PS Audio Prelude power cord.

it's pretty scary how tight that iec plug is on the Prelude, isn't it. This cord made my amp sound darker than I like it to. I ended up sending this cord back and got an Audience cord here on a-gon. I'm very happy with it. Made a pretty big difference on the McCormack DNA-125 amp. I will buy another one for my ARC LS15 preamp.

OK, I'm months late to this thread but just ran across it. I too am using a Prelude ACPC on my McCormack DNA05 Dlx, and noted that it gave the amp a slightly darker, tilted-down, frequency balance. However in my case, that was just what I was looking for. I haven't endlessly compared a variety of ACPCs, it was just loads better than the generic cord, was relatively cheap, and made things sound a bit more to my liking. I'm now wishing I had sent this PC to SMC Audio as part of the total package hand-tuning during my last amp upgrade however...

If you like the way this cord made your amplifier sound, that's good. That's why it's best to buy from a place where they offer home audition. Also, I don't think SMC would use this cord when tuning your amp. They explicitly say they don't want you sending PCs with amps. They have their own reference cords and that's what they use with your amp when they do revisions. Think about it, you get the amp tuned with this cord, then 2 months later you upgrade this cord to say Shunyata Taipan, which will probably make this amplifier sound totally different. And in this case you won't be happy, because all of a sudden your amp sounds wrong. I think that's the reason SMC don't want you sending them power cords. But may be I'm wrong....

Audphile1, your comments above are as one would expect, but SMC's byline "hand-tuned performance" is literally true. I was unsatisfied with the sound of my amp when he modded it from revC to revA, and had several conversations and emails as to what wasn't working for me. I sent it back and it was returned sonically transformed into the Perfect Amp. A big part of it is SMC uses Vandersteen 3As as his reference speaker, and I'm using Thiels, nearly the opposite speakers in most respects. He fine-tuned everything - for free! - based on further descriptions of my partnering equipment/cables and what I was hearing.

Steve admits that does make my amp (and others that he modifies for specific customer requests) sound different from a 'standard' revA, but that's also the beauty of having the amp's designer work with you as an equal to achieve mutual satisfaction.

Sending him the Prelude with the amp would allow him further input as to what I'm hearing and in tuning my amp. Sure, tha balance will shift if I use a Taipan, but not as much as when I change from Thiels to say B&Ws.

Steve sez the amp is still within the range of his 'house sound', but that he could tweak it again to better match future changes in my system. Now that's customer service. But you're right, if I were to sell my amp as is, it would sound a bit different than another revA...

Steve's a great guy. I am sure he know what a lot of different speakers sound like. I heard DNA-125 modded by Steve and it is a great sounding amp. I am thinking to send my DNA-125 for revision + transformer at some point.