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Lost in the Powercord Jungle

I am interested in upgrading my stock powercords and am totally confused by all the ads, claims and choices available. All the sales hype makes me sketical. I would like to ask my fellow Audiogner's what they might suggest for my system and any experiences they have had with thier powercords. I am searching for a more open sound with more dynamics and greater detal. My budget would need to be around $1.5k max per cord. I have the Mark Levinson Model 32 Reference preamp, Model 30.6 DAC, Model 31.5 Transport. My power amps are Krell FPB 350 MC monoblocks with hard wired cords. (should I change these out and have a 20amp EIC male socket installed to allow the use of an upgraded powercord?) Finally, all my speaker and I/C's are Transparent Reference XL and speakers are Dynaudio Temptations.

Thank you in advance for your input!

Dan
piperdan
swklein
136 posts
 
First off, for 1,500 per cord you have all the choices in the world (perhaps that's the problem). It makes most sense to borrow cables from the Cable Company (www.fatwyre.com). They'll lend you anything for a 5% deposit toward a purchase within a year. That means you can listen to just about anything, ANYTHING, decide what you want, and then either purchase from them, or use up the accrued deposits with them and then shop used on Audiogon. The only sanity-saving way to audition power cords.
bigkidz
3,414 posts
 
There are a number of very good power cords on the market that are getting very good press, Elrod, Virtual Dynamics, Foundation Research, HMS, NBS, Purist and AZ, but they each do something different in a system. You need to read the reviews from AUdio mags and on-line reviews and narrow down the list. And then get some cords in and listen to them yourself. Fatwyre.com (the cable comapny) lets you try them out as well as most dealers here at Agon. If you are going to sepnd that kind of ching, hear them for yourself. Do you have dedicated AC lines? That is the first step prior to all of this. IMHO, there is no magic cable, or component.
rzado
175 posts
 
Bigkidz makes a good suggestion - go for a dedicated line (or two) first. After that, absolutely demo any power cables in your system before you buy. Some good choices are listed above - I would point out that Electraglide and Shunyata have also gotten good reviews/press.

However, I would caution you in jumping in wholeheartedly into multi-thousands of dollars worth of power cords. Power cords do make a difference, but make sure you figure out whether the differences you are hearing are positive ones! For example, oftentimes, that "authoritative bass" you hear in a new PC really is really a recessed trable and exaggerated midbass, which are calling your attention to that range of the spectrum. Unfortunately, I spent too much money learning this lesson the hard way.
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