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PC for Rowland 312 and others?

I have tried 2 power chords on the Rowland 312 switching amp:
1. Cardas golden Reference -- This appears to be the default PC often recommended by some JRDG dealers like Soundings of Denver (Co). In this application, it yields very good harmonic development and appears quite extended at both end of the spectrum. Interestingly, it does not appear to be creating the kind of idiosyncratic mellow/warmish sound associated with some of the reputation of this PC. Conversely, the same Golden Ref is not in my opinion indicated with the Capri Linestage or the PC1 Power Factor Correction unit + Capri preamp combination -- the sound becoming somewhat dry compared to Purist Anniversary or Anaconda Helix Alpha.

2. Purist Anniversary. Very surprisingly, Seems to be at odds with the 312, while yielding greater authority than the Cardas Golden Reference, it sounds both warmer and has a strong tendency of making piano overtones sounding 'jangling' (very odd indeed). Much better on the Capri+PC1 combo, it yields very good harmonic content with only very slight jangliness on piano.

It has been recently suggested that Shunyata Helix PCs may mate very well with current JRDG gear; I have only tried a Shunyata Anaconda Helix Alpha on Capri+PC1 and found it to create the most significant stage, with harmonically very complex sound devoid of artifacts and oddities. In this particular configuration, I also had the Purist Anniversary on my TEAC X-01 Limited, and the Cardas Golden Ref still on 312.

Next I will move the Anaconda to the 312 and will see what happens.

I'd be very interested in hearing about experiences with PCs of various brands/models on recent JRDG switching stereo amps (102, 302, 312), integrated (Concerto, Continuum), monoblocks (201, 301, 501), and pres (Concerto, Capri). I suspect that switching amps/pres are unique enough that common wisdom on PCs may need revising.

I admit that my own findings have surprised me. I would have expected the Purist anniversary to be a star performer on the 312, but it seems to excell in the 1st position of my chain, when feeding the X-01 Limited instead.
guidocorona
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Guido, I'm using the Coincident Speaker Technology CST-PC power cord. It'll be at least two weeks before I have time to do a comparison, but maybe Soundings will loan me a Cardas to compare. (May is music month and I have seven gigs over the next two weeks, oh yeah, and I need to make a living also).

I'm very, very happy with the CST-PC/Continuum combination, but I'd be happy to compare notes with you. BTW, which piano recording were you hearing the "jangle" on? (If it was Earl Garner then you know that the piano was way out of tune, right? Just kidding buddy, I have no doubt that you can spot an out of tune piano a mile away).

Given the lack of interconnects and, in effect, the dual PC-1s in the Continuum, I'm thinking that I'll notice less difference than you, where you've got two or three power cords to deal with vs. my one. (Ah, the beauty of an intergrated amp, with ample power and an incredible line-stage).

When I swapped the CST-PC into the system I'd only had a few minutes on the amp before I made the change. After a couple of weeks of being switched on constantly, the amp moved to a higher level of freedom and openness, so I'm thinking that if there's any difference to be heard between cords, I'll now be able to clearly hear it.

Dave
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Guido, out of curiousity, when you moved the PAD Anniversary to the 312, did you still have a PAD Anniversay on your Esoteric X-01 Limited? Or are you changing more than one cord around at a time?

Cheers,
John
guidocorona OP
4,298 posts
 
Thank you guys, yes I have unscientifically swapped in one case 2 PCs at a time (on PC1 and X-01) as you will read below. . .

I have now tried 3 different PCs on the PC1+Capri combo: Cardas Golden Ref, Purist Anniversary, and Shunyata Helix Anaconda Alpha. As said yesterday, I am slightly surprised about my own findings. . . I far prefer the Anaconda over the other 2 PCs for this application.
1. Golden Ref simply not very interesting. . . insufficient harmonic devel opment in my opinion. . . paradoxically not at all warmish as I would have expecte d; had Anaconda on X-01 Limited.
2. Purist Anniversary: much better staging and harmonic development, but with some traces of hard transients on piano; had Anaconda on X-01.
3. With Anaconda I am getting the greatest imaging density, harmonic development and balanced transients. It is fair to say though, that this last config involved a 2 PC change rather than a single PC change, so I need to make more experiments before determining exactly who is doing what to whom:
Original config: Anaconda on X-01, Purist Anniversary on PC1.
New config: Purist Anniv on X-01, Anaconda on PC1.

As I have one spare Cardas Golden ref, I still need to do the following:
a. baseline X-01 on Cardas Golden Ref (largely irrelevant how it will sound).
b. Change Purist Anniv and Anaconda back and forth on PC1 so to change only 1 PC at a time.

Note also that wire between PC1 and Capri still remains the non denominational pip-squeak supplied by JRDG. PC on 312 remained Cardas Golden Ref for this series of swaps.
garebear
1,154 posts
 
Guido,....you and I have crossed paths before in regards to JRDG's PC-1. I too posted a thread not to long ago regarding which power cords for JRDG's new amps. I just purchased his mono-blocs 501's and I did not receive any good responses to my question. I am currently using older Shuyata King Cobra's V1's with a nice smooth presentation but I have ''heard'' that some people are using the Anaconda VX's on these switching mode / digital amps. Would love to hear from somebody comment on this application....
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