Best power cord for amp??

After reading Carl's post of 5/2/00 essentially "trashing" the Synergistic Research Master Coupler (SR-MC), I decided to critically listen last night for the negative characteristics he noted. I have the SR-MC on my Line 2 pre-amp. 1) too filtered (I took this to mean "veiled" as STPH and TAS use the term)-- not at all, in fact music quality/character was transparent, natural and inviting. 2) Too dark: slightly on the rich, mellow side of neutral (which I prefer, and my system presently needs) but certainly not too dark. 3) very tubby bass-- this was the most difficult criticism to assess. In certain rock, pop, and jazz songs where electric bass and kick drum reinforce each other, SOME songs on some CDs had bass that might be described as somewhat "tubby". But please note that both the electric bass and typical kick drum have "tubbiness" as an inherent musical characteristic-- IMHO, and I've had personal experience playing alongside both of these. But to really assess the bass of this power cord, I had to get into CDs with serious mid and upper bass. Both Enigma #1, and #4 CDS feature the mid-bass to upper bass with a variety of drums and other percussion instruments, and on both of these, bass was taut, articulate, and musical. I enjoyed both CDs a lot. The same with L. McKennitt's "Book of Secrets" which features a variety of percussive instruments on several of the tracks-- overall, very musical without a hint of "tubbiness". Conclusion: in my system, the SR-MC is an excellent performer, and I'm looking forward to getting the same cord for my amp-- it's on order. In the course of doing this testing, I periodically switched to the stock cord for comparison, and in the bass the two cords are similar. It's in the mid-range and above where the SR-MC is clearly superior. I rather did enjoy this challenge; it made me dig deeper, listen more carefully, and assess more rigorously. Thanks, Craig

I wasn't trying to challenge you, Craig. Different cords will work for different systems, but what I heard in mine, is what I heard. And that was comparing six different cords (all with healthy break-in and settling time). Sam Tellig always says your mileage may vary, and I should have said that. I wasn't out to diminish anyone else's experience.

Hi Garfish. This may be bad news, but then again it may be helpful. When running a dedicated AC, it is useful to have first identified which direction of the AC feed sounds best. I discovered this the hard way. I ran the dedicated AC and got a mixture of good and bad. Specifically, there was a brightness that was difficult to deal with. Then I was told about the directionality of the TPC AC feeder. To check, I just ran another AC link through the house to the stereo (ie. not putting it in the wall), but with the direction reversed. This proved Murphy's Law once again and I had to redo the dedicated AC with the cable in the right direction. I hope there is some simpler explanation in your case, because I was not terribly pleased. But the removal of brightness was not the only benefit. Depth and bass punch were considerably improved.

Hi Redkiwi, and thanks for the input. In my professional career there was a saying a close friend used to use a lot that I think applies here; "I wish I understood all that I know about this". That said, what does TPC AC feeder mean? Are you referring to switching the power cable from the main supply panel to the sub-main end for end or side to side? To tell the truth, I was expecting nothing but good things with this dedicated power supply-- and it has dramatically lowered the noise floor, but as noted, the mid-range on up is overly bright, and I suspect it also has had an affect on the lower frequencies; it's just not as noticeable because I'm focused on the brightness. Would you mind if I email you privately-- through Audiogon to discuss this a bit more? As I don't suppose most are very interested in such a mundane topic. Thanks. Craig.

Hi Carl, I too enjoy the musings of Sam Tellig. As noted, I did sort of enjoy "re-visiting" my decision to go with the Syn. Res. BTW, I got the 2nd one today and am looking forward to getting it broken in. And I know, that you know, that power cords are really system dependent-- so much so that it could drive you crazy auditioning them. Craig.