I wouod like a power cord recomendation that's in the budget category
I have just purchased a new to me from Audiogon an Aesthetix Calypso pre-amp and would like to see some power cord recommendations. Something not too expensive that is known to work well this this piece. $350.00 budget, spent my stash on the new pre.
The gold standard at that price level is the Synergistic Research Master Coupler. So good they command around $300 even after having been made for like 30 years now. You might find one for $250, or more, but should be able to find one $350 or less. Worth the effort. If you're in a hurry then another safe bet is anything used from Synergistic in your price range. You might be able to get a UEF Blue around $350. If so that would be even better than a Master Coupler.
Ted was the original power cord market leader with the Master Coupler, and if you ask me Synergistic never has relinquished that lead. They are all very similar in sound- big, bold, detailed and across the board excellent, never the tone control you get with so many others. As they go up in price they get increasingly sophisticated and refined even as dynamics and resolution improves. Because of this its very hard to go wrong with any of them and you can pretty much buy whatever you can afford and wind up always getting your money's worth.
Buy a Pangea power cord from Audio Advisor. $90 - $100. Excellent quality. And will sound the same as any fancy expensive power cord. As well as a $6 Home Depot cord! Save your money for something that really matters, like speakers. Don't listen to the neurotically obsessed wire maniacs!
I confess to buying the Pangea cord when I needed something for my Richard Brown BEL 1001 amp. Though a Home Depot $6 cord would have worked just as well! I decided that this particular amp deserved something fancy - as it is the FIRST production one (serial no. 0001) and came from the original owner (who was a friend of the late Richard Brown).
Personally, I would not buy Pangea. Tried their power cords and they sucked all the life out of my system. A used Shunyata Diamondback Platinum cord should cost you around $100-125.00.
Thanks everyone for you thoughts and opinions. The pre will arrive today or maybe tomorrow. My hopes are I'm so impressed I will not worry about a cable. I know I will want to up grade at some point, again thanks.
VH Audio Chris Venhaus will build a cable for you and your spec the parts wire connectors etc. He built me a couple cords a little above your price range that I love. And he's a pleasure to deal with.
Was going to mention VH Audio as well, but I was going to suggest buy the plugs and cable from Chris and build your own. I’m sure Chris will give you your best option either way.
I've tested a lot of different power cables over the years. And something that often surprises me is the fact that, when I change signal cables, for example, the sound "changes", while when changing power cables it is often very obviously "worse" or "better".
With a limited budget, I can really recommend Wireworld's cables. From the cheapest entry model and up. I have always thought that they provide a positive and steady improvement overall. Their copper cables are preferred, while the silver models require caution and testing ..
I’d go with Cullen too, although I recently heard about Audio Envy that also sounds very intriguing. Most of these guys offer a return period so you can give one a shot with very little risk. Given the quality of your preamp I’d recommend you at least try a better power cable as it could potentially make a big difference for relatively little extra cost. Best of luck.
I’ve got Analysis Plus Big Silver Oval, speaker cables. They do know what they’re doing! If I didn’t have my two different, early, iterations, of the Synergistic Master Couple, at my outlets/purifier/Bass amp and Zu Mother pieces (all of with which I’m very happy), feeding the rest of the system, I’d be taking a serious look at them. Analysis Plus pieces typically punch, way above their price points.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.