Further update on the Analysis Plus (AP) power cable vs Romex 10/2 wire....the AP Power Oval 10 Cable is hands downs far superior, from my perspective and for what I am trying to achive, to Romex. Of course, the AP cable is $1500.00 for 50 ft (retail based on their web site) which puts it in that categories of:
1) it certainly better be a significant improvement or chaulk it up me just being pegged as another sucker born every minute or me having wishful thoughts that it must be better because it is more expensive
2) you do not even tell your closest audiophile friends until you have tested it because there will again be another smirk from the guys. :)
Everything electrical is brand new and nothing is broken in yet. I have 1 dedicated line with AP cable and another dedicated line with Romex 10/2 coming from the Isoclean panel. Both outlets are the Porterports at this point. I ran three type of test several times over and over. The tests were:
1) Both the amp (Audio Note UK Ongaku) and the source (Meitner DCC2 and CDSD (original version)) hooked up to the outlet with AP wire.
2) Amp hooked up to outlet with AP wire and source hooked up to outlet with Romex
3) Amp hooked up to outlet with Romex and source hooked up to outlet with AP wire
I played one track over and over again using the various scenarios above. The music had a bunch of things going on including (1) a person talking on a portion of the song (2) multiple people singing (3) various types of percussion and string instuments.
In summary, the basic fundamental differences between the two electrical cables are:
1) There is way more air coming from the individual instruments and voices on the AP wired outlet. This provides a more natural presentation and makes the voice sound more like someone is in the room instead of listening to a recording.
a) After a few test I could not stand listening to the amp on Romex once I heard it on AP. I tried switching back and forth 3 times and did not like the dry sound (relatively speaking).
b) The more electronics hooked up to AP the more air. With the amp on AP and the source on Romex it gave the appearance of more detail but it was only from the lack of air and not really more detail. Again, it made it sound artifical comparatively speaking.
2) It provides a dimensional aspect providing a more holographic image when using the AP wired outlet. When the person spoke on the track you could tell that this guy is about 300-400 pounds, which he is, and the instruments just seemed like you were hearing the whole instrument.
a) Again, the more electronics hooked up to the outlet with AP cable to more you got.
3) It music was bigger in scale with the AP wire. not sure if it was from more air being around the instruments or what. But this was nice, at least in my system, since I am running a low powered amp on a relatively non efficient speaker. Although I am running the Speltz Autoformer in my system, the impact of scale was impacted more by the AP wired outlet.
4) There was a more ease of presentation. This is somthing that I really like in a presentation. It still is probably not to the degree of the next model up in the speaker line. But certain music was presented with a natural delivery that I thought made it more life-like. I think all of the aspects above contributed to this. Obviously, CDs are CDs and most of it is too compressed to ever give you that sense. But the ones that are good sounded really great being combined with the AP wired outlet.
After conducting this with one track I tried several other types of music with limited scenarios. Mainly the scenarios that I thought would be the selected preference going forward. Based on hearing those tracks I think there are additional tweaks that I am going to try to see what happens.
Anyway, since this thread is on home wiring I just wanted to present some information about what I heard in my system, my environment, and of course my listening acuity. I am in no way affiliated with these products and just enjoy trying different things out. Since there has not been too many test of this nature, I think, and my room is at that stage where wiring and rewiring is not a problem I thought it would be good to test this and be able to share the information. It certainly was an ear opening (couldn't resist) experience and would certainly like to hear from others that maybe have tested other wires.
Regards,
