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Tornado and Thunder Power Cables

Hi all,

I am going to be upgrading my power cables for my preamp, 2 channel power amp and 5 channel power amp and I have chosen the following power cables to use in my setup:

1m Tornado(source)- preamp
2m Tornado(high current)- 2 channel power amp
1m Tornado( high current)- 5 channel power amp

In terms of bringing the cost down, if I used a 1m Thunder power cable for the 5 channel amp instead of the 1m Tornado(high current) would I be missing anything sonically by not using a Tornado HC power cable? Does anyone in the forum have a similar setup or are using a Thunder HC power cable as well mixed with the Tornado power cables? If so, what are your thoughts? Would it be better to just keep it all the same brand of power cable consistent or is there a huge sonic difference between the two power cables that would warrant me to stay with the Tornado HC power cable for my 5 channel amp?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts. Much appreciated.

2007audioman

2007audioman
jnorris2005
185 posts
 
+1 @barjohn

You’re wasting good money on these questionable power cables. I get the need to improve on a system that you undoubtedly feel is pretty good (regardless of @riley804’s comments). You should look to spend that money elsewhere in the system to elicit the kind of improvement you’re seeking.
rudyb
141 posts
 

The Rotels that you own are 'beasts' of an amp. Rotel engineers will have designed a wonderful and suitable power supply inside them, one that does all the mains power filtering needed. An (overly) expensive power cable won't / shouldn't be able to add much to that. If Rotel didn't do a good job, you wouldn't have bought them in the first place.

My guess is you could spend your money on other nice or fun things because you're probably not going to hear a difference, besides maybe the psychological effect that your brain wants to hear a difference after you made a serious investment.

If to you such power cables fall in the category of nice / fun things to have then to answer your question: your 2x350 Watts amp, delivered via 110V requires 7A, or or 3A if you're on 240V. The cable should be rated for those 7 Amperes.
yogi42
21 posts
 
Has anyone used Cullen Power Cables. 
jriggy's avatar
jriggy
564 posts
 
It’s just that home theater receivers aren’t exactly known for being low noise / distortion enough for some to be considered ‘hi-fi’ at least for clean 2ch music listening (but Marantz is def good consumer-level stuff)… So if this is about lowering noise or cleaning up distortions, you may get better results going with lower distortion ICs first. This will also help aftermarket power cords have a bigger perceived difference. 
 But even better money spent is the recommendation to get a good hifi 2ch preamp, with HT bypass function, for 2ch music listening. Then you’ll be stepping into the lower noise / cleaner signal realm and ICs and PCs will make a greater difference. 
 Just as an example: Not affiliated but I recently tried some Hapa Audio copper cables and was amazed at how clean of a sound and less distorted they were over my other similarly priced IC options.
j-wall's avatar
j-wall
369 posts
 
The AQ thunders are great. I have one on my regenerator and it makes a huge difference. The ones above who think that power cables don't make a difference when you have a "good" power supply, is severely mistaken and hasn't bothered to attempt it on his equipment. Cables definitely impact sound. 

I will agree with the others to where your cables are outclassing your amp. You might get more of a benefit putting that +$4k into an amp. 
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