I cut the cord and it paid off.


A while back I was considering cutting the rather thin captive power cord of my AirTight Atm1, even though I was getting the best sound out of all of the amps I have tried (many, many) ...I received many responses to leave well enough alone which I followed. Well...I love the Air Tight so much, I bought a 2nd one just in case ...so I have one here sitting idle...whats an audiophile to do? Yeah, I figured, cut one cord and see what happens, if it changes the sound in negative ways, I still have the stock 2nd amp. The result? I now have cut both amps, and once again the ability to use aftermarket cords on amps has only improved upon a good thing. Low level bass resolution has improved, the sound image has more focus. I am using PS Audio Lab
128x128justlisten
I was thinking of having this done to my Krell KAV-1500. They are now going to captive wiring in all their amps and it just makes me feel like I am stuck with it. I have a great electronics guy who installed all top notch WBT binding posts to discard the stock cheapo's. I didn't want to risk sending the amp to them if I would get back the same crap. Now I might see about having a NBS or at least the PS Audio cable installed too. Cracks me up to see a $8k amp with cheap posts and hard wired.
Bob_B- i had the local tech guy here acutualy cut the chasis and install in IEC. He does great work, (it looks stock), fast (in by 10am-out by 2pm), and is cheap ($60)

He runs a repair tv/vcr shop in Berkeley CAL, called Handy Electronics. this is the 8th piece he has done and all have been top rate.
wow! Buying an identical component to replace another in the event that your "fiddling" goes awry? Can you share you hi-fi budget with me, please?! :-)
Just: that's wonderful news.
Did you cut the stock cords & then attach IEC's to the pigtails, or did you actually install chassis mount IEC's? Or did you go so far as to hardwire the PS cords internally?
I can certainly relate to buying another component (as an insurance policy) prior to messing around with the original one. I've even done that trick myself.