2. cables
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Cost effective power cables recommendations, low and high power

I recently watched a number of informative videos about AC cables for our systems. One by the Dutchman Hans Beekhuysen (sp?) was really very good and explained why they matter, even with so many miles of cheapo cable bringing power into our homes, it seems to be all about reducing and rejecting stray interference from a lot of juice passing through the cables to our componenets, and the effect this might have on nearby interconnects and so on.

So I thought I would ask for recommendations from users here on what power cables you use for amplifiers (higher power consumption) and other components like digital stuff or preamps and so on, what are you happy with and that seems to make a difference big or small.

I am not about to spend thousands (or even many hundreds) for power cables, so hopefully something in what we mere mortals who work hard to earn our money can typically afford. Well shielded, properly twisted and insulated cable that does the job well, without typical marketing bull or obscene prices and markups please!

troidelover1499
ricred1
2,073 posts
 

Clarity Cables Vortex power cord.

facten
2,947 posts
 

Suggest checking out Audio Art Cables , even the entry level cord at $200 will make a noticeable positive SQ improvement. Never found any difference between stock cords and those like Panega or Signal Cable

mceljo
1,357 posts
 

My first power cord upgrade was a Waudio cable that I picked up on Amazon for under $50.  It made a nice improvement on my Pathos Classic One Mkiii.  It didn't seem to do anything for my Maverick Audio TubeMagic D2 DAC, and actually seemed to do bad things to my SACD player.  I ended up getting a longer one for the amplifier to help with routing (it's not super flexible) and moved the other two to the power conditioner and my home theater receiver.  I picked up a used Pangea AC-XL14 for the DAC and can't say that I heard anything different.

For reference, I did hear a difference with I upgraded the op amps in the DAC and also with a recent tube roll, so it's proven that some things will result in audible changes, but it seems that power cords (at least at my level) are not one of them for me.

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,539 posts
 

When Pangea first came out, I bought a few of their cords as they were supposedly half price from AA. After putting them in my system, the loss of dynamics was very obvious.  I sent them back and went with all Shunyata power cords which have stayed in my system ever since.  

troidelover1499 OP
253 posts
 

@ghdprentice

You asked about my system. Presently I have Epos M22 (their top of the line floor stander from their heyday, had these forever and in my room they just work for me) and a Rel Storm 3 sub.

http://www.hifi-review.com/152915-epos-m22i.html

Amplifier is Naim Super Nait 2 with their flat cap and superline phono stage.  I moved away from tubes several years back, had Music Reference amp for many years.  Turntable is a Rega Planar 6 with Ania. Streamer is Innuos Zen Mini feeding a Schiit Gungir multibit. This digital set up was a recent acquisition, much improved over my Node 2i I had before that.

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