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Power cords for Aleph amps

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any experience matching pc's with the aleph amps. For the last year, I had heeded to advice of the Aleph 2's manual not to spend extra money on PCs for these monos. From my understanding the reasoning was due to the high capacitance and watershed of power to be drawn from, so no immediate surge of power would be needed. That now said, I recently added a pair of very reasonably priced (retail 200 each) Discovery PC's and noticed an immediate improvement in clarity of female vocals and noticeably better transients. I am very happy about this change and it makes intuitive sense that the PC's should improve exactly this. I was wondering if anyone has had good/bad experience with these amps and PC's. IF it is helpful, my system is a Muse model 5 transport with a Marigo Ref RMX C PC- Illuminati D-60- EAD 7000 MkIII D/A with a LAT PC- Kimber KCAG- Muse model 3 pre with a Tice PC- Zeus audio yellow jacket- Aleph 2's with the Discovery PCs- cardas 5c speaker cable to B&W 804s. All components except the alephs are going through a Counterpoint PAC-5 (great little conditioner for sources IMHO). Any input would be appreciated. Thanks and Happy Holidays, Todd (tsquared)
tsquared
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
I just replaced the eel ref with a Top Gun;sure,- more money. This is an "amp" cord.Josh says "don't spend the big bucks for Top Gun's best;for use with an amp;but get a great AMP cord." Wished I had bought this first.I have a King Cobra, Syn. Research ref(the 650 one) on on the front end pieces. The amp has different requirements than front ends.When somebody makes a sug. that works this well,can't help but give them a plug: Music Direct less than 600.I was willing to spend more.Just not that many retailers like this.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
Should have mentioned my amp : Jadis 7 mk4 Massive transformers;power hungry beast.
tom_nice
387 posts
 
This may not be relevant to Aleph 2's, but I got a major improvement with Aleph 3's (used as monoblocks now) when I changed to Stealth HAC power cords. I use a Cinepro Line Balancer, whose designer, like Nelson Pass with your Aleph 2's, says power cords don't matter much. Not true in my case or in yours. Stealth pays particular attention to grounding--see tech notes, www.interlinkhouse.com. Now a disclosure: I know the Stealth designer, so assume a bias if you like. (But I got to know him as a buyer, let me add.)
rayhall
393 posts
 
I recommend a very cheap cord which works well with my Aleph 4. It is a Audioquest AC-12 and I recommend it highly to those of you who find Alephs a little polite and laid back in the upper mids. I found that it left the rest of the frequency spectrum unaffected. I have also tried ESP Essence, but that left a heavier, boomier bass which I did not favor.
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,366 posts
 
I added Powersnakes Viper V2 to my Aleph 2s and it made an amazing diffrence, these cords really wake-up the Aleph 2s. If you find the 2s a little subdued and laid back you would really like what the Vipers do. I had a set of Harmonic Tech Pro 11 cords before this and when I did a comparison I found that I prefered the sound of the stock cords to the Pro 11, they really muffled the sound and reduced dynamic contrast, they stock cords went the other way being a little thin and bright, the Vipers are in an entirely diffrent league. I guess Nelson has never tried Powersnakes or he wouldn't say that powercords don't help. The Alephs also benefitted from the addition of Black Diamond #4 cones.
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