Aftermarket power cords for McIntosh amps/preamps

First post here & I have to chime in. I'm always amazed when people state that all you need is stock OEM power cords on amplifiers. It's the easiest of all the components in a system to audition. Pull out what you have, replace it with a quality power cord from a reputable audio cable manufacturer, then listen. If you don't hear any difference, then fine...

I have a C2700 Pre & MC611 Monos and have Cardas Beyond XL power cords on all the McIntosh gear. I removed ONE Cardas Clear Beyond XL power cord from the C2700 and replaced it with the stock cord. Result? Not subtle. Worse in every single category of audio definitions that I can think of.

Back in the UK a long time ago, I used to be area manager for Marantz. This was at a time when we first started seeing Monster Cables being used. I used to work the audio shows, and pretty much every single manufacturer was using aftermarket cables. Go to any show today and you will not find a single demo of any amplifier company using their own OEM cables.

What's in the box is a courtesy cable; yes, it will work, but like a lot of things, you can do better. If they included a high-quality power cord, they would have to charge for it, and since I know of no manufacturer that does this, I guess there's no business model supporting that idea.

Where we live in an HOA we have particularly bad electrics, sharing the same power line with other houses. I had dedicated 20-amp lines installed for both front end and back end, and still it sounds better when I plug the MC611s into the PS Audio P20 PowerPlant, despite McIntosh stating that their amps should be plugged directly into the wall. In my opinion, it's not about the last 6 feet, it's about the first that connect your gear to the AC supply, particularly with regard to amplification. 

We also have appalling acoustics to boot, so a whole bunch of ASC tube Traps were also necessary, and yes, unsurprisingly, room acoustics dominate everything you hear, no matter what you paid for your setup.

Also, a good dealer will have multiple cable looms to audition in their dem rooms (the best place) unless you are lucky enough to have a completely treated dedicated listening environment such as Soundproofing (asc-hifi.com). If not, the Cable Company has an excellent loan program available if you are interested in trying out quality cables.

The French are conducting interesting research right now on the resonances of the corona effect on the air molecules in the listening room. It seems that it doesn't matter if "the next 100 or so feet to the breaker panel is romex" or not because corrections can be made at the back end - e.g. power cords in particular (compared to ics at much lower signal voltages) since the effect is very small to begin with. If you are interested in details, let me know and I can type up huge long emails about it.

I don't know that I agree with all of it but I definately feel we don't know everything we think we do - and this as an electrical engineer.

I used to be like McIntosh (i.e. a literal engineer) in that I didn't think cables made a difference. Well, I don't think that anymore after having been impressed with how my McIntoshes reacted to my MIT Z-cord 2 PC. I don't think speaker wires or interconnects make a huge difference (they do make a small one SOMETIMES) but PCs do modify "something" that is audible in many cases, provided your speakers are transparent enough and your hearing is good, of course.

I agree, I could never figure out why you would spend $2000 on a few feet of power cord when the next 100 or so feet to the breaker panel is romex at about a 1.00 a foot.

I went with the signalcable becuse I wanted to match the 10 gage wire (romex) I have dedicated all the way back to the panel. Its nice and costs what a power cord should.

Mark

The power cords on Macs are standard, and, no matter what Roger Rusell writes, custom cords make a huge difference, as they did with my C200 and MC402. As excellent as their engineering is, limited is McIntoshs experience with cable and wire, it seems. When I started our with their amps and called them I got the answer from Chuck Hinton: "ICs, PCs and speaker cables sound all the same". My own experience turned out to be completely different. As far as PCs are concerned, I got excellent results with PS Audio´s Statement and, for less money, with LAT International´s PC, which is now in a MkII-version

Jaybo is right: http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

Plenty of folks waste good $$$.$$ on cords, wires, cables.

I am using Harmonic Tec ProII on my MC253 and MX135 and using a PS Audio Interlude(I beleeve that's the name) in My MC7205. I went with the PS Audio because of the removable ground pin. For some reason I get a ground hum on the 7205 and that cured it. As far as you other question on IC Cables I am using Cardas Golden Reference RCA's I tried the XLR but could not hear difference in 1 meter lengths

If you are looking for fairly inexpensive (59.00 for 3 feet and 4.00 each extra foot.)

http://www.signalcable.com/

The Power cables are pretty nice 10gage wire. I have a 10ft one on my MC352 and I do notice a big difference compaired to the stock one. I am not sure how much better it would sound with a cable at twice the price.

Mark

the power cords on mac really are great. mac is not likely to sound much better with a custom cord. check the roger russell website.