Power cord craze What should I get for $100

Try Signal Cable. You won't be disappointed. signalcable.com

The ones mentioned by Tentrek or there is a member "Audiophile8" that makes power cords called The Basic Power Cord. I recently bought four of them and right now there is a review done on them by a member here in the forums.

Hope this helps

Make your own using 4-5 feet of the JPS in-wall cable with a Marinco 320 IEC and 8215 Male. Cost should come in around $100-$110 U.S. Performance comparable to the JPS power retailing at $450 U.S. (there have been recent sellers on Audiogon of JPS Powers that have simply replaced them with this cable.)

Far better than Blue Circle BC 62 and LAT cords which I have owned and in the same league (probably better) than two Cardas Goldens which I also use. Very black background and balanced presentation from top to bottom, very smooth and musical with great bass performance.

What do you want the PC to Audibly do? Warmth, bass, etc.

Contact Ernie. Audiogon member "Subaruguru"

I was also looking for a "budget" power cable a couple weeks ago and ended up getting the Synergisic Research A/C Master Coupler here, thinking that if I don't like it, I can always resell it easily. I have to tell you that I was very skeptical with the power cord hoopla before I finally decided to give it a shot, and as a result, I'm keeping the cable. Compared to the stock cable of my cdp, the soundstage became wider, especially with music that has a lot of ambience in the background. The lower detail is more revealing, the bass gets tighter, and everything just seems so much clearer and open. That said, I'm not a believer and would advise you to give it a try. Worst case, you lose $10. Best case, it takes your system to a different level.

Now I wonder what a PS Audio P300 Power Regenerator can do to my system....

My gear:
Rega Planet 2000 cdp
VAC Avatar Tube Integrated amp
Sonus Faber Grand Piano speakers
Nordost Blue Heaven IC/Bi-wired speaker cables
and the new addition...Synergistic Research A/C Master Coupler.

Steve

I agree with Stevenkc and others who recommend the SR A/C Master Coupler. In my system it was better than any DIY cord I tried and many more expensive ones.

If you are on a tight budget there are a few things to keep in mind.

* DIY projects can potentially cost quite a bit more than expected.

* The results are often less than expected.

* The resale value of a DIY power cord is almost nothing.

Advice would be to try cords with a "30 day return policy" or go with something like the Synergistic MC.

I know $200-$300 seems like a lot of money in comparison to the cost of your gear, but it's still better to spend that, than $100 on something that really is not very effective. But in the $100 range you could look at PS Audio Prelude, Audio Magic X-Stream Silver, Custom Power Cord Company Hi Value, Cardas Twinlink, and MIT Z-Cord. I don't see anyone getting too exited about anything in this group, but if you go to say $200- Harmonic Technology Pro AC 11, Kimber Kable PowerKord 10, PS Audio Power Plus, Custom Power Model 11, Shunyata Diamondback, and Cardas Cross are all very good. Try some of these to see if they make enough difference to justify the money, regardless of what you paid for the amp. If you go to the $300 tier you can consider an Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler, or one of many, many, more excellent options. Your ahead of the game anyway, because you only need one PC for an integrated instead of two.

I can't think of one for 100, but for a little more the JPS Lab GPA 2 PC is very good.

Slaone Iam totally agreeing with you.To clssify cable
like you did. Its more than enough to educate anyone.
Good JOB

Rationalizations and structures unto false gods...even on this day of atonement. Sigh.... $100, $200. $300. Do you REALLY believe that's there's a legitimate correlation with performance here? Sigh....

Well, yes there does seem to be a positive correlation between price and performance here. If you are familiar with the power cords I mentioned in both the $100 and $200 groups, it should be clear that the later group is stronger. I'm not saying that a good cable cannot be found in the first group, but price aside, which group would you rather cable your system from? If you still don't see the tendency for performance and price to correlate, compare $100 power cords to $300 power cords and it really comes into focus. Would you expect more from a Cardas Twinlink, or a Cardas Golden power cord? I could have also used the Synergistic AC Master Coupler, Acoustic Zen Tsunami, Shunyata Sidewinder, Purist Audio Design Museaus, or JPS Labs Digital AC (for digital gear only) as examples of superior products around $300. I am aware that a correlation expresses a tendency, not an absolute though. For example, I have found the JPS Digital AC is a power cord that is competitive with cords costing much more. Truly a bargain at $350. Very little is written in stone in our hobby. I would say this though, the person trying to upgrade his system with a $100 power cord will have to work harder than if he was willing to spend more.

If you still disagree, Subaruguru, in your next post give us some suggestions of $100 power cords to consider, that you feel show equal performance to the higher priced cords.

BTW, my original post was meant to point out that the best value may not be at the lowest price point. I think this is a more intriguing concept than simply saying you can find better products if you spend more.