There must be 15-20 for sale on USAM alone, that seems kinda high. Is there something about them? Are they highly system dependant? I am browsing a good cable to feed a Power conditioner I have on order and saw so many of them for sale while searching.
Could be counterfeit. Many fakes have been available from China for major brands for quite some time. This has been a thing for at least a couple years.
For instance the Nordost Odin 2 interconnect (which I have tested in my system, $17K) was available from China for $100. I was interested in how good a fake they were so I bought a pair. They looked exactly like the real thing... except the wood block on each cable was made from a different wood, loose and not as well made as the real thing. If you knew nothing about there being fakes, I don't know how anyone would figure out it was a fake. it out... no it did not sound as good.
Careful buying used AQ especiially the storm and higher lines. Lots of fakes.
TMR usually has preowned hurricanes. I’ve bought a few from them.
I am not a fan of AQ Thunder, Tornado and Hurricane they just don’t sound right to me but I know @ghdprenticeenjoys them.
If you’re looking for big bass and dark sound, although with pretty nice mids, give it a shot. I like the Nordost stuff - Frey 2 is great on amps and digital.
I realized my post didn’t really answer your question.
AQ is a major brand. They sell a lot of cables and you see the quantities on a used a used market proportional to new sales over time plus people just rotate cables. Sprinkle that with fakes.
Cables are very system dependent. I sold my hurricane's after comparing them directly to Clarity Audio Vortex power cords. The Vortex's are more open and detailed compared to the hurricane's in my system. I didn't realize how dark the hurricane's sound until I compared them to the Vortex.
No sir, I still use Vortex power cords. I recently compared them to Nordost Valhalla 2 power cords and prefer the Vortex in my system. Again, cables are very system dependent and you may prefer a different power cord in your system.
Dark is how the AQ Hurricane sounded in my system as well. I had these on the amp, preamp and power conditioner.
@jasonbourne71 is correct about the AQ cables made in China. But I really doubt the fakes are identical to the original. The myth about fakes made at the same factory is just that…a myth.
To your original question, number seems to be resonable given numbers of originally sold.
I'd be wary of buying any used cables. Buy new with a discount. Remove all doubt. Perhaps consider buying used from TMR. I'm going to stick with remove all doubt.
Any cable will make a sonic difference; sometimes, different brands may sound nearly identical. But the fact is no one can tell you how any piece of gear, power supply, will react to a given power cord, or speaker interaction, and so on. I've had cheaper cables sound as good or better on certain gear than the bling overbuilt $$$$ ones. The fact is, how much can you do with wires? a designer can make them sound different but better? $30,000 power cords, really, it's still wire, connectors, and even then, will you like it on your amp? Price means zip, because there is no assurance on what the sonic outcome will be. Buy well-made wires from folks who have been doing it for a long time with experience; nowadays, anyone and everyone are making cables. The markup on cables is insane. When I was in the industry, I got cables that were $$$$$ my cost for my whole system, Interconnect, and speaker cables. $850.00 at cost. I was happy, of course, what a perk, but sonically they sounded the same as their lower-level cables, the one step below, by retail thousands less. The house sound was the same. Cables do matter, but use common sense. Spending more money on your room acoustics will give you more improvement than buying new gear or speakers.
This thread has turned funny. One thing I love more than a good cable discussion is to go into members virtual systems page. Especially those stating cables don’t matter. It’s worth the click. Trust me. You see immediately why all cables sound the same. In their systems. Yeah I’m being snobby. But if you fart in an elevator I will ask who farted. I see that clearly now - it was you…
A few years ago, maybe ten, the number of fake cables increased dramatically. Check out Ali Express. AQ and Nordost knockoffs are everywhere. There’s a few YouTube channels out there that review all the cables and equipment from there and they tell you up front that they cost 1/10th the cost.
For anyone who isn’t aware, you can mail suspected fake cables to AQ and they will check their validity free if charge. I did this with Fire XLRs I bought used many years ago. Just don't expect to have your cables returned if fake.
@audphile1, +1, Yes sir, no system , no market feedback, no posts started. It’s a wicked existence in the peanut gallery. As a financially limited mid-Fi guy even I have found an improvement in a power cable upgrade. Now truth be known for me it was about 1/3 of the time. My biggest change was adding a Shunyata Venom HC 20 amp cord to my Richard Gray power filter. This was in addition to a Hubble outlet upgrade, and it was very noticeable. What chaps my ass is that someone can make a lame blanket statement and impose it over and over. My apologies for not posting my frugal system. Rogue Hera, Rogue Dark 180’s, Rogue RP-1, Had Inspire, Schiit Yiggy, Innuos , Thorens TT, Grado Prestiege, Morrow level 5, Cardas, Richard Gray, Tekton, Zu, JBL, Klipsch , Townsend Podiums, 2 Standard Poodles, dozens of NOS tubes.
