity" CT–1". The second was a CT GE, from Cerious Technologies. The third is a CPT-300, balanced power cord, from Core Power Technologies. My power cord is fully burned in having greater than 500 hours on it. The other 2 are newer cables having less than 50 hours on them. Obviously this will, to some degree, skew the findings but did give us an idea of how they compare. 2 of my audio friends joined me, as mentioned, and all of us came to similar conclusions although differing slightly occasionally. The idea of the comparison was to choose 5 tracks from different albums, all HD/SACD, and look at a number of different sound parameters. We chose 7. #1–Airy-defined as pertaining to tremble which sounds like, delicate, open, and seemingly unrestricted in upper extension. #2–articulation–defined as clarity and intelligibility, usually of voice reproduction. #3–attack transient–defined as the initial energy pulse of a percussive sound, such as from a piano string, triangle, or drum head. #4–Depth–defined as the illusion of acoustical distance receding behind the loudspeaker plain, giving the impression of listening through the loudspeakers into the original performing space. #5–detail–defined as the subtlist, most delicate parts of the original sound, which are usually the first things lost by imperfect components. #6–impact–defined as a quality of concussive force ,as from a deep, strong base attack, which produces a brief sensation of visceral pressure. #7–involvement–defined as the degree to which a reproduction draws the listener into the musical performance and evokes an emotional response to it. It was not always easy to stick to the agenda throughout. We did, however, come do fairly common conclusions regarding most of these. The music used, during the shoot out, included #1–Neighborhood-Manu Katche, tract #1, November 99... #2- Modern Cool-Patricia Barber,Constantinople.... #3–Diana Krall-Wall Flower- tract 2-Desperato. #4–Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6-Reference Recording First movement.................. We played each track 3 times, with each of us sitting in the sweet spot to allow the best chance of evaluating each of the chosen parameters. This was a little time-consuming, but we decided to do it this way so we would have a better chance of remembering what we were listening to. We started each track with the CT–1, proceeding to the CPT–300, and finally to the CT GE power cord. The cost of these cords is different, with the CT 1, retail and $2300, at the 1.5 m length, the CPT–300, at approximately $850, and the CT GE at approximately $300. All cables were constructed very well. The workmanship on each is excellent. At each change of cables, my SET amps were turned off and allowed 15 minutes to warm backup. With regard to the first parameter, all 3 cables performed superbly. The edge here was judged to a tie between the CT–1 and the CT GE. The CPT was certainly not far behind and would be very acceptable to all but the most discriminating. #2–articulation, was a virtual tie between all 3 cables. All of them produced a beautiful, natural vocal realness. The CT GE cable produced a slightly forward vocal presentation compared to the other 2. With all of them it was easy to hear the breathing and lips of Diana Krall. They all presented a life like image. #3–attack transient–the winner here was the CPT–300 which consistently presented tight,quick, delicate sounding tonality to cymbals,wood blocks,and tympany.The weigh of the music presented was also better than the other 2. #4- depth–all 3 cables presented an equally real presentation of three-dimensional space. The CT GE produced a slightly less high sound stage. This was also slightly less wide. The CT 1 and CPT–300 were sound stage champions. #5 detail–all 3 cables were equally capable of reproducing the most delicate sounds within the soundstage. The weight of the music, however of the CPT–300 did give it a slight edge. #6–impact–the CPT–300 was the champ here. It was definitely able to produce a more visceral impact with drums, and other percussive instruments. #7–involvement–all 3 of the cables were superb and drawn you into the music. There was never a moment of fatigue, to my mind, as I had the ability to listen to each of these cables for many hours at a time. The CPT–300, because of the increased weight of the music, was a slightly more enjkoyable ...... all 3 of these cables are superb cables, with the CT GE being amazing at its price point. Obviously, these are just our opinions using my system. The other side of this is that the CT GE and CPT 300 were not fully burned then. The conclusions that we came to were fairly unanimous across the board. All of us agreed that each cable has its own strengths and given the right system, would perform admirably. System: Chaliss Audio–’Grail’SET monoblocks Tidal Audio-’Contriva Diacera-SE’ speakers Lumin A1 Network Music Player HF CT-1 pcs x 3 HF CT-1U interconnect HF CT-1U speaker cables I have also had the opportunity to communicate with the 3 designers of these cables, all of whom are gentleman and professionals. |
