Power cable from Audio Research Ref 6

In 20 years I tested different cables of manufacturers who normally make amps, sources and loudspeakers but wanted to bring out a cable themselves.

I never auditioned any cable of these who were exepetional or even very good. You need to stoch and focus where you good at. 

Cables are a totally different world compared to amps, sources and dacs.

I am not sure why fsonicsmith made the over-rated comment about our MA6 interconnects. Perhaps it was a system synergy issue with his system. Here is some customer feedback...

David P Submitted: 2017.05.18

Hi Mike, Just a quick followup on my MA-6 interconnects, which now have a little over 400 hours on them. They are between my DAC – preamp and preamp – power amp. The improvements seem to have leveled off now, but I certainly kept hearing changes well past the 300 hour mark.

The outstanding virtue of these interconnects is transparency. As they continued to break in I kept hearing more details that were previously inaudible, and instruments/voices got more and more natural-sounding. Natural timbre is one of the things I value most in audio playback so I am very happy. I also notice that some recordings that had passages that were hard to listen to are now smoother, and I can listen for long periods with no listening fatigue. Soundstaging is a little better too, although my room is weird and asymmetrical so I don't worry too much about this.

I'm taking advantage of your sale to pick up an MA-7. I will put this between my DAC and preamp and move the MA-6 between my phono stage and preamp. Nowadays I listen more to my DAC, although the turntable still gets some use, so I think this is the best way to go. I'll be curious to see how the MA-7 sounds compared to the MA-6 (presumably better!). Best wishes!

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Alfonso B Submitted: 2017.05.09

l would like to tell you that l have been listening to my system with your cables and the improvement in performance and accuracy is really amazing, Congratulations!! Alfonso B

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David P Submitted: 2017.03.15

Hi Mike,

My MA-6 interconnects arrived yesterday (Monday) and I put them in my system right away.

Even with only two-day factory break-in, it's abundantly clear that these are subtle, refined cables; that's what I was looking for. Top and bottom may be a little ragged, but the midrange is already amazing. Voices sound, for want of a better term, more human (even though they weren't artificial before, or so I thought). One example: I play the harpsichord. Harpsichordists often slightly separate the notes of inner voices in order to make them stand out more from the top line, which tends to be more audible. I could clearly hear this being done on a recording I listened to last night, where I never noticed it before. If this is how they sound now, what will they be like when they are broken in??

More to follow after the interconnects get more hours on them.

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"I have moved up the ladder with Morrow Audio and have the SP5 and SP4 SC's in a bi-amp configuration. I also have the MA6 ic as well now. Nice open sound to these and as you move up you add more fullness and an increase in separation.

I have found more transparency, weight and a bigger overall presentation when moving up the line. Just more revealing to me. Can be a good thing or bad thing depending on the system. Going from the MA4 IC to the MA6 has shown me my limitations to the system I am running at the moment. Not going to shoot the messanger here. Even with the break-in service I had to let these IC's run for a week 24/7 before I knew their true character. I also felt that the trade up price from MA4 to MA6 was worth it but I was really questioning myself when doing it. I really think you should give the MA4 a try at least before moving into another cable. The MAP3 power cord is really good as well. Bettered the Lessloss DFPC cord all around." AudioGon, JP

I own all ARC gear, a Ref 5se, Ref Phono 2se, Ref CD7 and Ref 110 amp. I have tried a number of different interconnect and speaker cables as well as power cords. My favorite are the Shunyata Zitron Alpha HC. Sane cables might be slightly better. I did not have them at the same time as the Shunyata. They are very similar sounding. Both the Nordost and kubala-sosna cables I tried seemed to change the sound in different ways. The Shunyata is more like opening a window all the way. It does not changed the way my Ref 5se sounds but enhances it. One of the cables I did not try was Wireworld. I have heard good things about their cables with ARC gear.

  The Shunyata Zitron Alpha I have on my Ref 5se is a huge step up from the stock power cord. You will not truly hear what the Ref 5se / Ref 6 preamps can do with the stock power cord.

I bought a brand new Ref 6 from a local dealer about four months ago. It is every bit as good the stellar review Mikey gave it in S'Phlle a year ago. Now about your question; I find it weird and disjointed. Why would you buy a 14K pre-amp (assuming you are buying it new, but even used, same difference) and not invest some money in an after-market cord? I used the stock cord for maybe a week and yeah, it works. Life is short-I wasn't going to spend time comparing the stock cord to after-market pc's. It appears to be a generic cheap PC with a 20 amp IEC plug. Now I will play the opposite side just for fun; chances are good that with all of the capacitors and carefully regulated power supply circuitry, the PC you use with the Ref 6 is not going to make a night and day difference. I spent less than $500 from Archon for a custom pc with 20A IEC and about the same for a Triode Wire Labs cord for my Ref 150se amp. But to do it over again, I would have focused more money and effort on selecting a better IC between my pre-amp and amp. To be brutally honest-that is the critical link. My Morrow MA-6 is way over-rated and was a waste of $600. If anybody wants to buy the pos from me, pm me. 

Yep, I have found it worthwhile to upgrade from ARC's basic 20A power cords for the 2SE Phono stage.  I put an Elrod Gold Statement on, and the entire presentation had better dynamic nuance and musical "intelligibility", plus greater harmonic development.  I would definitely challenge the stock ARC power cable and see what you think.

See the comment from @dbarger here (11/22 6:30am)

 https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/the-new-synergistic-research-blue-fuses/post?postid=1485146#1...

The stock cables with all the ARC kit I ever owned were purely generic, fine but easily bettered (although I only ever compared them to power cords costing $2K and up)

Don't worry about it.  ARC hand selects, tubes and capacitors among other items.  They more or less invented the high end. 

They are not going to leave you hanging with a crummy power cord.

Now, if you do have any noise on your AC line then the thing to do is to buy a medical grade isolation transformer.  I know one guy who got one for $75 but they will usually go for about $300.

Thanks, but I'm more interest to know how's the quality of the orginal Ref 6's power cable?

AudioQuest is a good combination. The new Hurricane would be a good fit and quite good value. I also get great results using a SR Galileo LE on my ARC Ref 40 but that is quite a bit more expensive. Most cable manufacturers will change the IEC on a 15A cable for a modest charge so if you get one used you can simply swap it for a 20A