Which Cable Makes the Biggest Impact?

I once used Pass Labs X-600 amps to power my 1 ohm speakers. A friend of mine had much easier to power speakers. When he started getting into digital amplification, he began experimenting with power cords. He found they made a big difference on his sound.

I held an audio party, and he showed up with these new power cords. To his amazement the cords made no difference. The reason was my system was not as revealing as his.

That was a long time ago. Now I am powering my Scintillas to astounding success using ever more fluoride glass quality power gear, I have found my friend was right.

Like Tvad says, your system has to reach a point of realism before wire's real strengths and weaknesses come into play.

There is not a commercial speaker cable that suits my needs. That's all right, I make my own. For ICs, there is no doubt, the simpler the better. One thing I can say for sure, nothing has made more impact than speaker cable substitutions.

I know that the power cables have to be shielded on my system. What I haven't understood, is why some of the expensive ones are better. I want to know, so I can make my own.

In my case, there is no getting around the most important piece in my system is the speaker. Very fortunately the maker of my power duo owns the same speaker. I am in good hands. Being that very few amps survive an encounter with 1 ohm, my needs are unique.

IMO The source is always number one in a successful system hierarchy. Next you want a very agile and seamless speaker. If you get the power needs adequately satisfied, the wires can be written into the plan as called for.

Meaning, if I were to be using some nasty AB amp, I would look into getting MIT cables to cure what ales such a sour beast. In my system, I just need the ICs and SCs to get out of the way as physically possible.

In your instance, Zippyy, I think your system would benefit from a devalued speaker cable, meaning costs less money. Your Mangepans are capable of articulating minuteness and musicality. Just for kicks try the Anti-Cable. It is so frightfully cheap, there is no reason not to. I don't use it any more, but that is another story.

I am a non-oversampling zealot, Get a used AN CD player. If you like the freedom, later you can reach for the stars.

Zippyy, You have a very fine rig! You really owe it to yourself to experiment with some decent cabling! Especially power cords, since they can be had for far less than many speaker cables. With your set up I'm sure you'd hear a difference!

I agree with much of what Muralman1 says, except this:
"In your instance, Zippyy, I think your system would benefit from a devalued speaker cable, meaning costs less money."

Huh?! Maybe it would benefit a bit, but more likely it would benefit little. Zippyy has a decent rig, and he should not skimp on cabling. If he did, he'd likely conclude it's not worth it and make the WRONG conclusion for the wrong reason. I would urge people NOT to go too cheap on power cords! You want too much of something for nothing, and you'll often get nothing for something! You're not going to get "sky's the limit" performance from a $100 cord. If you have a good rig, you'll likely be able to tell a slight improvement. But if your rig is mediocre you may not (not referring to Zippy here!). The more invested in your system, the more you should invest in serious PC/IC/SC. As I reviewed the MIT cabling, I found a significant difference in upper echelon PC's versus entry level ones. Just like speaker cables, the technology and performance really can ramp up as one moves up the line.

At one time, I was a complete cable atheist. I did not believe in them. It was only when I dared to test it that I heard for myself, and that was only effective when my rig was at the point of revealing the changes. Zippyy, you're rig could do that.

Please understand that I am not dissing economical rigs! For much of my life I was the guy with the very economical system. For well over ten years with various equipment I would have had a difficult time assessing a change with $100 PC's! As a rough rule of thumb, if your rig is under $5k, then maybe cords under $100@ could help. If your rig is above $10-12k, you should put some decent money into the cabling and you SHOULD hear the difference. If you don't hear the difference, then move on quickly and try another cable. There should be an immediate, easily perceived change - on the order of taking at most a few minutes to hear/notice. (Caution: Only with time, however, can one determine if the long term enjoyment of the change has merit) On a system below $1-2K look for a component change first before blowing lots on cables.

Many may not believe this, but I can hear the difference that one PC makes on my rig, and with very high end cables it is quite a noticeable difference. Or the distinction that changing the setting on the MIT selectable impedance switch makes. When a system gets refined enough, even miniscule changes are detectable. I think those with extremely high degree of synergy in their rigs will agree.

Tvad,
Thanks for your encouragement. Once my new preamp and CDP are in place, I will begin to experiment with power cables. Sans the skepticism, of course. And BTW, you know we live in the same neighborhood.
Muralman1,
You're suggesting Audio Note? And not sure what you mean by "freedom".
Any my apologies go to to Calgarian5355 for what may seem like a hijacked thread.

Zippy, the signal is far more lively unconstrained. Borrow one if you can, and see if it suits your liking.

D_schroeder, please read any of the long list of testimonials at the Anti-Cable site. Some cables replaced are legendary. One guy who took my suggestion to try the Anti-Cable ended up with rewiring his speakers with magnet wire.

I'm in touch with other folks over the world who are whipping caps and cables around. The kind of folks who listen for things like a dog barking outside the studio. They too were very impressed with the Anti-Cable. They had something else that bettered it, a very short naked ribbon instead of the wire.

As Speltz notes at his site, dielectrics do effect the sound. When you get into that realm of electron microscope detail hunting, you find cable insulation, and mystery boxes flood the signal with varying amounts of audible trash.

I can demonstrate this at my place. Recently someone brought over Jena cables and Cardas Golden reference.