Mapleshade-Pierre Sprey

I just called Mapleshade to get info before placing an order and towards the end of the conversation I inquired as to why I hadn’t heard from Pierre lately. It was then I was informed that Pierre had passed away. I guess I’m kind of late to finding out, but do want to add that after several conversations with him, I was very impressed with his being so down to earth, concerned with improving my music and just an all around nice guy to chat with. RIP and thanks for making the hobby more enjoyable.

Pierre made one of the only HDMI cables that is noticeably better than stock. The Vivlink HDMI is now up to v3 and I highly recommend it to audio and videophiles.

But I have posted about that before, let me tell you my experience of the Mapleshade power cables. Yes they performed best without the plastic bag covers (they were just there for some kind of piece of mind liability protection, as Pierre admitted to me).

The Mapleshade was the best power cable I ever used and tested, against many others. It actually performed best with the wires criss crossing against each other, so there was no magentic coupling at all. This looping mess of wires would then be surrounded by 2 large external ground wires (different to the normal ground).

So imagine a gigantic birds nest of wire (5 solid core wires per power cable) behind a single component running to the power distributor, all raw wire and only laminated for protection. And I had 2 of them.

It was totally hair-shirt stuff, no consideration for practicality, and it looked utterly awful. But it killed the competition performance wise, at least in the $300-$800 price category I was comparing cables to.

But there came a time I had to look after my young niece and nephew a few times a week. So while I was willing to risk the danger of this setup for myself, and I went to great efforts to have all this wire off the ground, and minimize potential fire hazards, I was never willing to risk it with my family, so the 2 power cables have been wound up and put in a bag ever since.

I still have them and don't want to try them again, because I am sure they will be better than my current power cables, and I may be tempted to set these big birds nests up again.

RIP Pierre. 
 

Is Mapleshade still in business?  The website remains but No one answers the phone. 

Late to this very sad news. RIP Pierre. Met him several times and had a few conversations with him ( all about music ).1st time I met Pierre, I was the " demo guy " for the Jadis brand at the ’96 Stereophile show at the NY Waldorf. My buddy and a partner of his were the importers at the time. It was Friday early in the afternoon, and he approached me through the crowd, handing me 2 of his cds, asking me to play these during the 3 days. He was obviously selling his cd label, and they were, and are, excellent. ( A side note ). One of my demo tracks throughout the weekend ( cd only ) was track 5 of " The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking ", by Roger Waters. The Eurythmie designer ( Jacque something I think ), almost got us kicked out of the show. He tried to take over my job by wanting me to play this one track, over and over, and at ridiculously loud levels ( for a show ), that corresponding exhibitors were complaining to the hotel, and we were warned many times of being shut down. Anyway, Pierre was a very passionate and friendly guy. A good salesman as well. Again, RIP, and my condolences to his family.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/pierre-sprey-dead/2021/08/20/fe995430-ff6e-11eb-ba7e-2cf966e88e93_story.html

wonderful read...