Most Beneficial Cable Upgrade


All things being equal, which cable upgrade would have the greatest sonic impact/improvement on a high end audio (stereo) system?
1)Power cables
2)Speaker cables
3)Interconnects
I have heard that power cables have the greatest benefit due to their ability to reduce RFI (radio frequency interference).
Does anyone know the answer to this question?
matjet

Showing 4 responses by giarcwm

Great thread. I myself had been somewhat of a power cable skeptic until recently. I had bought a Pangea AC-9 after hearing that it may smooth out harshness in some amps. It did that to a small degree in my proceed AMP 3. When I finally got my hands on a used Rowland Model 1 I transferred the AC-9 to that amplifier. As time passed I kept thinking that the Rowland sounded dark and sluggish. So I decided to try an experiment. I had some old (25 years) Carol THHN 10awg cable in my basement. Not OCC pure. I cut it into four 10 foot lengths and used a drill to spin it into a starquad configuration. I wrapped it tightly with PVC tape and put a cheap Lowes 10AWG ground wire (counter wound) around the outside. Terminated with cheap Pass & Seymore plug and Marinco IEC. The though was that I would hear something (probably for the worse).

So I plugged in the DIY PC and fired up the Rowland. I sat there stunned as the whole sound stage opened up and became much more clear and detailed. Two nights later my Wife (who only tolerates my audio addiction) said "how does the new PC sound". I instead, asked her what she thought. W/O hesitation she said it was much clearer. You have to relalize that she never comments on this stuff. It has now been a week, and I am not going back to the Pangea. In this case my DIY cord is better (much better).

Just thought I would share my personal experience on PCs.

Regards,

Craig
It is interesting, but I wonder if it is more that the Pangea is wrong for the Rowland than it is that my PC is something special. More experimentation is needed.
It is like everyone has said for eons on the Gon. System matching is everything. The Pangea AC-9 sounded great on my Proceed AMP 3 and awful on my Rowland Model 1. Who knows what impact the rest of the chain had (pre, speakers, cable, etc.).

My next step is to see if I can duplicate the magic of my first DIY cord by ordering some more THHN and better terminations.

Craig