Good question Ken, and I'm not sure I can fully answer it without some assumptions. The P300 was the last component to arrive and therefor has had the benefit of all the footer tweaks. I have however played with the stock cords and P300 alone and of course the custom cords without the P300. For my system the stock cord on my pre-amp would have been adequate. The cords on my amp and SCD-1 are must haves! The SCD-1 seams to be the most influenced by the cord selection and that might be attributed to the quality of the power supply. (that is pure speculation) The P300 has more influence on how quite the background is where the cords have greater effect on bass definition (I might want to check this statement, the P300 does indeed tighten the bass beyond any cords work), sound stage and separation of instruments. Interesting to me that the P300 benefits from power cord selection almost as much as the SCD-1, and with the right cord will increase all the components performance a notch, maybe making this the first component and not the last like I did?
Now as far as footers, every time I received a new cord I found the footer placement required revision. The cord seem to either place it's signature on the equipments performance or bring out a certain aspect of the equipments performance. Sometimes a whole sale change was required, most times a very small relocation. (It's highly possible these small relocation tweaks are psychological and not factual, but for my system there indeed needed to happen) That line of thought and my experiences are for a follow-up book, "How My Stereo Drove Me Back To Drinking". I guess what I'm thinking is that they work together in a synonymous relationship along with the equipment itself. I'm not sure there is a right answer, this footer with this cord equals... It should be noted that the reverse was not true, or not tried I should say. When I received a different footer to try, I didn't feel compelled to try other cords. I think it's because the cords tend to have such significant impact in comparison to footers. Cones and the like are final tweaks in my mind. Now for your benefit or input (and I realize your not comfortable plugging your product), I found my Neuance shelf straight out of the box to increase space on the sound stage and open the entire presentation in a way no other product had. I would say the Neuance does indeed have a large impact, rated close to the power cord benefits. The tonal qualities as noted by Redkiwi do indeed change over time, and in that the time required for those changes I have only set the shelf up as recommended and not played with it. Summer is on it's way and my listening time goes way down, so that's when I intend to try some things. I also would like to find enough money after my friend Uncle Sam is done with me next month to buy a second shelf for comparison. For now I am fully reliant on Red and his fantastic advice. J.D.
Now as far as footers, every time I received a new cord I found the footer placement required revision. The cord seem to either place it's signature on the equipments performance or bring out a certain aspect of the equipments performance. Sometimes a whole sale change was required, most times a very small relocation. (It's highly possible these small relocation tweaks are psychological and not factual, but for my system there indeed needed to happen) That line of thought and my experiences are for a follow-up book, "How My Stereo Drove Me Back To Drinking". I guess what I'm thinking is that they work together in a synonymous relationship along with the equipment itself. I'm not sure there is a right answer, this footer with this cord equals... It should be noted that the reverse was not true, or not tried I should say. When I received a different footer to try, I didn't feel compelled to try other cords. I think it's because the cords tend to have such significant impact in comparison to footers. Cones and the like are final tweaks in my mind. Now for your benefit or input (and I realize your not comfortable plugging your product), I found my Neuance shelf straight out of the box to increase space on the sound stage and open the entire presentation in a way no other product had. I would say the Neuance does indeed have a large impact, rated close to the power cord benefits. The tonal qualities as noted by Redkiwi do indeed change over time, and in that the time required for those changes I have only set the shelf up as recommended and not played with it. Summer is on it's way and my listening time goes way down, so that's when I intend to try some things. I also would like to find enough money after my friend Uncle Sam is done with me next month to buy a second shelf for comparison. For now I am fully reliant on Red and his fantastic advice. J.D.