New BMI Whale Elite Power Cord

Thanks guys- appreciate the responses. Hey Bruce- great to hear from you! Long time no speak. Glad ot hear the FIM is working out well. Haven't been able to audition it- as I may have told you, up here in Canada, we don't have such luxuries, and often have to committ to a cord from the U.S. WITHOUT EVEN HEARING IT FIRST (like I did with current Black Mamba). That is why I am still trying to gather as much info as I can from Audiogon posts, etc. Yah- it kinda sucks, esoecially when you;re putting out the kinda payola $$ these things cost. What do you think, for $400 U.S. (3 ft model), should I take a chance on the BMI Whale??

Hello all -

I took a chance on a Whale Elite - 6 foot - after a recommendation from another audiophile - TomP - on this site (he bought some IC cables from an ad I posted). TomP was very enthusiastic, and, when the time came, i bid and won an audiogon auction for about 425. + ship (intro price) about a month ago. The service from Brian at BMI was quick, and enthusiastic. The cable I rec'd was obviously carefully crafted and packaged.

***A note: though I have a high-end system, I've never spent over $200. on a power cable before (and given the time-frame I had to buy this time, I couldn't perform any comparisons to other more expensive PC's I've never owned e.g. to the Electraglides, etc. ).***

I used the BMI to replace my API ($175.00) PC to my pre-amp. The API was excellent for the money, but un-forgiving if any thing feeding my accurate all-tube VTL system was even slightly bright (I had a list of things I actually wrote down to check if i wasn't getting into the music (including speaker wires off floor, etc - that's how sensitive my system seemed to me). I find VTL eqpt can be lush, but never euphonic if tubed correctly.

OK, took a chance based on TomP's and my several conversations, won auction, sent $, rec'd cable promptly, and stuck it on pre-amp, and burned it in for 24 hours and decided to wait one month to submit a review.

I found this cable immediately added more detail to the upper regions (fleshed out considerably more subtle detail than the API) - sounding extremely detailed and more open than i'd experienced up to that time, yet creamy smooth, but not boring (like some cables i've matched with my Yamamura IC's). Base lept up a big notch - was deeper, tighter with a firm grip on sub-woofers. Ever since I noticed bad amp input tubes last year that distorted my Bass - i noticed an interesting phenomenon - bass from my subs could not go anywhere as deep as possible because of the rumbling of the woofers as they fought the distortion - much wasted energy. The cleaner and highest quality natual signal, the better. And that's what the Whale has provided me, envigorating the subs, allowing the preamp to provide a cleaner, deeper, more realistic signal for bass (and everything else) than they'd ever had. More mid-base info as well. Everything sounded more natural - 'live'.

I'm a rocker and listen to jazz and some classical as well. The whale PC improved the natural nature of my system - moving the bar forward in timbral accuracy, lower sound floor, etc (I can actually hear a little more tube buzz with all the new info coming through - time to check them).

Though cliche - I'd have to say that I now understand why people pay over $500 and on up for what we all used to think of as merely powercords. And, though i can't say, i'll bet these compete well at their retail price of $1200+.

Note: I found the Wattagate outlets from The Cable Co. also moved my system a huge notch forward when i upgraded my outlets last year.

I always been of the synergy camp - stretch and buy the best quality and best matched system I can afford, then tweak/upgrade the HELL out of it! ( and in the margins, this includes IC and PC cables as new, less expensive technology comes out). For every medium and high-current draw device I have, I'll buy a Whale (but CD player, DVD, etc. remain with the MIT Z-Cord II's PC's - great value $175.new, $85-90 used, great digital filtering. I've always loved MIT for their great value, ever since someone threw in some PC-squared's with my first (used) high - end speaker purchase).

Anyway, I have to say the BMI Whales get my highest recommendation - some of the other PC's i've used also include the original Marigo RMX Gen 2's on my amps - have been great, but am looking to now replace with the Whales.

As a bonus, I'd have to say I do love buying high-quality eqpt. from anyone who is as friendly and enthusiastic about their business as Brian at BMI. TomP, I thank ye.

I recommend auditioning these against other PC's up to at least 1500.00 (it'd be great if someone gets this chance and can post).

I agree with you Gregdavis. I am a Whale(s) owner and can give a very high recommendation. I placed mine on my Krell
KSA-250 amp and the other on KBL preamp. Everything was improved accross the board. Tighter bass, detail, imaging, soundstage and natural sound of the recording. I'd like to get two more for my digital front end in the near future. That's if I get the approval from Judge Wife.

Update to my previous post -GregDavis

Hello All -

After purchasing two more Whale Elite PC's for my VTL amps, I have to say I'm even further impressed by these well made power cords. Out came my old Marigo PC's - very respectable - and in went the Whales, and though i heard immediate benefits, I always like to wait a month or so to review for complete burn-in.

First - astonishing thing - to me this time around - my amps stopped buzzing - light humming i could hear even after warm up(i kept thinking that the amps were burning up signal tubes very quickly or some such thing before this upgrade, though VTLs are notoriously quiet for tube amps). I thought this low level humming was just something i had to live with (rarely got in the way of the music, but still...), but no. No humming, yet more detail retrieval and information from my system.

