New level of ridiculousness

I have read several very positive reviews of this power strip. Does that change any opinions? 8^)

I want one. It's heavy, it must be good.

Anyone who can afford and rationalize such outlay for a powerstrip needs to seriously consider reviewing the salaries they pay their employees and spreading the wealth. Anyhow, I suppose at the extreme top end it must make a difference but it can never beat running 10 gauge straight from breaker box to a hardwired distribution box. I use one run per channel and it made a difference for sure.

The fancy powerstrip is probably more functional than the diamonds our wives might covet. Still, they will choose the diamonds. Go figure!

READ BELOW FOR PORTIONS OF A REVIEW BY JACK ROBERTS OF DAGOGO.

I’ll start this review with two confessions. First, when I first saw the HB Cable Design PowerSlave distributors, I thought these have to be the most expensive, best looking power bars I had ever seen. To be honest, they seemed a little ridiculous; I mean there is no traditional kind of power conditioning going on here. There is nothing to help keep the voltage stable; they are simply “power strips on super steroids.” The only reason I was interested in reviewing them was because they were being imported to the U.S. by Brian Ackerman of Aaudio Imports and my experience had taught me that he has quite an ear for finding great sounding gear.

So I agreed to review HB Cable Design’s three passive power distributors, starting with the their entry level PowerStar Horizon ($3,995) which I reviewed in January of this year. I ended that review by saying, “I’ve tried so many power conditioners that I won’t try to list all of them. In the end, I am a firm believer in the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle when it comes to audio design. Just look at my system, it only has three power cords, and one pair of interconnects plus the tonearm cable. The HB Designs PowerStar Horizon fits right into that principle. I can’t wait to get the Acrylic and the Marble in for a listen.”

Then, in April I reviewed the PowerSlave Acrylic ($6,995) which remained in my system until August when I finally got to hear the PowerSlave Marble, the subject of this review. I ended the review of the Acrylic by saying, “I know this review is short, but it’s simple: this thing works! Brian will be sending the PowerSlave Marble to me; I can’t wait!”

Let me be honest: After all the great and some not-so-great power conditioning products I have owned and/or reviewed, I simply was stunned by the improvement the HB Marble made in the sound of my system. After the time I had just spent with the Audience aR6-T, the Synergistic Research Tesla PowerCell with active power cords, the HB Acrylic, and the new Audience aR-6TSS (by the way, all incredibly good units) I just wasn’t prepared for how much better my system sounded with the HB Marble in the system.

With the HB Marble the bass was full and fast at the same time. It also had outstanding attack and equally good decay. The bass had more weight, and depth to it; it actually seemed to occupy a more realistic space. The best thing of all was how the bass seemed to undergird the entire sound.

During my time with the HB Acrylic, transparency was one of the first words that came to mind when describing how my system sounded. With the Marble, my system sounded just as transparent, but that was not the first thing that came to mind. It seemed to sound more balanced from top to bottom. It’s a kind of transparency that allowed my system to let voices come to life right there in my room and at the same time to have really nice body and power. I was able to hear more inner detail than I have with other power devices. This detail comes through by allowing instruments to sound more like the real things with an actual decrease in edginess or brightness.

My system simply sounded more fundamentally right with the HB Marble in the system. I’m sitting here as I write, listening to an old mono Chet Baker LP, and I have never heard his horn sound better, nor have I ever heard the piano have such natural decay. Likewise, the standup bass lays a beautiful and strong foundation for the music. It is neither too fast or too romantic. It is also relaxed sounding in that the horn hits certain notes with nice bite to it.

I know $9,000 for a glorified power bar sounds insane, but I can’t imagine listening to music without it — so it stays. I’m not saying you have to spend this much on powering conditioning, but at the cost of my entire system this doesn’t seem all that out of line to me. I don’t use one of these on my digital/video system upstairs, but I do use some power conditioning. By the way if you haven’t plugged your HD/TV into a good power conditioner you have no idea how good your picture really could be. I’m not saying that you can’t enjoy music without the HB Marble, but you do need some decent power conditioning. If you can afford the HB Marble and your system is at the place that this could be your next big step, then go for it. You won’t be disappointed!