Power cords: Kimber Kable Palladium

I see you have been drinking the Kool Aid regarding power cords. Honestly if you must scratch that itch and throw money away just buy a Pangea PC for $90 from Audio Advisor. I did the same to use with my Dan Vincent 45 SET amp. That's the limit for how much I will spend on an AC cord. The wire maniacs will tell me that is too little and I must spend at least $500 on a PC to hear a difference. Bollocks!

mpomerantz - I have a Kimber PK-10 - Ascent w/ Gold connectors. I experienced increased resolution, depth, better bass.  There are some videos on this.  I have not used any other Kimber PC.

jasonbourne52 - The OP asked for input from those who have experience with Kimber PCs.  Your post is non-responsive.  If you don't have experience, you could find another thread to pollute.

@maxima95

jasonbourne52 = formerly roberjerman (4319 posts)

His modus operandi is to be the first to pounce on a power cord thread. Kind of weird to do it non-stop for 6 years.

I agree with maxima95 the Kimber PK-10 is great and I use it on my integrated amp. I would suggest you try a PK-12 or PK-14 as a DAC really doesn’t need a 10 ga. power cord. I use a PK-14 with my phono preamp.

BTW jason, I assume you mean a Will Vincent SET 45 a 2 watt amp, not Dan Vincent. I have found the Pangea cords tend to dull the sound.

Good thing electrical isn’t like plumbing, large pipe into small will increase the pressure. Given the same action then huge wire going into considerably smaller wire would have your component blasted all over the room. Tremendous sound for a few seconds lol. Never saw 8-10 gauge wire in a component. If it was necessary can you imagine living 50 miles away from a power station you’d have a tree trunk diameter cable coming into your house to run all..what garbage. I’ve 3 140 V Lincoln welders and they don’t require 10-12 gauge wire.

Whats the sonic character of the Kimber Kables PC?

Does it have good tonal character?

Timbre?

I would contact Jason Resser at The Cable Company.  I purchased a Synergistic Research power cord from him.

@jasonbourne52 ​The wire maniacs will tell me that is too little and I must spend at least $500 on a PC to hear a difference

sorry but $2000 is the minimum to spend before hearing a substantial improvement.​​​​​​

As above, Pangea, equals Junk.

Happy Listening!

Can’t speak for the Palladium’s but owned a few PK10 Golds and they are very good PC’s. Agree on a DAC you will not need a PK10 and that the PK14 will be more than adequate. Sold the Kimbers years ago and went with WyWires per Dan Wright and never looked back. The WyWires lowered the noise floor, giving more air or lack of noise, and brought less attention to themselves. Started with the Silver Series and moved to the Platinum Series. HC variants on amps and Digital variants, more shielding, on digital components. Look at WyWires too. 

How do the WyWires contrast with the Kimber with respect to tonality and timbre?

@maxima95 :

jasonbourne52 - The OP asked for input from those who have experience with Kimber PCs.  Your post is non-responsive.  If you don't have experience, you could find another thread to pollute.

Don’t worry about Jason Bourne. He will have the first say in all cable threads. Same party line. Terrible habit, I know. 
 

To the OP, Kimber Kable’s forte IMO is not power cords. I have owned them sever years ago, and they were average at best. Kimber however does great speaker cables and interconnects.

I would recommend you take a look at these:

https://zavfinousa.com/collections/power-cables

The Kimber Palladian are very quiet, mellow, good tonal balance, brightness is non existent.No wywires experience.

mdrone

I do not have experience with the Palladium’s, but with the PK10 Gold which at the time was right below in the line.  The PK10 Gold is a very nice PC, but I found it a little soft, not being fast or revealing, pleasant but held back. When comparing to WyWires, even the Silver Series it was very evident. The WyWires breath, very extended and throw a huge stage which is really just dropping the noise floor, eliminating noise and getting out of the way. Very accurate cables, not overly warm/soft but not in your face either. One nice thing about the Kimbers is they are very flexible. Again, a nice PC and better than many but there’s better for the money too.

