SONIC QUALITIES OF A GOOD POWER CORD

David: My system is definitely not Stereophile Class A (maybe class C) but is definitely capable of revealing power cord differences. I am what I like to call a budget audiophile and have tried to build a reasonable system over the past 15 years without breaking the bank. In the past few years I have tried to improve the system without spending huge amounts of money and have some minimal experience with power cords, some negative and some extremely positive. Good power cords are capable of almost transforming your system-they can be capable of an improvement similar to a major component upgrade, and IMHO people with reasonable equipment are not really hearing what their system can do if they are using stock power cords. That being said, I think there's probably a lot of voodoo going on with the marketing of $2,000 cords, and unless you have a $30,000 or $40,000 system and money to burn, what's the point? My experience is as follows (right up to experimentation and revelations this weekend): Started out with two original MIT Z cords purchased used from a dealer about 3-4 years ago-there was a minor improvement with these but it wasn't worth the $300 Canadian I paid for them, they were actually pretty crappy. About a year ago I bought a Cardas Golden cord which I stuck on my integrated amp (should have gone on CD player but I'll get to this in a second) at about 60% of retail off the net from a dealer-this is a very good cord. About a month ago, I purchased two BMI "Edge" cords (He's now selling an improved version of this cord on Audiogon Auctions-doesn't seem to be selling the Edge any more) for the sum total of $100 U.S. ($50 a cord). I put these cords on my line conditioner and CD player and the combination of the Cardas and these two cords was an improvement that was really quite phenomenal. This weekend, I was experimenting some more, and moved the Cardas from the amp to the CD player and an Edge cord from the CD player to the amp. I also unplugged the CD player from the line conditioner and plugged it straight into the wall (some discussion with a dealer led me to do this). My turntable is still plugged into (and sounds much better as a result) the line conditioner. My amp is also plugged straight into the wall. This is the way my system sounds the best without a doubt. What the cords have done: 1) simply more musical information that was not there-I'm talking stuff I never heard before on almost all recordings 2) a much more transparent mid band (where most of this info is) allowing you to hear "into" the performance, separation of instruments, better understanding of both main and background vocals etc. 3) phenomenally improved performance at the frequency extremes (particularly with CD)-more powerful and extended bass response and (this is a BIG plus) high frequency info which is much clearer, less irritating and more "analogue" like. Cymbals sound much more like cymbals instead of some splashy garbled crap. My system doesn't warrant spending huge amounts of money on cords, but these cords have really been terrific and imparted a musicality that simply wasn't there before. I have a sense that I am hearing at least most of what the equipment is capable of. The moral of the story is that the Cardas Golden is better than the Edge cords (at 7 times the retail price it should be)-is it 7 times as good-definitely not, probably not even twice as good-the Cardas beats it very marginally in terms of smoothness but that's about it. The second moral is that there are decent cords out there for very reasonable prices and there are (probably) crappy cords out there for big money, realizing that to a certain extent, everything is system dependent. If you're budget conscious, I'd look into the BMI cords and if I ever buy another cord, it'll probably be a BMI cord. The final moral, IMHO is to improve the cord on your front end first and work down the line, as much as the importance of the front end has been drilled into my head over the past 15 years, it's still easy to forget. Sorry about the long post, but hope this might be of help. Blake

David, Hi again; The single most important music characteristic to me is truth of vocal timbre. So, I listen for the singer's voice-- relaxed, but not dull, live but not bright; natural is the goal for me. Pick out music that you are intimately familiar with and listen-- you'll know when it's right-- trust your hearing. Good luck again. Craig.

Like almost anything, I really believe this is more a matter of taste than anything else. Oddly enough, I tried a couple of cords for my amp (mostly in the 100-200 dollar range), and while most of them highlighted something in the mix, I prefered the stock cord for long-term listening. I think a good way to go about it is first, ask yourself what it is your trying to accomplish by purchasing a power cord, second, set down a budget, then third, try a hell of alot of them out in YOUR system. I tried about six. the last one I tried was the only one that after day three (ie after the nostalgia wore off) I really liked. That last cord was the ESP Essence. About two hundred more than I wanted to spend, but I've never grown tired of it. Anyway, every cord maker will have some 'technological' claim stating why their cord is best, but 'best' and best for you don't always met eye to eye, so try as many as you can, and decide which is best for you.

Does anyone have a suggestion for the best power cord match with a Denon AVR-5700? I am waiting for delivery of a Harmonic Technology Pro-AC-11, and wonder if I am making the best choice. They offer a 30 day return policy.