Power Cable Suggestions


Will be receiving used Mark Levinson No 436 monoblock amps and would appreciate power cord recommendations, preferabley under $500, or stick with the stock power cords.
Thanks!
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@roberjeman ~ thank-you for the "diagnosis" & Pangea recommendation.

@ebm ~ thank-you for the Furutech recommendation.

@lalitk ~ thank-you for your recommendations, two of which I was unaware of (Audio Envy & Signal Cables) which I will check out. I anticipated receiving some "cute" comments, no big deal!

Just started checking the Audigon & USAudioMart ads for power cords.
I had a Mark Levinson long ago with a Tara Labs The One power cable hooked to it. It made a huge improvement over the JPS cable I was using with it. I wish I would have never sold that cable. I believe JPS is solid core and still love JPS with some gear.  I found solid core has bigger bass and brighter highs which can be a good thing or not. Stranded power cables sound smoother and relaxed to me. Stock power cords belong in a box in the closet. My brother sent me a Pangea power cord those really are bad don't waste your money on that.

I was using an analogy in my post: power cord is to amplifier as gas pump hose is to car!

The most absurd and meaningless analogy I’ve read....power cord is to amplifier as gas pump hose is to car!


In fairness I did give him the chance to remove or edit. He chose to double down. Oh well.

Also in fairness, nobody really knows how or why these things work. Because if we did know how they work, then everyone would be focused on perfecting that one thing. Instead we have one story after another, one theory, design, material, construction after another, each one different than the last.

About the only thing we really do know for sure is when we find a good one it really does make a difference. A huge, unmistakable, well worth the money difference.

Which it turns out is the case for not just power cords but everything. Nobody really understands any of it very well, which is why we have so many different players trying so many different approaches.

Except, turns out most people don’t like to pay big money for that kind of ambiguity. So they make up stories to feed us, and we buy into it, and lose track of the fact those stories make about as much sense as the gas pump "analogy".

The one thing that would really make sense is to talk about the one thing we do know for certain is happening and can in fact describe and that is how these things sound. But that requires developing a whole skill set in terms of both what to listen for and how to describe it.

Sorry if that’s not brief or witty. It is however true.