I just plugged in a brand new AC12 into my system last night. This cable runs between my Furutech wall outlet on a dedicated line 10awg cyro'd romex.
This replaced a DIY VH-Audio Flavor 4 (9awg) cyro'd cable with Furutech Gold connectors.
Even after all these years playing with cables, I cannot get over how different power cords sound.
Plugging in the AC12 from wall to Power plant Premier my system went from rather analytical and spacial to warm and rather full bodied. In fact to much so I thought. So I changed some tubes on my pre to some that dial up the spatial qualities and add a bit of leading edge transients and yes things got much better. Then the AC12's sound started changing. I mean it seemingly changed from cut to cut. We'd replay and scratch our heads not being able to understand what was going on. I should know better but I'm impatient and I also understand break in time but this wasn't subtle at all. The cable was continuously changing last night and by the end of the evening, I needed another tube change as the upper frequency spectrum really started to come around. I asked my wife to leave the system playing today and see if the AC12 doesn't settle down.
I've been listening to 2 particular cuts on Joan Osborne "Relish" St Teresa and Dracula Moon seems like forever. I've always felt that the engineer had miked her too close and her voice would get over-driven at times. That simply wasn't the case last night. We sort of were prepared for the cringe factor but it never happened. I was floored. The highs were there in all their glory but the hardness was gone.
This is not so much a review as it is an observation that I wished to share. The cable is not broken in so a review is sort of useless, just my 2 cents. I did audition the AC10 and AC5 and thought they were OK but not worth changing out my very good DIY'ers until I heard the AC12. Well I bought the AC12. I have NO experience with other high end power cables although I'd love to hear a Shunyata or a LessLoss in my system. Now more than ever as I continue to discover how much power cords play a role in a high end system. Now I need to look for a decent digital cable!
This replaced a DIY VH-Audio Flavor 4 (9awg) cyro'd cable with Furutech Gold connectors.
Even after all these years playing with cables, I cannot get over how different power cords sound.
Plugging in the AC12 from wall to Power plant Premier my system went from rather analytical and spacial to warm and rather full bodied. In fact to much so I thought. So I changed some tubes on my pre to some that dial up the spatial qualities and add a bit of leading edge transients and yes things got much better. Then the AC12's sound started changing. I mean it seemingly changed from cut to cut. We'd replay and scratch our heads not being able to understand what was going on. I should know better but I'm impatient and I also understand break in time but this wasn't subtle at all. The cable was continuously changing last night and by the end of the evening, I needed another tube change as the upper frequency spectrum really started to come around. I asked my wife to leave the system playing today and see if the AC12 doesn't settle down.
I've been listening to 2 particular cuts on Joan Osborne "Relish" St Teresa and Dracula Moon seems like forever. I've always felt that the engineer had miked her too close and her voice would get over-driven at times. That simply wasn't the case last night. We sort of were prepared for the cringe factor but it never happened. I was floored. The highs were there in all their glory but the hardness was gone.
This is not so much a review as it is an observation that I wished to share. The cable is not broken in so a review is sort of useless, just my 2 cents. I did audition the AC10 and AC5 and thought they were OK but not worth changing out my very good DIY'ers until I heard the AC12. Well I bought the AC12. I have NO experience with other high end power cables although I'd love to hear a Shunyata or a LessLoss in my system. Now more than ever as I continue to discover how much power cords play a role in a high end system. Now I need to look for a decent digital cable!