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Finding a Power Cord that sounds great

There are so many Power cords out there it is mind boggling. I have tried quite a few of them. Here is what I have tried over the few years. JPS +, Kimber Kable Palladian, Cardas Golden reference, Shunyata Python Helix. They all had their pluses and minuses and I kept looking. Some I enjoyed more than others. I recently tried a BPT L9cT(advertised here on Audiogon) and was surprised at how good it was for such a reasonable price. Chris Hoff of BPT(great guy to work with by the way) made a special L9cT Power Cord with the new Furutech FI50 connectors recently. Wow! Now I thought this is something special. It imaged better that any of the other Power cords I had tried with a deeper and higher image than I had experienced before. It is still a fast cord with excellent transients and great bass but with a much bigger sound stage. Also the Furutech FI50's seem to give the sound a relaxed realistic character to instruments. Pianos especially sounded nice. I have heard the Furutech powerflux power cord was an excellent. It was slightly higher priced than what I wanted to pay for a power cord. It uses the F150 connectors. So trying the BPT cord with Fi50s was a nice find.
Anyone want to share their experiences with the best power cord they have used? I know some of this is system dependent. Has anyone tried a BPT power cord or a power cord with FI50 connectors? Just wanted to say I had a very good listening experience with BPT L9CT with Furutech FI50s.
Thanks

My Equipment
Anthem D2
Theta Dreadnaught II
Naim CDx2
Kef reference 205s RL
Kef reference 204 center
Martin Logan descent Sub
PSB synch surrounds
Oyaide R1 outlets with Furutech covers
jrn
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Thank you JRN. Yes, you are correct, a lot has to do with personal preference, and the sound is the result of the interaction of all components in a system, including power cords of course. I tried to make clear in my posts that my assessment of the Shunyata KC+Aurora suite is not an absolute, but that these wires are the ones that satisfy my own particular sonic and musical values to the highest degree, regardless of list price. Your original query did not specify a price range, hence my unrestricting interpretation of 'best'. Unfortunately, not having listend to BPT cords, I can't venture a guess about their price/performance ratio. If you give us a price range, we all might come up with suggestions/opinions that match your target much better. G.
jrn OP
36 posts
 
Well G I did bring up The Furutech powerflux Power cord
which is now $2380 a cord so why not bring up the King Cobra CX.
I thought the top cord by Shunyata was in the 2 grand area. See I learned something
Of course there are so many choices out there. And one great thing
about Audiogon is you can find some pricey cords for a good deal
used. Also there are guys on audiogon like Chris Hoff of BPT and Don at
DCCA who make there own cords and sell them on here and they can
be a very high performance per $. And can also contend with big boys.
It's all good. I like to here from as many people as I can about what they
have tried and liked in their system.
Thanks for the input.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
You bet JRN. . . just make sure that when looking at a used King Cobra listed at an attractive price, the listing specifies CX. The only thing in common between the original King Cobra and the CX version is a significant heftiness of the device. Construction/design is apparently quite different. Guido
jrn OP
36 posts
 
My brother found a Furutech Powerflux on Audiogon for a great price used. He was thrilled with the sound. It was his idea that I should ask Chris at BPT to make a cord with Furutech FI50s. They are great sounding connectors.
Makes for a great cord. I am thinking that Shunyata improved their connectors on the CX version. Connectors make a difference.
I hope my brother posts on this thread. He has a Furutech powerflux, BMI cables, BPT,and a revelation audio power cords. He has tried tons of cords. with varying degrees of success. What he has now for cords he is very happy with! He found all these cords on Audiogon by the way!
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Yes, apparently in CX series Shunyata has enhanced its connectors. However, it is my understanding there is alot more to the Shunyata design than connectors alone. Just from memory. . .

* Shunyata utilizes extremely pure Copper. Of course, I am not sure if this is purer than other Copper formulations, like the ones utilized by Acrolink and others.
The Copper is extruded in house in a semi-molten state, and the semi-molten mass is subjected to a very intense EM field, whose purpose is to align Copper 'molecules' along field geodesics. Note that as Copper is micro-crystaline, what is meant is either that the crystal grains get aligned, or that atoms are align prior to recrystalization.
* The wire strands (or perhaps the finished product, I am not sure), is subjected to an in house very low temperature cryogenic process.
The Cord is machine braided using something like 750 separate wires for the King Cobra wires, resulting in a 5-gage counter-rotating helycoidal aggregate or so woven (I believe at a 90 degrees normalized pattern) around the central tube(s).

If the audible results of this technology and process were bizarre, or were otherwise dull or unmusical, my ever-snarky and ready comment would be the usual Stravinskian warning that we should judge a tree by its fruits, not by its roots. Fortunately, KC CX's sonic 'fruits' are most delectable, hence I shall leave Igor Stravinsky alone for the duration, but try to seek a plausible explanation of the delivered Nirvana instead. G.
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