Power Cord Preferances

ad 1: They do. I remember, it was in the late seventies- early eighties, how bowled over a dealer friend and I were, as a tweeker-inventor ( and snake oil peddler, as we first thought) walked in, hooked on his home brewed powercables to the dealer's systems and let them rip. As I remember, there was much more "presence" than before with his speciality cables. What had happened: The answer was simple: The wires were of bigger diameter than usual at that time and they were not screwed/clamped unto the plugs but very carefully soldered on. The dealer, who got the exclusive rights, from then on made a fortune with these power cords. He charged heavily for them, but got away with it, because the improvement in sound was definitely there, even for tin ears to hear. That was a few years before "the wire craze " hit our shores . In the meantime the market has progessed in marketing hype, snake oil but also in the technology of making speciality cables. However, to my ears at least as far as PC's are concerned, the law of diminishing returns vis a vis price comes in fairly early.

ad 2: ALL

ad 3: I don't really know which is "best", because most PC's I make myself. I've tried a few of the famous=expensive brands, but was not convinced. Perhaps it was my hearing. Don't know. The other day however, I bought a pair of WHALES here at Audiogon, actually intending to pass them on to a wire crazed audio friend of mine....and then most calously decided to keep them, because on the Spectral 360's they beat the s**t out of my homebrewed ones. So at the moment they are "the best". But who knows, they look so impressive in their nice fat roundness, I may be just delusional. (~;

#1, Oh my, yes they do!!! Usually the front end equipment first, cd or preamp then amp. Very system dependent on what's best for you. Try Transparent, Electraglide, Powersnakes. All great but vary in sound character.

Hi Sg69, #1, as Jfrech said Oh my yes!!! #2 as Detlof said, All. I Remember the first time I hooked up two King Cobras and two Cobras in my system. I became a believer. I prefer the Fim Gold PCs. The dynamics and transparency of the FIM PCs Is the best I have heard. Have not heard the Whale but I hope to as I was impressed with it's little brother the Eel. IMO the great PCs can be as important as any other component in a system.

#1-Most definitely they make a difference.#2-All are improved, but I agree with Jfrech that the old rule of starting at the front end is best, and will indeed be surprisingly system dependent. #3 There are some good cables to be found at all price levels; try Harmonic Tech, Transparent, Shunyata, ESP. Try as many as you can given the variation in sonic character.

Belden makes a 14/3 shielded power cord which sells for $10-15 and is way better than the stock cords. It's a good cheap way to start out and see what you think in your system.

Hi Detlof,

Just curious. Can you tell us what the name of the power cord your dealer friend marketed before the PC craze started?

Thanks!

Sg69; Others have answered your questions. I will just add that Syn. Res. Master Couplers are one of the original power cords that started the "Craze" and made believers out of many. There are now a ton of them available here on Audiogon for $150-180. They are still excellent cords and I have them on all components (4) in my $40K system. After putting in a dedicated AC and ground system the Master Couplers made a huge improvement. I started with pre-amp, then amp, and front end stuff. Cheers. Craig

I agree with Brulee. The FIM GOLD is incredible, but is very stiff. If you have the room around the equipment for sweeping bends and the patience to manipulate cables as required, then give FIM a listen. I don't believe you'll be disappointed.

I agree with Garfish, I also have dedicated ac lines (4 20-amp dual gang outlets) and use the Synergistic Research Reference AC coupler to cd transport (this made a really large improvement in dynamics,detail & bass over MIT Z-Cord II),Syn. Res. Master coupler to passive preamp (no noticeable change over MIT Z-cord II),Kimber PK-330 w/watagate plug to Genesis Digital Lens (this made a unbeleivable improvement over stock cord),Syn.Res. Master coupler to DAC (moderate improvement over MIT Z-cord II) & Syn. Res. Reference coupler to amp (large improvement in bass & midrange over AQ AC-20 cord).Also my front end has less brightness & larger soundstage with a Chang Lightspeed CLS9600-ISO power conditioner (amp sounds best & more dynamic plugged direct to seperate outlet. Good luck. Don

The biggest benefit I have found is with a very good cord on the preamp and transport. Cords on the amps haven't made much difference for me.

I like ElectraGlide myself, but haven't tried everything.

KW6 it was a no name brand and it was Europe and the guy with the cables came from beyond the Iron Curtain of all places. (Hungary, if I remember correctly, where the Kadar regime at the time allowed a bit of private interprise. To us the guy was just as exotic as his cables, but he made good money coming by every six weeks or so, with his LADA full of wire. Must have been a good commie or had friends at high places (audiophiles maybe) otherwise they would not have let him out in the first place.)
Great post by the way, I am glad that so many are convinced, so I - always the sceptic - am perhaps not completely delusional after all.