The system's noise floor dropped again, and more transparency and detail throughout all the frequency ranges (more of what was revealed using a Whale on my pre-amp - see prev post).

These PC's truly set a solid foundation for the rest of your system's cabling allowing the synergy (or not - if you find you have to make adjustments in other areas) to shine through. My next venture in cabling will probably be to audition recent speaker cabling designs for a possible upgrade.

Again, service from Brian at BMI was impeccable, and quality of the cables is evident immediately upon un-packing them.

Tremendous value, my hat's off.

Well, it's finally time for my user review of the BMI Whale Elite PC's. I don't know if I will be able to add any more insight into the product not already covered in Greg's very nice review (posted above) but, here goes. I received two of the PC's on 04/15/01. The PC's now have 800+ hours of use each and are used primarily on a DAC and player, though they have also been tested on two different amplifiers and in a system powered by both SS and tube (SET) amps (for audition purposes). To save time and space my main system can be viewed in the Virtual Systems Section and is listed under "SET Hide Away System" (for those interested in the whole picture) and the additional SS amp used was a Musical Fidelity X-A1 integrated amp which operates predominantly in Class A at my regular listening levels and which also has its power supply (not a wall wart:-) contained in a separate chassis (nice little amp on the cheap). PC's on hand for A/B comparison were Harmonic Tech Pro 11's, Stealth HAC and the Absolute PC's. Other PC's used prior in the system have been the PowerBurst (Silver Audio), though the older version, Mapleshade PC's and a Sidewinder that was on loan (I preferred the HT Pro 11's and the Stealth in this system which is why they were on hand at the beginning of the auditions - the Absolute PC's were added at a later date).

First impression right off the bat (out of the box and not broken in) was that of much more bass than anything that I had tried before. There was also a fullness (roundness) to notes, throughout the musical spectrum that was nice, but overall things were a bit loose in the low end and somewhat cloudy overall. I also tried one PC, to start (on the DAC) and then added the second PC to the player which did not double these sound qualities, but which did increase them substantially (two was better than one). From here they went to the computer and a second system to run in for 200 hours.

200 HOURS LATER: One PC went back on the DAC and the same thing (almost) with a much more substantial low end than the HT Pro 11. However this time the bass and mid-bass were tight and articulate, but still with enough bloom to sound very natural on string bass, drums and pipe organ. I had been a bit concerned (out of the box) that the PC's might be too bass heavy and out of balance for my system, but due to the low end tightening up along with the added fullness (roundness) that the PC offered in the frequencies on up, the sound was very well balanced indeed. Then on with the second PC (to the player) and the sound once again improved. In regard to the fullness that I speak of, it is not a soft and mushy sound, but is one of fine detail and full dynamics while still maintaining smoothness (HF's are extended and detailed but still smooth and silky, yet with enough bite when needed for brass instruments). Quite a balancing act, I would say. By "roundness," I mean that not only the front of a note is audible but also the sides and back as it rests in space/air in front of the speakers (very 3D sounding and I wonder if this may be partially due to the reduced background noise offered up by the BMI's)? OK, right now those of you with SET experience may be thinking that this is "just" the effect of the 300B based SET amp. Not so, as this is in "addition" to the sound of the SET, plus this improvement in depth and "3Dness" (I don't claim to have a way with words) is also very evident with the SS amp that I used as well for the auditions. With the other PC's that I have used this was never all available in a single PC. The Stealth and the PowerBurst offered fine detail, but were not as full and smooth as I would have liked. The HT Pro 11 was very smooth, but did not offer the dynamics and detail of the other two PC's and none of them ever came close to achieving the low frequency information or the 3d effect that I am now getting from the BMI Whales. This added low frequency information is "almost" as if I have switched to full range floor standing speakers when in reality I still use stand mounted monitors. This is something that has to be heard to believed as I am still amazed when I switch out the BMI's with my previous PC's. As far as the 3D sound that I am now getting from the BMI's, the only cord that I have yet to try that offers this is the $50 Absolute cord, though not nearly to the extent to that of the BMI's, it is still there, and because of this it is the PC that I use to fill in where I cannot at this time afford better PC's as they do not seem to detract from this illusion of music in space as opposed to music coming from a pair of speakers. I know that this sounds like an odd partnership, but this is what works in my system. Within the next few months another member and myself will be exchanging our FIM Gold and BMI cords (one each) for comparison purposes and along with these will be auditioning a new all silver PC from Vantage Audio, UK, so there is more fun to come.

To sum it all up:

*Full bass response (expected of a high end PC), yet a balanced overall sound.
*Full sounding yet fast and detailed.
*3D sounding.
*Smooth and extended HF's, yet with enough bite for brass.
*Very low in background noise which helps free the sound from the speakers.
*At the introductory price, I consider it to be a great value (steal) considering the improvement to be had over the $200 PC's that I have tried.