@calloway Thanks so very much for your efforts here. Easy to see that lots of time and care were taken and we are all in your debt. From my perspective glad each cable did well - and I expect that many of our owners will ALSO be owners of both the HF CT's or the CT GE. I already have heard from several owners of our products coupled to the SUPERB CT GE cords. Apparently there is a nice synergy there. The HF CT cords are also earning well-deserved praise everywhere and I look forward to being exposed further to them in the future. Right now - most of our customers are using E=C units with some sort of IEC "strip" and everyone seems quite happy with their results (and with their own cables plugged into their strip of choice). Some are using E=C directly plugged into their particular piece of gear where they are interested in what Balanced Power can do for them on an individual piece of gear. Either way is just fine with us of course. When our larger E=C 1200 and E=C 1800 units start to ship - I'm sure we will see a variety of Power Cords plugged into the back as these units have 8 Hubbell Outlets at the ready. Thanks again for the efforts and energy put into this test. Best wishes, Mark |
Hi Calloway; Sounds like you do your testing exactly the same as my group of friends and myself. We are also going to be testing the HF cable (HF CT-1 Enhanced) against a CPT 300. I have had my CPT cables for a few months and they sound very different at 500 plus hours than they did at 50 hours. When we do our testing we will take the time to allow the HF cable a break in time of minimum 500 hours because we want to be totally accurate on our comparison. Perhaps someone out there could tell me if 500 hours is long enough of a break in for HF power cables because I know that 500 hours is just where the CPT cords really open up and start to play the whole frequency range. Cheers, |
www...it is a great cable and even at the early juncture of testing, as the one I have is a demo,and not burned in, and I have ordered a new one, is ...IMO...better than the CT-1...500 hrs on a HF pc is probably well burned in. |
Robert, 500 hours will easily break in the HF CT-1E power cord. I doubt if you would even need 500 hours, more like 350 hours, but for your testing purposes 500 hours would be a very fair comparison. My only suggestion would be to make sure once the power cord is in place, don’t move it or jostle it. What compoient is the power cord going to power? Hopefully you are aware that comparing HFC products to other products is very difficult and frustrating because of the lingering effects of magnetic conduction, and the slow restart up of magnetic conduction. This forces the listener to rely upon their memory of the HFC verses a direct comparison A vs B vs C etc. In other words after the HF CT-1E power cord is burned in, evaluate it. Take the HF CT-1E out of the system for a week so that the magnetic conduction effect is gone (using a non HFC power cord during the interim period is fine as long as your not doing any evaluations) and then compare the other power cords. In my opinion if you don’t do this your test results will not be accurate. |
Thank you both for your suggestions and we will definitely use 500 hours as a minimum for the burn in time, just to be fair to both manufactures. We have also found that moving cables can have a negative effect and even unplugging a cable causes a difference in the soundstage. Our thoughts are to test the HF cable first and than plug in the CPT and wait 30 minutes before listening to the CPT cable. Ideally we like to let a cable settle for 24 hours but this would not be practical for this comparison. In my system the CPT has a dramatic effect on my Lumin, so I will swap out cables on my Lumin. |
Robert, unfortunately the way you describe your listening audition is not going to be accurate and the listeners are going to hear the lingering effects of the HF CT-1 power cord (magnetic conduction). That's why it's so difficult to do a comparison to HFC products. Just telling it like it is for those readers that are unaware. |
Hi lak, So are you saying there is no way to do a fair comparison test with HF cables? We have only tested 300 plus different cable models, not brands but cable models. I think we can figure out how to do this comparison properly. We understand that no test is perfect but testing cables is not super complicated. Ideally we would like 24 hours between moving a cable and listening to a cable but that will not be possible and neither is it with most cables that are reviewed in a comparison test. There will be 6 open minded people at the listening session and we are all very experienced when it comes to evaluating cables. Some times it just comes downs to different flavors, sometimes it comes down to where each cable has their own strengths/weakness and other times there is just a clear all around winner. Cheers, |
