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Power cable upgrades, or Power conditioner?

OK here's the deal, I have a currently all digital system(ie no analog source yet), I find that the sound is fatiguing. I am looking to do both power cable upgrades, and a PS audio Power plant 300, the power cables I am looking cost about as much as the PS audio unit. I am going to do both but money doesn’t grow on trees this time of year, so I ask which one should I do first? I am not using stock power cables but I know they need to be upgraded to extrapolate the level of performance I feel is available from my system. I use a transport and a digital pre(well with in a week any how), so I will need 2 power cables and am looking into the whale elite, Pure note epsilon, NBS monitor 0 and anything else that catches my eye, or if any one has directions to make power cables from home depot available products I am all ears. I am capable enough to build power cords, but I would rather not waste time and money on something that I don’t know what I am doing , how ever if any one wants to tell me here or email a few ideas that would be great, but in the mean time which should I concentrate on the conditioner or the cables?
Thanks a lot
~Tim
tireguy
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
Hey Tim
I must completely disagree with statements such as "power conditioning comes last" & "cables won't do much for you". You just do not know what will happen at YOUR place until you try these things THERE, & in the right combinations. In my situation (you know of my rig) I had the right equipment but had the wrong cables, no AC line conditioning, no tweaks. Particular attention to all of these "insignificants" made all the difference between a very expensive yet mediocre sounding rig, and a clean, dynamic, fantastic system sounding well beyond my expectations. You really have no idea regarding the true potential of your existing equipment until you have experimented with it enough to find out with what synergizes it the best. Despite the significant gains that I have already realized, I really can't say that my rig has yet reached its' highest potential because I have no way of trying out all of the various permutations & combinations of cables, conditioners, & tweaks available.
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,390 posts
 
Tim: What is your current setup? There may be a much less expensive fix for what you are experiencing whether it be isolation products, cables or whatever. Some power cords, in effect, are power conditioners themselves especially in my situation which is "apartment life" and a high end conditioner is not really needed (just one that does the minimum and gets out of the way). If this is a recent problem then it may just involve static electricity. I have been using my ZeroStat gun the past month (on CD's and LP's) to the point that I fear that I am turning into "Johnny Yuma". Here in LA we experience desert dry air in-between rain, plus using the heat in our place really dries things out. More info please.
gregm
3,396 posts
 
To second DK, if recent it's most certainly static electricity. If not, it could be a number of things including the pre. So, Tim, what's the system & set-up?
Cheers
snook2's avatar
snook2
620 posts
 
You can do better than the PS power plant. I upgraded to the audio tekne power conditioner. Everything gets plugged into it including the amps. The one drawback is you cannot use 3 pronged plugs so you have to go with the audio tekne cords which I found were as good as JPS and Nordost.
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