2. cables
  3. 1256217831

Power Cables which take the soundstage back

Hello,
I have almost always focused on ICs and Spk Cables...but I always knew that Power chords also make a good difference. This is the first time I am venturing seriously into power chords. I am not looking for anything fancy. Primarily I see power chords should be doing the following:

a) Clean up the background noise (because of better shielding etc) which a stock chord would not be doing a good job at.

b) Provide good current capabilities which enables to make music denser, tones get more body and especially bass gets meatier and tighter (the last one normally happens more often)

These are primarily two things I am looking at.
I have tried some power chords in the near past and I have observed one common pattern:

1. Power chords which tighten up the bass (in comparison to stock chords) also bring the images a bit forward.

2. Some Power chords do a good job of taking the soundstage further back...I dont know how and why but I have seen it happening. Some of them end up presenting a bit loose bass in the process (only some of them)

So, for me at this point, a power chord which can take the soundstage back (without introducing anomalies like loose bass) would be a wonderful addition. Thats a very critical requirement for me. I am sure you guys would have experienced power chords which do such things. I am not intending to shell out more than $200 (new or used) at this point. Kindly suggest.
pani
richard_stacy
686 posts
 
this is a bit off topic from the op's request but it does support your thoughts to explore power cables. it is hard to quantify but i would confidently say that with power cable additions alone, i have increased the quality/performance of my system by 30%-40%. i admittedly invested more than you are looking to but it is relative to the overall system investment. i agree with much of what stringreen wrote in that it takes some playing around with different designs to get to a good place. some cables don't sound right on one piece of gear but fit perfect on another. i have 3 different brands of power cords but each seem to be the right fit for the gear they feed, it was a project to get to this point.

it amazes me to read so many posts stating they cannot hear a difference with upgraded cords. it is truly night and day in my system. i do not understand the philosophy of upgrading a component vs adding a power cable. if you like the piece of gear, it makes sense to do all you can to allow it to perform to it's full potential. most manufacturer's expect us to toss the cord that comes with it and attach one designed for audiophile performance.

good luck on your quest...
jiminlogansquare
13 posts
 
I'll chime in here as a recent convert (but not zealot) in the "power cords make a difference to the sound" camp. Over the past two months, I have gone from using all stock power cords and a Home Depot surge protector to:

PS Audio Perfect Wave AC-12 from the outlet to a PS Audio Quintet

PS Audio Perfect Wave AC-5s from the Quintet to (1) my amp (Cambridge 840A v.2) and (2) my front end (Olive Opus No.4, with digital out to a DAC Magic).

Yes, these changes improved the sound of my system. Less noise, bigger (and TALLER) soundstage. It has not been subtle.

But surprisingly, the biggest difference came when I added the AC-5 to the Olive Opus. This one sealed the deal for me; the things are expensive, unwieldy, and like electric garden hoses, but they DO make a difference, especially (in my case) when hooked up to the digital equipment.
vandermeulen
191 posts
 
I have an interesting experiment for you to try out. Get a power cord that you don’t mind cutting the ends off. Any stock cord will do. Get any wire that has the LEAST amount of insulation possible AND has a reasonable guage for power throughput. Wire the ends to this wire. DO NOT KILL YOURSLEF OR YOUR EQUIPMENT IN THE PROCESS PLEASE. Connect to your equipment and listen. If you do not hear a difference that makes your mouth drop to the ground ,VS. any other power cord you can compare to. Then you know how much to spend on a power cord. DISCLAIMER - I am not agreeing/disagreeing with either side of the power cord advantage argument. You will formulate your own conclusion BETTER than any suggestions, reviews, or pictures of power cords that can be suggested to you. AGAIN...DONT KILL YOURSELF PLEASE. It’s hard to tweak your system if you are dead.
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
PC's are icing on the cake. Yes, I've heard differences in cords. I've built several flavors of cords. I've done a shootout of different brands, low and high priced. They certainly CAN make a difference, but sometimes the differences are subtle flavors and not dramatic differences. Othertimes there's little to no apparent difference at all.

You won't know for yourself unless you try it in your own system. Experimentation is fun, but expensive unless you have friends who can bring over different cords for you to check out.

Enjoy,
Bob
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,471 posts
 
For me, power cords made a HUGE difference...in that I must agree with Richard_Stacey... My system was very good with stock power cords, but is absolutely magical now with the upgraded cords. Vandersteen 5A's have powered subwoofers built into the speaker itself. There is a high pass filter that directs the signal from the owner's amp to the midrange and tweeter, and the bass signal is routed to the amp in the speaker to power the subwoofer. I changed the stock power cords to the speakers to experiment and discovered that the whole speaker dramatically improved...not only the lows. I can't tell you why, only that it sounds fabulous...and merely excellent before.
More to discover