I wish it wasn’t true…but definitely not a placebo effect (and so infuriating when others decide this to be the case) I’ve had 12-14 gauge $100 cables beat out by well built/shielded/terminated 10 gauge $50 cables in this way. The most discernible and palpable change for preamps and amps is the increase in response and low mid/bass weight (in my case). More stage depth too. “Can’t be tue” I told myself…. back and forth I went, each time a big grin on my face while having to readjust my sub to accommodate this difference. Can be fun, as long as one does not let this go out of hand? I do believe in the differences, but also believe our ears adjust over time (so always the danger of chasing the rabbit).
Interesting Power Cable Experience
I moved some items around in my office today and one of the items was a small Vizio tv and I noticed an aftermarket power cord was attached. It was a Dedicated Audio PDS1, 1.5m, 14ga. that I purchased in 2001. I removed and replaced it with a standard one as I now needed a more flexible one for the new spot the tv needed to be. During the process of deciding what to do with the extra cord, I remembered the Primare D20 cd player in my garage/shop. That along with a Pioneer RT-707 and a rebuilt/capped Marantz 1060 completes the system. I replaced the original, factory cord with the DA one and fired it up. Now, my standard settings for the Marantz is: all neutral tone control settings, all filters off, loudness off.
Holy crap, tons of bass Batman! Could not believe the difference, too much bass! So, I engaged the low filter, engaged the loudness, midrange up one click and the treble up 2 clicks. I have used aftermarket cords on all my gear since the late eighties, when I was in the business and never heard such a difference before. I was very surprised.
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@dill I am quite glad I started experimenting with power cables. Quite easily the cheapest improvement to the system I've ever had. On par with a center rug. |
If you're interested enough, put the other cable back on to make sure. Take a measurement with both cables, see what the difference is in real numbers. "Too much" isn’t telling us much. Is it an extra 3dB? 6dB? At what frequencies? I noticed a sound difference with two different amps on the same speakers. I was totally surprised to perceive the difference so I took sweeps with both amps, speaker and mic. in the same position, and volume adjusted. Sure enough, the two amps caused a different frequency response. What surprised me even more was that the difference wasn’t what I was expecting. The amp I suspected of having rolled off high frequencies actually had more output above 7k. It had slightly less in the range between about 2K and 7K, and I was perceiving that as "rolled off" highs. I think one reason us measurement people get caught up in accusing the "subjective" camp of imagining things is that we jump to conclusions that they are claiming to hear things that are far below the threshold of human perception because we assume that their equipment is all operating to some theoretical test bench standard when it in fact may not be. I think that often if a direct measurement of the sound off their speakers is made before and after an equipment change that caused a perceived change in sound quality, a difference will show up that is known to be in the audible range. |
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