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Power Cords - Just Say Yes

I'm the biggest cable skeptic on the planet. I've never been able to tell the difference between one speaker cable over the other. I've never a/b tested because I just can't handle that sort of thing when all I want to do is listen to music. The power cord however is a whole different beast. I know. I just replaced a 18/3 that was powering my Rogue Cronus Magnum for two years with an Audioquest NRG4. I know some people aren't fans of AQ but that's what my local guy sells and I support him 100%. He sold me a broken in demo which is exactly what I wanted. I didn't do an a/b test and I didn't have to. I pulled the old one out and tossed it in the copper recycling pile and replaced it with the AQ. I fired up my amp this morning and let her warm up. I pulled out Sylvain Luc & Bireli Agrene's 'Duet' and hit the play button on the remote. Right off the bat I had to blink my eyes to make sure I was actually in my house. Everything tightened up with a dead silent background. I feel like a fool for waiting so long to come around on this one. I'm still skeptical of whether or not I will notice a difference when I replace the power cord to my CDP, but if you tell me I'll notice I might believe you. Either way, that's my next investment.
donjr
polk432
1,142 posts
 
I should be getting a Nordost Vishnu 2M power cord and 4 Nordost Blue Heaven 1M power cords tues and will hook them up 1 by 1 to hear the differences before letting them settle in. Soon I'll have a Nordost QB4 hooked up for a further experiment in sound differences, if any, and finally an octet of Gold Lion KT-88 tubes that I'll run on one side of my amp, leaving the stock ones on the other side running my tuner in mono and stereo modes. I've done this with speaker wires and speakers (one left side one right side) to really hear if there is enough of a difference. The tubes will be equally biased. I hope 2,015.00 make some improvement, even though the prices of the individual parts were better than retail cost. I've been hearing how much difference power cords make I figured I'd give it a try. Stay tuned.
ketchup
695 posts
 
Peter,

Who cares whether it passes code or not? The point is to see if there's an improvement in eliminating power cords from the equation. It's a test. But, if I hard wired my components and it made my system sound better, I would deal with code which would never be an issue anyway. Nobody would ever see it. It's your house, you can do what you want.

Your tests look interesting. I look forward to reading your conclusions!
akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,212 posts
 
Polk432 ....

Not wishing to sensationalize the obvious or trivialize the important.... but does this upgrade pathg also involve a pathway (now or later) for swapping in quality audiophile grade wall power plugs and/or a dedicated power line?

The effects of these other tweaks individually and together -- as prominent as to the insertion of a quality power chord -- are not subtle.

I've used HUBBELL hospital grade wall plugs as well as eventually migrating up to the goldplated all-Cu FURUTECHs. The improvements from the HUBBELLs to the FURUTECHs are incremental and "bang-fer-yer-buck" depends on how revealing your system is.

I would start with the HUBBELLs or equivalents: they are the inexpensive and logical first step minimum "ying and yang" extension to the insertion of any upgraded new power cord.
akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,212 posts
 
Your insurance company, for starters.

In the event of ANY mishap, a departure from building code (particularly where it is an override instead of a mistake) will likely void your insurance coverage.

Not Recommended IMO' when a properly grounded dedicated line to a quality hospital grade wall plug at a minimum, (with an option of migrating up to gold plated all Cu models) will get what you want.

There is a reason why they use these are required in hospitals: to eliminate the risk of a spark or arc when you plug something in.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
The 4 new power cords that I just added do make a difference right out of the box, so maybe they'll get better with some burn in, or maybe not. I do have a dedicated line, and I'm getting a Nordost QB4 box in a few more days, 8 Gold Lion tubes for my amp, so hopefully I'll be done for a while.
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