Have owned the pk 10 and 14 for years.

Love them and feel the description  would be quit, refined and smooth.

I have put Kimber Palladium power cords throughout my system.  Each time I upgraded it seemed as is a vail  was lifted and I was hearing the sound as it was meant to be.  I’ve not compared it with much more expensive cables, but very happy with my decision.  I use a D’Agostino Amp, CH Precision Pre-Amp, and a Lumin X1 Dac/Streamer.  I started using it with my Taurus Power unit.  I’m very happy with my decision.

I have never had Kimber PCs in my system, but one of the best system I have ever heard had Kimber cables throughout on $90K Khama speakers and about $50k of Conrad Johnson electronics. That room sounded better than the $1M + rooms at the same show, take that for what it’s worth

Doesn't say much positive about Kimber power cables, now, does it?! 

I just installed a Kimber Kable Palladian PK-10 in my reference system. I was able to find a used one. It’s connected to my tube power amp… I’ve been using a cardas clear beyond cable. I’ve always been happy with cardas clear power cables.  

I honestly didn’t expect to hear much difference. 

Instead, I’m rather blown away. In my system, to my ears, the sound has improved. I’ll need to do some critical listening for a few days… and AB test it against the cardas cable. I’ll report back on my findings after a few weeks. 

I can, however, say that this cable will not be leaving its new spot connected to my amp! 
 

One additional comment before I provide everyone more detailed comments after more prolonged listening: I installed the Kimber Kable Palladian PK-10 in my second system (Luxman 590axii, Buchardt s400 MK2 speakers, Gold Note DAC/Streamer, Lessloss speaker cables, Revalation Labs Interconnects, Puritan 136 with classic cable) and, again, this cable made a remarkable improvement in the quality of the music.

It replaced a NRG  "The Five" cable which is a solid performer in it's own right, but at a much lower price point. 

You'd think I'm a representative of Kimber Kable, but this is a great power cable. 

I have four of these cables that I purchased used at very good prices. They perform great in my opinion. I don’t think I’ll be upgrading anytime soon. If you want to improve them even further swap out the ends with Furutech NFC connectors. It’s easy to do. The jump in performance is worth the money. The Furutech connectors cost almost as much as I paint for the cables but worth it. 

@hanki - Can you share what improvements you experienced with the Furutech NFC connectors? 

I use the Rhodium version. It is quite a bit more open and increases dynamics and detail. The bass is also a bit tighter. To connect the bare wire to the plugs I use Furutech FP 209-10(R) spade terminals. This makes it easier as the cord wire is very thick. It also makes a better connection to the plug. You just have to use a crimping tool to attach the the spade terminal to the wire. I hope this helps. 

I use the Rhodium version. It is quite a bit more open and increases dynamics and detail. The bass is also a bit tighter. To connect the bare wire to the plugs I use Furutech FP 209-10(R) spade terminals. This makes it easier as the cord wire is very thick. It also makes a better connection to the plug. You just have to use a crimping tool to attach the the spade terminal to the wire. I hope this helps. 

@hanki - thank you! Might be too much of a project for me, but it’s good to know the cable can be enhanced. 

@bluethinker full loom of Palladium PK10?

@freightdac - I bought one used and ended up using it on my amp. I rotate back and forth between a Conrad Johnson Classic 120 and an Audio Hungary P200 amp. 

I moved my cardas clear beyond XL, which had previously been on my amp, to my preamp. I moved a cardas clear reflection cable out of my system to make rooM for the Kimber Kable. 

I found the Kimber Kable Palladian to be a better fit for the amps - more detail, more realistic timbre, etc. I also found that the Cardas Clear Beyond CL to work better on the preamp… 

I use a LessLoss c-Marc cable on my Dac and a cardas clear cable on my streamer. I also added a Puritan Ultimate cable to plug into the wall and connect to my 156 conditioner. 

At some point in the future, I’d like to pick up a used snake river signature cable to try it out… otherwise, I’m happy with my system right now. 

The Kimber Kable improved my system - hands down.