2. analog
  3. 148243-125055

Importance of power cable for Turntable?

Just purchased a Gryphon Diablo 300 integrated with the optional phono stage and DAC module.  I purchased AudioQuest Hurricanes for both the amp and my digital source.  How important would it be to do the same for a high end turntable (which I don’t have just yet)?  Would an AudioQuest Hurricane Source be a good choice for a high end turntable as well? Or is it even needed?  I do notice subtle improvements with my amp and digital source.

Thanks
nyev
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,820 posts
 

Thanks @folkfreak, I’ll take you up on that offer! I found your recent comments (in Audiogon's Virtual Systems) about the changes in the sound of your system to be both interesting and encouraging. I’m used to a different sort of speaker sound (planars), and found your now-gone Magico speakers (replaced by a different model of theirs) to be more "unrelenting" than the sound I'm accustomed to. Your comments about the sound of your new system leads me to believe that you may now feel similarly about your previous one vs. your new. True? Extremely resolving, transparent, and uncolored, but more "bracing" (a splash of ice cold water on one’s face ;-) than I’m comfortable with.

There are two schools of thought about loudspeaker frequency response characteristics in relation to high frequency balance: one school is of the opinion that a speaker’s response should remain flat all the way out past audibility; the other considers the above to result in a "tipped up" balance not found in live music, that a speaker should instead slowly roll off above a "certain" frequency, at say 2-3dB/octave starting at perhaps 5kHz. Your old Magico’s sounded as if they were designed as per the former, your new model Magico’s perhaps less so? Just a guess on my part.

folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,349 posts
 
@bdp24 well perhaps yes and no -- its even more ruthlessly revealing, but I think in a more natural and unforced way. In a recent demo I turned the Herzan on and off and the person I was demoing it with preferred the sound without the Herzan -- its more laid back, kind of soft and wooly but it's not real, and the detail is gone. Similarly I found with the M3s that I could hear the haze and coloration in the ARC pre-amp and so that had to go. So overall it's probably not moved in the direction your panels take you and is probably more yin then the yang you may prefer. But the tonal balance is better especially without the  super tweeter which over energized the top end.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,820 posts
 

@folkfreak, "over energized the top end". Now THAT is a good way to put it. So it was the super tweeter than was responsible for that sound, not the old Magico? I had heard Magicos before (I don't remember which model---it was at Brooks Berdan Ltd. a number of years back), but in a bigger room (the shop's main listening space, built to Cardas specs, I believe) and at a greater listening distance (and of course without your super tweeter).

I prefer a more "relaxed" high end than a hyper-detailed one, especially since much of my favorite music isn't in the best recorded sound quality. Of course, I don't want a too "forgiving" sound either. That's the balancing act we all are faced with; a musical reproduction system transparent enough to let the best recordings reach their full potential, yet not so ruthlessly revealing as to make lower sound quality recordings be unlistenable! 

lewm
13,110 posts
 
bdp, You wrote, "@nyev, remember, the difference heard between two power cords (or any other component) is highly dependent on the resolving power and transparency of the entire system."

This is a paradoxical statement.  It is true in one way but it also leads to an "Emporer's new clothes" way of thinking.  Because the logical endpoint is that if you cannot hear a difference, then your system is lacking in resolution relative to the system owned by someone who can. That's the thought process that leads to $150 fuses.  One of the dilemmas of this hobby.
folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,349 posts
 
a musical reproduction system transparent enough to let the best recordings reach their full potential, yet not so ruthlessly revealing as to make lower sound quality recordings be unlistenable!

Actually my experience is that a transparent system will bring out the best in any recording, no matter how flawed. I want to hear what the artists were doing, warts and all, I can listen through recording errors and would much rather it was given me straight than sugar coated. Certainly in my current setup I've yet to find a disc "unlistenable" and am enjoying lots of things I'd previously written off

As to the Sopranino -- while it added extra clarity, air and space there was certainly some discontinuity between it and the Be tweeter on the Q3 and in the room interaction I found the need to tone things down -- since then I've gone to more transparent settings on the SR gear (silvers vs golds) and no longer feel there's any high end discontinuity -- but it's certainly still on the "hyper detailed" end of the spectrum, kind of what I like I think
More to discover