So here’s the thing with Rhodium plated connectors in my system…it can get too much. At one point I had all Furutech power cables with FI-50 and FI-50 NCF Rhodium plated plugs plugged into Furutech GTX-D NCF outlets. In addition my speaker cables, Audience AU24SX had Rhodium plated spades. As I added more Furutech cords with R connectors, the tonal balance shifted slightly to become a bit artificial. I kept the NCF outlets but sold the power cables and got Nordost Frey 2 (a pair on Pass mono amps), Nordost Heimdall 2 power cable is currently feeding my Pass XP-22 preamp. I’m expecting one more Heimdall 2 for DAC. O continue using speaker cables with R plated spades, Furutech DSS-4.1. I sold the Audience AU24SX sp cables. The balance is just right as I’m listening.
The Preffair power cable is excellent on the Aurender N200 but I’ll see how it develops. Sound is pure, derailed, airy and natural now. Surprisingly good soundstage width and depth. I’m pretty thrilled with this cheap power cord. I’ll do a shootout with Nordost Heimdall 2 when I have everything settled. @mrdecibel you have a winner there especially considering the cost.
A stupid question(s) about power cords
As the title indicates, I admit that this is probably a stupid question. But since I don’t know (for sure) the answer, I am asking it anyway.
The recent power cord thread got me interested in a power cord upgrade (from the stock cord) on my Maranzt SA10 (SACDP). The power cord receptacle on that particular component does not have a male equipment ground pin--only the neutral and hot pins. Therefore the cord supplied by Maranzt is a two pole (if that is the right terminology) cord. But because I have done it this way before, I do know that it will accept a power cord with an equipment ground as well as a neutral and hot.
Question 1: I went to musicdirect and looked at some power cords and I saw one (an open box Audioquest NRG Z2) that they were calling a two pole cord. The end that plugs in to the component only has a neutral and a hot, but the other end, the end that plugs into the outlet in the wall, does have an equipment ground blade (so that end has three blades). Why would that be?
Question 2: (and this is the stupid one) if a power cord has an equipment ground pin plugged into the wall, even if it is not plugged into an eqipment ground in the component itself, that cord is still connected to the neutral bus bar in the panel, right? So that being the case, since the equipment ground wire in the cord is right next to the hot wire, is there a way unwanted stuff (rf or whatever, my understanding of this is quite limited) can that dirty up the power that is traveling on the hot wire in the power cord?
I think that the answer to the last question is probably going to be ’no’? And if the answer is ’no’, that means that I really don’t need to shop for only two pole cords, right? And I see this as sort of important because if I buy a two pole cord, the ONLY component I can use it on/try it out on will be my SACDP--there will be no playing around with a two pole cord on my preamp or my amp.
And ALSO, if I don’t feel constrained to shopping ONLY for two pole cords, I would probably have more options to consider.
TIA for legitimate insight to this, and to all others, feel free to ridicule me and my question--I don’t mind.
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@mrdecibel , @dill , I’ll just weigh back in here quickly to say that in a few more (three or four) weeks (or maybe less) when I have accumulated 100 hours on the new speakers and the cords, I am going to unhook the speakers and put the B&Ws back into the system and see what differences I then hear. From reading @audphile1 ’s posts, I know that my ears are not in the same league as his; however, if it turns out that I cannot hear a difference from the speakers that I spent 3k on, I will not say que sara, sara on that, and they will go back. At that point in time, I may even play around with the power cords which should then be burned in. Going back to a previous post I made (and I have no doubt that this is fuel for derision, but what do I care), I think that certain sonic improvements can happen for some people (and I include myself) that they (meaning me) cannot immediately consciously identify; however, the improvements are recognized in the subconscious and result in increased listening pleasure over time. And I also believe that these small sonic improvements add up. A few years ago I was talking to one of the guys in sales at Cary (they will actually talk to you on the phone if you want to buy something) about some Amperex Bugle Boys 6DJ8s they had, and in the course of the conversation he told me, "Tube rolling can make you neurotic." Tubes are easy to take in and out and with certain tube swaps sonic changes are easily and instantly recognized. It’s a bit more work to get behind my gear the way I have it and then get to the outlets that I put in a bit of an out of the way place, and if tube rolling could cause neurosis, I think that a whole lot of time trying to A/B power cords might put me into full blown psychosis. However, with that typed, if I had spent several hundred to a k or more on one power cord, I would be definitely trying to hear a difference, |
Developing the “ear” to hear nuances takes time. A/B comparisons are really difficult at first and are often incredibly frustrating. A great way out of the dilema is to listen to music from a configuration or component for a couple weeks trying to listen to the music. Then change it, trying not to listen to your system… but the music, try not to make a judgement. Let your subconscious draw a conclusion and let it bubble up to your consciousness. Music satisfies a subconscious need, that is why we do it. Our rational analytical mind does the choosing and system configuration. The trick is to get these two into synch. Once your subconscious is aware of a particular nuance of sound, then a quick A/B works well. But it can takes a long time to develop. There are nuance I can instantly detect now that I was clueless about for years. Sometimes not trying to detect a difference is the best way to detect differences. |
@ghdprentice +1 Takes time and switching back and forth quickly doesn’t work. The Preffair cable is going thru a break in phase. Hopping back in for a listen late last night revealed a slightly harsh treble that I didn’t detect few hours prior listening to the same track. Not worried too much for multiple reasons. But curious how it will sound with 200+ hrs behind its belt. Pretty sure it will smooth out. |
@ghdprentice , as I have said before: I always appreciate your perspective and the way you present it.
this is interesting. Although I don't think for me it is the same thing going on as it is for you, there have been nights I have played a disc and the effect has been magical, or if not magical, at least very impacting. Then, like maybe a day or two or three or a week later I go back and I want to repeat that magical or at least impactful auditory experience with the same disc (and no changes made to the system in the mean time) and it just doesn't happen. What I heard last time is not there. It can be quite disappointing. In other words, what brought me close to aural orgasm last time, often sounds worse the next time. It could be that the musical notes do not seem as round or as full as the last time, or that the guitar work does not float in the air in front of me quite as spectacularly as I remembered from the last time, or I am not hearing the same subtle inflection in a piece of vocal work that I swear I heard the last time, or even, as you say, I hear a harsher sounding treble than I did the last time. I generally chalk this up to: a) I really was NOT hearing what I THOUGHT I heard the time before or b) the mind works in mysterious ways and I need to enjoy what sounds good to me WHEN it sounds good to me. I didn't mean to ramble on like this when I started typing this reply, but, and this is sort of unrelated, back in the mid '90s up until 9/11 I worked in a great shop (except it was a sheet metal shop, so it was often noisy) and I kept an old boom-box type radio at my work table and I listened to what I thought was a great public radio station (WYEP 91.3) because they used to play a lot of stuff that no one else played that I had never heard before and quite often I would hear something or someone and think, "That sounds great!" So then when the weekend came, I would go to Camelot Music or The Wall and buy or order the CD, and frequently it did not impress me on my system at home the way it did on that crappy boom-box radio at my work table. Oh well . . . lRamble On. . . . |
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