Fuse and Power Cable improvements 'how'? - Nuprime ID-8


Hi Everyone,

    Thank you ahead.  I recently bought a pair of Kudos C2 speakers through Audiogon and upgraded my amp to Nuprime ID-8.   Even with 100watt RMS I'm not able to power the C2 to satisfaction.  It'll be a long while before I can save up for the high quality 200+watt range amps.  I've been reading that others install better power cable and fuses into their amps and get sonic improvements.   I'm wonder how does that work and how much improvement would that really bring (considering that's $300+ extra parts for a $999 amp)?  Hoping to get educated on the subject.  Thanks.

Lincoln

hifineubee
Coming previously from a B&W 805N paired with Yamaha amp, so far my listening with my Kudos C2 with Nuprime is that while female vocals play loud volume wise, singers like Adele and Whitney Houston sound like they ran out of lungs (lack big openness ex: during the song 'I will always love you').  When I play large orchestral music like Beethoven 5th or Dovrak New World Sym., sometimes they sound ok while other times I can't seem to get the speakers to play with enough speed, tempo and musicality.  I'm guessing these symptoms are attribute by not enough 'juice' from the amp.
That does not sound like a power thing. If there was a lack of power, you would be describing distortion but this paragraph does not seem to do that.

So it is possible that 'tweaks' like a power cord and fuses might help. They both help in the same way: both devices can have a voltage drop across them which can result in a measurable loss of power. In addition (in particular with the power cord) if there is a loss of high frequency bandwidth in the AC power delivery, the power supply can't always charge up fully. This is because the rectifiers in the supply often only conduct for a very short time at the peaks of the 60Hz AC power waveform. Those short bursts of conduction are high frequency; if the power cord limits that the supply or supplies might not charge correctly. One consequence is that IMD can rise, which is quite audible.

IOW there really is physics behind why these things work.

You might also try different interconnect cables, shorter speaker cables, a different preamp or source! Its very hard to walk into a situation like this and simply point at one thing and definitively say that its actually the problem!!
Thanks again for the inputs so far.  I guess I'll try giving the IDA-8 another 100hrs to see how it sounds with 200hrs of run time.  Then I'll give power cable a try.  Next significant level up USB digital music integrated amp will cost a lot more $$$, really hope don't have to dish out so much....
there also might be a different integrated, of the same cost and power rating, that you like much more.  Did you audition the Nuprime before buying?
No unfortunately nobody carries NuPrime around Seattle area.  The few stores here carries Naim, Rega, Cambridge Audio, Rotel.  But these brands don't make good integrated USB amplifiers that meet my digital 24bit/DSD hi-res music needs.  I had a Yamaha A-U671 before, great amp for $70 but the class D sound was too cold once broken in.  Was going to move to Yamaha's S-801 which is A/B class but thought I'd give NuPrime a try given the rave reviews.
I have never heard either, but I bet you could buy the Yamaha for around the same as you could sell your Nuprime for...if hopefully you can audition it in your system.  It's lower power but you might like it better...but I stil stick with the give the Nuprime another month, then with tweaks it might be perfect...