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What Power Cords for Rel S510 Subs?

I’m considering a pair of Rel S510s to go with my Diablo 300 and B&W 802 D2’s. I’ve invested quite a bit in cabling: Audioquest Dragon for my amp, Hurricanes for my source equipment, and Nordost Valhalla 2 for my speaker wire. I can clearly hear the difference between a Hurricane and a Dragon cord when powering my amp. The Dragon puts space and air around vocals and instruments with front to back depth.

There is no way I can afford anything better than two 3m Hurricanes for the Rel S510’s but my question is, how much do power cords matter for subs? Sadly for my wallet, I’ve found that higher grade cords do make a considerable difference for all my other components, verified through blind tests. Not as much as speaker cables, but still a big difference.

I also have a Innuos network isolation switch and also an Innuos USB reclocker, to support my Innuos Zenith Mk 3 streamer.

Does power cord quality matter less with subs than with everything else?

For the record I’ve seen other threads on this subject, with what seems to be consensus that power cords don’t matter with subs, but I was hoping others who, like me, appreciate the difference a top tier power cord can make, can comment on whether there truly is no benefit to using one when it comes to subs. Has anyone compared a Hurricane grade (or better) cord with a stock cord, connected to a high end sub?

 

nyev

Showing 2 responses by clearthinker

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

Definiately don't spend less than $10,000 on power cords for your RELs.

Anything less and you'll be wasting your money as you won't hear any difference.

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

@vonhelmholtz 

Like you I particularly feel spending money on power cords for subwoofers isn't the place to start.  Neither would I spend money on power cord upgrade on a turntable.

 

The issue is noise on the power line.

Some comes from your house.  Deal with that by installing dedicated lines and a better earth/ground as I have done.

Some comes on the line.  If that concerns you, deal with it with an active power conditioner.  I remain very sceptical about expensive passive power cords.  There is no evidence they can operate as a noise

filter.  Valid evidence will take the form of double blind testing.  Although DB testing is inconvenient (in more ways than one), the believers should surely be vindicated if there were scientifically valid findings.  They fact they do not wish to test suggests they are afraid of the result.

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