help with power cord

How good are the cords they came with? I have heard some improvment in changing the 18/3 standard black cords (like what come with your computer) with 14/3 standard black cords. These would be very cheap at the hardware or computer store. Also check eBay. There are some cords offered by Stu Wein at Audioparts@aol.com that go for around $50 from his closed audio business. They orignially sold in the $150 range. I tried one and its an improvment on a stock cord. If you contact him by eMail he will sell you them directly. He is a CES right now, so you may not hear from him right away. There are other cables on eBay "Cableplex" that are bulk sale for $64 each. Have never tried them.

Check the Audioadvisor for API EF 313. They cost about $120-30? It is very good silver plated AC cord.

Do an on line search for Volex and buy a Volex 17604 cord (14 guage, shielded) for about $10. Then buy a Hubell 5266 male end for about $7 or $8 and a good quality iec. (I used a Bulgin-cost $5 in Canada) but Schurter is another one with a lot of positive remarks at Audio Asylum. You MUST reterminate this cord to really take full advantage of it. Your total cost on this cord is about $20 and it will give many, if not all of the sub $200 cords a very serious run for their money. Is it the be-all and end all? No. I also own a Blue Circle BC 62 and Cardas Golden, both of which are much better, but also much more expensive (although not megabuck cords). By going this route, you'll also hear whether you can hear a power cord difference, whether it's a positive one, and whether you want to pursue more expensive cords. This may be all you want, but you've got some pretty jazzy equipment there; my guess is that you want to really look at cords in the $200 and up range, but if you can find a used BC 62 for around $125 or $150, grab it. It will show you what a decent, low priced cord is really capable of. I haven't heard the Harmonic Tech AC 11, but you often see them around $125 used and they seem to be highly thought of.

I have tried the Harmonic Tech AC 11 and I thought my stock cord sounded better, so did my friend who I lent it to. Synergistic Master Coupler could be had for about 140.00 used, they are pretty good, I own one and felt that it marginally improved the sound. The high dollar stuff unfortunatly is where the big jumps in improvment occur. If you wanted to stretch you budget a bit the Powersnakes Sidewinder are said to be great, about 260.00 retail. I don't own any of these, but I do own Viper and King Cobras and they have made a world of diffrence in my system. They are quite a bit more expensive though.

Eljif, was your H. Tech. power cord properly broken in? It sometimes takes a good 100-200 hours before many H.Tech cables really strut their stuff. Granted, I would probably agree with your assessment if I was listening with you, but my H.T Pro-11 AC soundsexcellent for the money, and is a good choice for secondary pieces (subwoofer?) even in a high end system. I also have a Yamamura Quantum power cord ($1200) that provides a little bit of magic to my system, but my H.Tech PC holds its own in comparison. It was a signifcant improvement over my stock cord, and definitely worth the $160 price. ($125 at Audiogon)