Power Cord brands mixing. "Your Opinions"

Mrtennis, I tend to agree with you on your statement regarding manufacturers not wanting to admit to designing gear with a "coloration." The term coloration is fairly perjorative so it's avoided most of the time. I would agree that you are seeking a certain coloration in your system, which can be extremely pleasant.

However, I would disagree with your generalization (someone once said, "generalizations are generally wrong") that one brand sets could not obtain such coloration. I have used several sets which seem more colored relative to others. i.e. I would suggest that Jena Labs, Magnan Cables and Tara Labs have more of a colored, or particular tonal sound, than Harmonic Technology, WireWorld or Clarity Cable. This becomes apparent immediately upon hearing them in any system compared to the others.

How many entire sets of cables have you tested/compared in order to arrive at your conclusion? I can respect your experience if you have worked with five, seven or ten sets. But if you just tried one or two then you lack much experience in this matter. No amount of logic can replace experience with cables.

I do believe you an exception, as I don't think most audiophiles would willingly want less defintion/detail in their systems and to introduce a perceived coloration (I realize we are speaking generally here and cannot pin down the precise experience). I believe that is a major mistake in setting up audio systems. Now, of course it's "my opinion," and you are free to enjoy whatever kind of sound you want.

I believe, Mrtennis, that you are settling for less than you could have. I find that most audiophiles are content with sound that is far under the potential of the equipment and that cabling plays a huge role in that under-performing. No matter whether you wish for your coloration or not I believe there are cable brands which would do what you want better than a hodge-podge of cables while introducing no unwanted characteristics.

Now, I perfectly understand yours and Calloway's method of using a couple of different cables to adjust the system when a set of cables is too strident. I insist that it means you have the wrong set of cables for your taste! Simply put, if you don't love the sound of the system with the set of cables you have tried, sample a different set. Sure, you can adjust it with a couple of different ones, but you will also be influencing the positive characteristics you did enjoy about the set.

The bottom line is that mixed cables give no direction toward purposeful movement of an audiophile's rig toward the desired sound. It's a guessing game. If you guys knew what a particular cable brand sounded like you would be able to select it for the desired effect. Even if you did mix it you would know what the cable would do for the system. You cannot know that unless you have the native sound of the cable in your mind from using it as a single set.

In my second system at the office I happen to have a mixed set of cables, about 3/4 of WireWorld and a couple others. This is by necessity rather than choice; I put my money into the main rig in my listening room. If I were to put more money into it I would not use the mixed cables; this system is entirely for non-critical listening but for background music while I work.

I know fairly well what would happen if I put in one or two different brands of cables I'm familiar with, whether tonality would suffer, whether detail and definition would increase, whether a coloration would be introduced. Just throwing a new untested cable into the mix is a crap shoot. Too many audiophiles are doing so and are encouraged, even by reviewers, to do so. It's a great way to spin your wheels and get nowhere. :)

i have auditioned cardas, dcaa, pear audio, ear to ear, audioquest, purist audio, audience, synergistic, mojo audio, mac, kimber cable, and a few others i don't remember.

Mrtennis, By "auditioned" you mean used entire sets in your system, right? Not simply heard in another rig elsewhere. Just clarifying, because then the variables truly would be too great to draw any firm conclusions regarding the cables.

So which set(s) sounded closest to your ideal? I assume that you then did your mixing to find just the right "taste"?

If you heard differing sets of cables and compared them to find the closest to your ideal, then "tuned" it with one or two cables, you are essentially following the path I advise, which is to compare entire sets to hone in on the sound one wishes. The thing we would disagree on, then, would be whether a full set from one manufacturer exists which would be your sonic ideal - an unknown. My answer would be, "likely," while yours would be, "likely not."

So, we may not be as far apart in the cable selection process as first thought. I would have far less of an argument with comparison of multiple sets in order to close in on one's ideal sound with a final tweak than to simply use mixed sets all along. I believe there's a huge difference in the two methods.

How did you go about determining your preference among those sets of cables in your system? I have my own method, but I'm curious to hear how you did so.

A number of posts by several people in the recent part of this thread, while being well expressed, seem to be using the word "cables" in a loose manner that leaves me wondering if we are still discussing the original question, which relates specifically to power cords.

The reason I raise that point is that from a technical standpoint I would find it far more plausible that in the case of analog interconnects and speaker cables some PARTIAL degree of correlation may exist between using one brand and the likelihood of optimal results, than in the case of power cords.

Analog interconnects and speaker cables have the job of conducting an analog signal from point A to point B. In so doing, their sonic effects reflect the net result of interactions between their parameters and the impedance and other characteristics of what they are connecting, as well as their own intrinsic effects. While the magnitude and significance of that net result can be expected to vary considerably as a function of what is being connected, it seems plausible that its general character will have a reasonable degree of consistency.

In the case of power cords, on the other hand, the relation between the effects of a given cord on the AC it is conducting and the sound that is heard is, literally and figuratively, vastly more circuitous. I repeat my earlier contention that I see no reasonable plausibility in the expectation that given power cord characteristics will result in effects on the sound that are consistent across components that perform different functions, that have vastly different fluctuations in their power draw, that have vastly different amounts of power draw, that generate different amounts of rfi, that can be presumed to have different rfi sensitivity, that interpose completely different power supply designs between the AC and the signal path, and that may be completely different designs in just about every other respect.

Putting it all another way, a finding that choosing interconnects and speaker cables from the same manufacturer tends to correlate with optimal sonic results IMO would say nothing about the likelihood that the same will hold true in the case of power cords.

Regards,
-- Al

Al...I was specifically referring to power cables in my comments. There is not a doubt in my mind that most brands of power cords have a sonic character...regardless of what piece of gear they are powering. I do understand that if you approach this from a purely analytic perspective vs one of application, that may be hard to fathom but I am certain of this.

I'm sure it is hard to take some idiot's post on a forum (me) as gospel on the matter but if you search through the vast amount of information on this forum and many others like it you will find very consistent description of how some of the more popular cables sound. Just search Nordost Valhalla for example....I would guess many readers of this post could tell you before you get to the results what they will say. Why?