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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 1 response by mr_gray

mr_gray
61 posts
 

i used as good a power cable as i could on the s510 and it improved with it.  it also loved isolation.  imo alot of noise is around the bass frequencies and so removing power line noise is a priority and so is using a litz power cable that reduces noise.

 

for testing i'd suggest you'd need to leave it in for a time and assess more on that basis.  i would not at all be surprised however if you have to re-do levels.  the reduction in noise floor will elevate gain significantly.  i suggest you trial a dragon if you can (since i presume you are in the US).  however i also upgraded the speakon cable to a "blueline" from rel i think they are called.  that made a big difference and was much cheaper than a dragon.

 

in aug stereophile magazine Mike Fremer relates a story of a guy selling 4k USD speakers and demoing them with 8k worth of dragon cables (powered speakers). mf says "why the hell r u doing that".  guy says "they make the speakers sound so much better i had to" 

 

knowing what i know now, a good start to a system would prioritise power over everything else.  no fancy anything until the power is as good as it can be.  

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