Pass labs X350.5 jumpers and Power cables

I called Pass yesterday regarding the cost of the faceplates. Easy to replace I'm sure but at what cost. I need to more aware of feedback score when there is none. Told that this amp wasn't even broken in and looking like it's been around for a long long time leaves tuning somewhat difficult. If I'm selling this amp it's a 7/10.

I tried Steve Vai "Fire garden" last night as well as Steve Winwood "Nine Lives". What I find is a suprising amount of "hardness" in the treble for lack of better term. Sound didn't seem balanced especially if I attempted higher volumes. Switching to Neil Young "Chrome Dreams II" yielded much better results. This is balanced out from my Cary. Haven't tried tube rolling yet as I like to start with power cables then interconnects. I only have 1 set of balanced cables which worked wonders with my Nuforces but this is a far different animal.

No doubt Shunyata is the popular choice for power. What about interconnects?

Easy to replace I'm sure but at what cost.

Are you sure you need a complete faceplate ? The 'faceplate' consists of 3 separate parts - the actual faceplate, left 'handle' and right 'handle'. Maybe it is enough to replace just one of them, or both - they cover almost 2/3 of the faceplate. Take a closer look.

I just need the front handles and not the actual faceplate. The handles are $90 dollars a pair- reasonable enough for what they are.

It's not that they are altogether bad, just way short of what I expected.

$90 for a pair is well worth it IMO. You will loose much more than $90 in resale if you list the amp as 7/10, instead of 9/10 (after replacing the handles).

Last night I began again tweaking this system. I had to accept earlier that the Nuforce 9SEV2 Cary Preamp & LS6 combo was nothing short of great in our room. Now I spent x 2 on speakers and a Pass that was good but not great.

Audio is funny though. I've been in many rooms where the equipment was amazing and the sound not. I attribute that to the differences in the way we hear sounds physically and emotionally. I try to mimic as much as possible the sound of live and work from there. I'm very finicky and rather obsessive about what I hear and generally concede that what I have will have its issues. Where am I going?

Lots of opinions about power cables. They make a difference to anyone who isn't tone deaf and I believe are part of tuning a system, just like the interconnects.

Ah the interconnects. I stuck with balanced as a few members mentioned to stay that route. Make second set of DIYers were broke (fragile as hell) but always sounded amazing so I again repaired the broken ground and went back to single ended. Jumpers in place (the 12awg wire variety) we sat down to listen. What I was greeted with was the best sounds I've ever heard drifting through our room and maybe through any room. What was on cue was REM Automatic For The People, first cut. Company showed up and I pushed her to the sweet spot "listen to this". She was spellbound as was I. I replayed the same cut again for my wife unit. But company conversation took over and I had to wait.

Next up was Annie Lennox "Medusa" a very familiar disk I've been referencing for many years. It was absolutely stunning. Every cut was a marvel of balance, ambiance, detail, holographic imagery. I felt like I was hallucinating. How the hell can an interconnect make such an astounding difference? And seemingly the wrong interconnect for this amp.

I went to bed last night and told my wife, "OK maybe now it was worth the money". She agreed ;-)