I don't know about Hurricane but a few years back I ended up with pair of Audioquest Monsoon power cables. The first was brand new from a local dealer. The other was used from an audio forum from a guy who was selling a few of them.
The seller from the used one later reached out to me saying he discovered that all the cables he had turned out fake. He sent one in to AQ who confirmed it. They all came from the same batch so presumably the one he sold me was fake too. He wanted to give me a full refund (yes there are still honorable sellers on forums sometimes).
Comparing that fake to the known-real example. I could not see or hear any differences. Not a single thing stood out. I am not saying all counterfeit cables are as good as the original, indeed I have experienced some bad ones. But this one was totally convincing. I moved on to better cables later but thought this was an interesting story.
I’ve tried lots of different PC’s and IC’s. I just put a new XLR between the pre and power amps last night. Cardas Parsec from a dealer sold as authentic, used. I had pro XLR’s in there because it’s a 6 meter run. My initial thoughts are I’m not sure I can decypher a difference between the two? I’ll go back and forth over the next couple of weeks. My experience has been when I’ve detected a noticeable difference immediately good or bad is when I make changes.
That happened with a fake AQ Dragon PC on the line stage and an authentic Cardas Clear IC between the phono and line stages.
Given this new data I might be inclined to try a 6m run of fake Cardas Clear. I’d love to have authentic to match my other CC IC but 12k seems a little crazy to me.
@vuch assuming your amps are true balanced there probably will be no difference between balanced cables. I run Cardas Clear XLR interconnects everywhere but between my balanced pre and power amps. Between the amps I use Mogami XLR. There is no difference.
I recently sold a couple of Hurricane power cords and interconnects on USAM because I was upgrading, and because I was going back to the OEM cords on the Vandersteen speakers and amp. They were authentic, original box, invoices, etc
And if anybody needs the 20-amp/15-amp versions, I’ve still got a pair.
Between AQ and its dealer network, they heavily market their product, which makes for large sales numbers that in turn create larger returns, or dissatisfied customers. I suspect, though, percentage-wise, no more than some small companies' returns or customers, not getting the performance they hoped for. I see quite a few Wilson Speakers on the used market. Just look at this photo of Sasha's from Precision Audio in Chicago, just a couple of miles from me. I can only imagine what the larger East/West Coast markets must have on the secondary market.
Years ago, I purchased, what I thought was a great deal on new Monster Copper headphones on Craigslist, only to find that I was scammed. One channel almost immediately stopped working. When a dealer looked at it, and we compared every possible difference with an authorized, legit pair down to the bag it came in, the security, impossible-to-forge sticker, all corners of the box? There was no difference, nothing. Best theory from Monster was that they were rejects from the factory that made them for Monster which were probably surreptitiously stolen and resold to suckers like me
You didn't say whether you run the poodles straight into the wall or into a power conditioner. Could affect the curliness factor and therefore the effect on sound in the room.
@stuartk, Ha Ha , I run them straight into the wall. I purchased them from Synergistic Research. They were the original production run of Tuning Poodles, one in Cream and one in Black. They each have their own sound shaping characteristics as the Black offers a softer and deeper soundstage whilst the Cream is a more vivid, in your face presentation. Running a mix of tube and SS gear I have found both positive and negative attributes from both. Also temperature and humidity seem to affect the Cream tuning poodle more than the Black. I’ve yet to try the Orange tuning poodle although I’ve read encouraging results. BTW your home is absolutely gorgeous and one of my favorites on AGON. Regards , Mike B.
Also random thoughts to all regarding counterfeit products. About 25 years ago when a new wave of designer blue jeans became the rage , Levi’s were $25 and the designer pairs were $80-150. My son’s friend worked at a specialty store in the local mall. He started buying all the same jeans Gray Market direct from China. The kids sold them out of their car trunk at the high school parking lot. They made a killing as their cost was around $30 per pair to them. This went on for over a year until US Customs confiscated a couple of shipments and the kids stopped. They were the legit product and not seconds. The Chinese manufacturers had no problem overproducing and selling all they could. I saw this again years later with Oakley and Rudy sunglasses as my friend was importing and selling them to hustle a quick buck. He went on to sell cycling apparel the same way until he was banned from EBay. Regards , Mike B.
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