New Power Cable on a 1990 Hafler DH120?


Is it worth putting an upgraded power cord on my 1990 Hafler DH120?  I am considering upgrading because it is rather old.  Still sounds good IMO.  Maybe I could get some better sound with a new cable.  Considering a GR Research cable.

Thoughts?

wlp3

I started another thread that presented the perspective of one electrical engineer that works in the audio industry doing analog circuit design here. That might be interesting reading on why power cords MIGHT make a audible difference in how your amplifier sounds.

Practically speaking, a no cost way to try this out if you are an Amazon Prime member might be to buy several power cords via Amazon. Plug them into your Hafler amp and see if you hear a difference. If you hear a difference, you've answered your question. Hear no difference? Power cords go straight back to Amazon. In my experience, any difference you might hear should be immediately evident OR perhaps power cords make no difference (or at least no difference on your amp).

I personally think a Shunyata Research Venom V14 power cord at about $150 is a great starting point based on listening to a number of power cords loaned to me by a friend, but I don't see that Amazon sells Shunyata products. Amazon does have Audioquest power cables & Pangea power cords available through Prime. For an amp, perhaps ideally find a power cord with greater current carrying capacity.

The Hafler DH 120, owned by the OP, has a " captive " cord, not an IEC connection. 

Without gtting into the flat earth debates, i think it is clear to say that before spending money on a power cord, one should address the extensive known areas for improvement in that excellent design with budget parts. search for an get a copy of "pooge" by walt jung from the audio amateur and follow his list of upgrades, starting with bypassing signal chain electrolytic caps with itsy bitsy films.  jack up the bias.  clean all the contacts. replce the stamped metal RCAs (unless they improved those on the -220 over the -200 on whcih they sucked, that's a thechnical term.

Have fun. Cord will certainly cost more and do less.

 

Some think zero, others disagree.

BTW Mr Decibel makes a reasonable point.  One area that, IMO, all components fall short is the quality of the connection to the wall AC.  This has two parts - the plug on your cord and the outlet in the wall. I routinely put in heavy duty outlets, and also replace the plugs with higher quality ones. You are looking for a tight connection and a large contact area.  The DH220 only draws about 1-1,5A most of the time and dynamics draw n the large filter caps, so the 14 agg cord diameter ought to be fine. On my much larger, vastly costlier amps i cannot really tell the difference between 14 and 12 guage. But i have good outlets, good plugs, power conditioning and massive power supplies int he amps. You can turn them off and they keep plying for a bit :-)

 

G

eric makes another solid point.  The two large power supply capacitors, being 30 years old and electrolytic, probably only have about 1/3-1/2 of their original capacity.  Buy new drop-in replacements - the largest that you can fit into the band-clamps (in other words same form factor, same or higher voltage, biggest capacitance possible).  That will produce a staggering difference. The power cord, well.....