Power Conditioner AND Power Cable

I would say yes. Why make the job of the conditioner more difficult by feeding it with a cheap power cable.

I tried a number of different PCs w/ my Exactpower EP-15A. All of them were 10AWG size conductors, which i would definitely recommend as a minimum.

For me, the best is the Purist Dominus, which slightly bettered even the very good Purist Venustas. Also tried XLO, Aural Thrills silver 10 AWG, and the stock cord.

Thanx. So, good cable from wall to the conditioner. How 'bout from the conditiner to the unit??

"How 'bout from the conditiner to the unit??" Would depend what kind of unit you're talking about. Here's an excerpt from an email I sent someone last night who was asking my opinion of a particular PC:

I use a variety of PCs based on their cost/performance attributes in certain locations in my system. The three products I'm using are:

Aural Thrills (3) Silver Big One for it's high energy transfer (10 AWG conductor size) but where I'm not terribly concerned about it picking up RFI, or broadcasting it (I wouldn't use it with digital gear for instance, because it's not shielded.) In my system, it is used to power two Martin Logan CLS IIz electrostats and a Martin Logan Depth subwoofer. These are applications that call for quick power response (energy transfer) but would not benefit from certain fancier attributes such as shielding and/or mechanical shock resistance.

Audio Metallurgy (3) Gold 9 14 AWG gold alloy cord which I use to power two Mark Levinson outboard power supplies for phono preamp and preamp. The power supplies basically require minimal current so the smaller conductors are OK. A third cord powers the TT, tuner, and cassette deck. They are not shielded. Main advantage is stable and faithful current delivery (gold alloy) with equipment that is on 24/7. As with all cords for my source equipment, the power comes from a balanced power unit, so shielding is not really necessary since any noise would be self cancelling.

Purist Audio Design Venustas on my CDT and DAC. !O AWG shielded. DACs and CDPs or CDTs seem to benefit from cords that have big conductors. Nobody has explained why -- they're not high current devices. Shielding is always necessary with any kind of digital equipment (even using balanced power) to keep the equipment from broadcasting RFI into the air, It's also good to have the digital equipment plugged into a filtered outlet on your power conditioner, or if you're not using one, than a separate wall circuit to prevent digital hash from getting into other equipment thru the AC supply.

Purist Audio Design Dominus for main amp. Best energy transfer, best shielding and mechanical shock resistance, most expensive. Allows the amp to be all it can be. And I use a second one for the Exactpower regenerator.

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Nsgarch - I just recently added the Exactpower Balanced power unit to go with my EP15A. I have a few questions:
1. What differences were you able to hear between the PAD Dominus cord vs the venustas when they were connected between the wall and the EP15a?
2. What cord are you using to connect the EP15a to the SP15 and do you use a digital outlet from the EP15 or an analog outlet? Did you experiment with different cords on this connection as well and what differences did you hear?
Thanks for any input

B-bear,

1. The Venustas PC worked very well on both my amp and my EP-15A, but in both cases, the Dominus produced just a bit more openness or air. This difference must be due to the slightly different construction of the two. In addition to the extra thick Ferox shield of the Dominus, it uses 3 stranded and 2 solid conductors, while the Venustas uses 5 stranded conductors. Both are 10 AWG however.

2. Right now, I've got a 12 AWG 15 foot long twisted OFC PFN (manufacturer) cord connecting the two units, but I'm going to make up a 10 AWG shielded one soon. I haven't otherwise experimented.

My EP 15A (early model) didn't come with the two pair of digitally filtered outlets, and I've been too lazy to send it back and have them put in since I don't have any digital stuff plugged into it. For feeding to the SP-15A, what's more important IMO is that you use the oulets on the EP-15A which are closest to the incoming power cord. They are the ones that would be "first in line" on the internal buss, and "hear" less disturbance from the other devices plugged into the the EP. I plug the power amp into the next set of outlets, the speakers into the next pair, and the sub into the last.

The overall sound is amazing and the whole system only draws 450 watts at full tilt! It's all connected to one 20A dedicated circuit, which I found (I live in an apartment) under the kitchen sink in the form of a 20A single circuit garbage disposal outlet which was never hooked up to anything!

Thanks much. I agree the sound with both the EP15a and the SP15 is excellent. I never gave much thought about experimenting with power cords on the EP15a - but now I will do some and see what I hear. Thanks again.

Is this for real?

Is what for real?