Review: CH Technologies X15 power cord Power cord


Category: Cables

CH Technologies is owned by Craig Hampel in Champaign, Illinois. I've known Craig for about four years. At the time, Craig was working for Geoff Poor in Geoff's audio shop. Geoff is a partner in BAT (Balanced Audio Technology).

I hadn't seen Craig for about a year when I sold my Wadia 581se CD Player to an Audiogoner also living in Champaign, Illinois. He told me that Craig had perfected his cable line and was now selling them. Dale's system sounded really good and Dale suggested that I try them. I was pretty busy and never got around to giving Craig a call.

Then about four months later, I sold my HRS SX rack to another Audiogoner in Champaign, Illinois. Tom has a Wadia 781i CD Player like I have, and he said that he was also using CH Technologies cables. He told me that I should call Craig and give them a try. This time I did.

Craig sent me two X15 power cords and one set of X10 interconnects and one set of X20 interconnects. They took me completely by surprise! After all of the power cords and interconnects I've had ranging from $1,500.00 to $5,000.00, none do what Craig's power cords and interconnects do in my system.

The CH Technologies power cords and interconnects are the closest cables I've ever heard that don't have a sound at all. I heard more of music than I've ever heard coming out of my system, and it flows in the most natural state I've ever heard. I hear more minute details because it's so quiet. Along with this, those details seem to make every instrument sound more authentic than I've ever heard it in my system.

If you're looking to get closer to your music than you ever have before, I'd strongly recommend sendng Craig an email. Here's the email address of CH Technologies: c.hampel@comcast.net


Chuck

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krell_man
Krell,

Your consideration is appreciated, but don't worry. My comment was more just a quick reaction to what I found to be a particularly ironic statement. That expensive wires please ANYBODY is something I find interesting. I would clearly agree that none will please everybody. Few things do, especially high end audio tweaks that are expensive and inherently controversial. It has nothing to do with any particular product/vendor, just a general observation that happened to come into my mind while reading this thread.

I guess we all have some axes to grind from time to time. As long as it is done in a civilized manner, I suppose all is good in the end.

You gotta have some thick skin to be a success in most worthwhile endeavors. High end audio is no exception I would say. IT is exceedingly hard to differentiate products and demonstrate unique value these days. Not an easy challenge.

The testimonial of a satisfied customer always says something, at least in my mind.
Chuck, no worries. I BELIEVE in cabling. The influence of well executed cabling on a system can be profound IMO. Gary likes the CH product, and he has heard and owned a LOT of cables. Craig, keep up the good work.
Hi guys,

Sorry about the delay, I've been having way too much fun listening.
First a big thanks to Craig Hampel for his generous trial period and his willingness to educate.
Long story short, i bought an x20 pc
for my Dimitri (no brainer) and another for my Dartzeel 108 amp. I need 4 more for the remaining front end components which I will purchase when I finalize my interconnect choices.

I spent about 5 months so far doing this shootout and will continue until I have my system cabled. I had over 50 k worthof kubala elation alone, Craig sent me 4 x20 pc, 2 x20 interconnects, and 2 pairs of x20 speaker cables, tara zero gold and Tara omega onyx were there as well.

The system is a dedicated treated room,powered by a dedicated 100amp service to controlled power co 15 kva isol transformer to isoclean zero ohm breaker panel with all in wall 10 g analysis plus oval, isoclean, shunyata, and oyaide outlets . This power feeds dartzeel 108 and 18ns
pre, connected by 5 m of Evolution acoustics bnc. I also have nat audio se2se 211 tube monoblock with military united tubes and rca's. Speakers are built in small numbers by a friend and basically truly time aligned, 1st order 5way crossover, dynamic driver, modular , 92 db sens, powered subs, vented midbassmodule , infinite baffle midrange. Front end is united home audio phase 10 modified tascam xb20 r2r, audio aero prestige sacd, amazon one turntable, tweaked shroder ref arm , allaertes mc2 finish cart, tron meteor phono preamp.

The x20 power cords handily stole my heart over kubala elation, shunyata anaconda, genesis absolute fidelity which I have on hand. From memory I have had jps aluminata and elrod gold statement pc's which were great performers but the x20 drew me in to the music, engaged me more and the money saved will go towards interconnect and speaker cable which from the looks of it won't be cheap.

CH x20 interconnect performed better on my audioaero and tape deck than Tara zero at almost 3timesthe price, and kubala elation at about 1.5x. The kubal elation cabling in my system fully cabled was very nice sounding but I became bored quickly, and surfed more music rather than listened at full length. I found that images were oversized and not true. I think in the right system kubala elation
can work, therevus also some personal taste involved. I did buy Kubala sosna elation digital interconnect which blew away too many cables to list here. Don't laugh but it does wonders on aN underwood hifi modified sonos 90 player feeding the audioaero prestige dac.

The ch x20 interconnect will be revisited soon along with the following jorma prime, stealth sakra, silent source music ref, united home audio Celtic silver pendragon, nordost Odin.

Regarding speaker cablebnot ready to comment yet.
Krell_man,
My family and I enjoy our moderately high end system. We run an all digital system; Sound Application RLS Line Conditioner, Elrod Statement Gold (awaiting arrival), MAC Burley with Furtech plugs, Meridian 800, 861v6, 621, Oppo 93, MIT MA-X2 interconnects, MIT MA-X SHD Speaker cables, Pass XA-200.5 monos, 3 Pass X-250.5 (for theater), Wilson Sashas, Watch II center and sides and Snell Sub-1800 sub-woofer. We recently sold our CubII sides and will eventually replace them. Theater cables are mostly MIT; Oracle v2.1 center and M1's for sides and rears, with older MIT and Audioquest speaker cables for the sides, rear and sub-woofer. I list all this to qualify our system.
I have been reading this thread with keen interest.
I've been searching for a "good deal" on power cables - by this I mean power cables that compete with the best but not priced extremely high (~$8,500 or so). Seems like the CH Technologies X20 (and soon to be released updated X-20) power cords may be the answer.
I happen to stumble upon your post because a new friend recommended Silent Source Reference power cords, and after reading your post - I am humbled by your findings.
If I may, how do you find these to compare to Elrod Statement Gold power cord?
Jim Weil, the designer and manufacturer of Sound Application power conditioners developed his line conditioners using Elrod power cords, so I'm comfortable using the Gold Statement to feed it - but I'm looking for power cords to supply our digital components and power amplifiers. Any experience you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Kindest regards, Thomas Foti.

Hi Thomas,

If your system is moderately high end, I wish that my system was closer to yours.

Craig had to change the name from CH Technologies to CH Acoustic because CH Technologies was already in existence.

Here's his email address:
c.hampel@comcast.net or info@chacoustic.com

and his website:
http://chacoustic.com/

I've never had an Elrod power cord, so I don't have anything to help in that area, but Craig is familiar with David Elrod's cables and designs and can explain the similarities and differences in the power cords.

He usually has demo cables to send out so that someone may evaluate them in their own systems. I think that you'll be amazed at how much they can help your listening experience, They sound like they aren't there, so you really hear just how good your components are.

Shoot him an email and if there's anything else I can help with let me know.

Chuck