Monstrous power cables


Why?

I’m sitting in my listening chair looking at the over $1K power cable that came with my Running Springs Audio Maxim power conditioner.  The guy I bought the unit from said he auditioned three cables all costing over a grand and liked these the best.

The cables are about the diameter of the cardboard center of paper towels (maybe even thicker) and weighs about five pounds.  It’s absolutely monstrous!  I’ve got a piece of wood supporting it under the receptacle and use other items to support it under the Maxim.

The electricity is carried through my house probably using 14 gauge wire.  What’s the logic using more than that going from the outlet to any component?

I’ve got quite a few power cables of various diameters, the thickest (other than the one connected to the Maxim) being the AC9 s from Pangea.  And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever AB’d power cables, having just assumed they do make (at least) some difference.

 

 

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Showing 2 responses by alexatpos

@audiodwebe Few years ago I had RS Dmitri with its https://sigsound.com/running-springs-audio-mongoose/ 20A power cord and I have also tried its other, more expensive https://sigsound.com/running-springs-audio-crown-jewel/ power cord that my friend had with its RS (Jaco?) conditioner. The moongoose power cord is in fact Cardas Golden Reference cord and at the time I remember reading that internal wiring in RS is all from Cardas copper.

The reason I am writing this is because manufacturers have their house sound, not only with Ic and speaker cables, but with their power cables as well (at least few that I have tried extensively, like Cardas, Nordost, Shunyata and many others) and that ’first’ cable going from wall to conditioner will have a major influence on the ’flavour’ of your system.

The 'size' or the thickness does not mean a thing (in this case) At the present, I am using AN Kondo power cord in my tube preamp that has the smallest diameter of all I have tried, but it gives me the sensation of the deepest stage, like no other has.

Do not know what other power cables and gear you have, but the cable that previous owner had with RS might be great with his system, but you need to understand is it best for yours too.

There are some gear brands that are known for ’liking’ certain cable brands, in broad sense,like Spectral and Mit, Ayre and Cardas, or Burmester and Nordost, and so on, but there is not an clear advise that anybody could give you, which cables to use, since there are many factors (choice and combinations of gear you have and your individual taste)

I believe that power cords, or even better, the combination of your gear and their power cords have a major impact on the type of the sound you will end up with and in my case, choosing ones that are ’best’ is something that takes time and patience...and best advice I can give you is to try any one you can get to understand their ’flavour’...and than pick the ones you like best...

Not to add more to possible confusion, but sometimes the single ’best’ one is not the ’best’ one in grand scheme of things....its like cooking....sometimes some ’great’ flavour could become too dominant...but, that is a ’next level’ story...

@audiodwebe , the power cords on your dacs are supposed to be different, meaning if you have already choosen the ones that are best sounding for the gear you are using.

More often than not, the ’wrong’ power cord will change the way some piece of gear sounds and even more if  that piece of gear is new to you, it may lead you to ’wrong’ conclusion.

I guess the best advice how to try something new, is to leave it in your system for some time and than after some period to change it with piece of gear you wish to compare it with (cord, or dac, or whatever)

It happened to me more than once, A-B changes,sometimes I could not tell the difference, or it was very subtle.Lets say, after a week (or two weeks for both things I wished to try) of listening, I could decide without a doubt which piece of gear fits more to my perceived reference of sound reproduction.

If you are honest with yourself (and why you should not be) the blind is not important, imho.

Recently read a good thought about blind testing written by Mike Lavigne, as he challenged anyone to assemble great sounding system by picking components by blind listening, vs his way with ’open eyes’....it was a joke, but he has a point

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