What Power Cords for Rel S510 Subs?


I’m considering a pair of Rel S510s to go with my Diablo 300 and B&W 802 D2’s. I’ve invested quite a bit in cabling: Audioquest Dragon for my amp, Hurricanes for my source equipment, and Nordost Valhalla 2 for my speaker wire. I can clearly hear the difference between a Hurricane and a Dragon cord when powering my amp. The Dragon puts space and air around vocals and instruments with front to back depth.

There is no way I can afford anything better than two 3m Hurricanes for the Rel S510’s but my question is, how much do power cords matter for subs? Sadly for my wallet, I’ve found that higher grade cords do make a considerable difference for all my other components, verified through blind tests. Not as much as speaker cables, but still a big difference.

I also have a Innuos network isolation switch and also an Innuos USB reclocker, to support my Innuos Zenith Mk 3 streamer.

Does power cord quality matter less with subs than with everything else?

For the record I’ve seen other threads on this subject, with what seems to be consensus that power cords don’t matter with subs, but I was hoping others who, like me, appreciate the difference a top tier power cord can make, can comment on whether there truly is no benefit to using one when it comes to subs. Has anyone compared a Hurricane grade (or better) cord with a stock cord, connected to a high end sub?

 

nyev

I did actually chase the unicorn with cabling for my main system l, and am now done with that, after testing loads of cables and driving myself and my family nuts blind AB testing many cables. It’s definitely rabbit hole that once you change one thing, it sets you down a path! Thankfully I’ve emerged from it and my system is better as a result. I now view cabling as a primary component of my system - almost as important as an amp or speakers even, that can make or break a system. I found what many others have found, that speaker cables and signal cables make the largest differences, in a few primary areas: tonal balance, transparency and speed. As you move up in grade I found them to be more revealing. Power cables I found to also impact these areas, significantly, but less so. I found that the difference moving from a middle of the range power cable to a highest end power cable adds space detail and air AROUND the vocals and tones. For me it was the difference between having your system play music vs having your system present the music in a way that seems as if the performers are in front of you in your living room. Interestingly my non-audiophile wife and daughter also noted these differences and (blindly) picked the exact same cables that I thought sounded best. My daughter said “this makes it sound like the performers are on a stage in front of us and the other one doesn’t”. The only problem is, while they clearly heard these improvements, they just didn’t care! Oh well.

Of note, in many cases more expensive cabling didn’t translate to a sound I enjoyed more. I found I didn’t care for the very pricey Audioquest speaker cables (tested Firebird biwire and I found I also didn’t care for the top end Transparent speaker wire. In some cases I found the top end of different brands to be equally good but just a different style of presentation (top power cords from Audioquest and Shunyata). And in yet other cases I found top end cords to be entirely lacking in something (Nordost Valhalla 2 power cord was very obviously missing bass energy of other cords). All verified with blind tests, and all likely results specific to my system.

Very happy I went through that process, but I’m also very glad I’m done with it now!

yes, it is possible to have great cables and great sound quality, without obsessing, and relax and enjoy the music...

I compared cables but stayed within one brand, Shunyata for power and Audioquest for everything else.  Not 100% done.

Considering REL's sterling reputation for building excellent sounding subs I would be very surprised if they risked that reputation by including inadequate power cords with their speakers for the sake of saving a few dollars.  If it were me I would use the stock power cords and spend my time and money on improvements that really matter such as  better preamps, amps, speakers, etc.

For me I ended up with 100% Audioquest, dragons for 2 high current cords and Hurricanes for everything else, except for speaker cables, where I went Nordost Valhalla 2. Based on this thread I’ll likely go Hurricane High Currents for the subs, which is not cheap…. Might see if I can wait and get a used pair.  Will need 3m lengths though.