$2,000 power cords? Are people nuts?

[heavywear]

Ok, I'm showing my un-audiophile underbelly here but I'm looking at the new issue of HT magazine and has a new product listing for replacement power cords that range from $100 to a whopping 2 grand!

http://www.wireworldcable.com/

I can't imagine spending 100 bucks to replace the power cord that came with my amp. :whofart:

[BobDole42]

I'm going to put on my flame suit before I say this....

I have three Harmonic Technology Pro AC-11 power cords ($240 each) - one for my Krell preamp, one for my Krell amp and the third for the outboard power supply for my Perpetual Technologies DAC. http://www.harmonictech.com/products/pro_ac11.html

I also have a pair of Revelation Audio Labs Parable power cables ($100 each) to connect my Perpetual Tech P-1A and P-3A to the power supply. http://www.revelationaudiolabs.com/cables-power/index.htm

The power cords give me a considerably lower noise floor (it's darn near silent now) and, IMO, greater bass detail.

[X]

Your amps run on AC internally?

[mbs]

My wallet is glad that my ears cannot hear the difference. God bless my non-audiophile ears! ;)

[BobDole42]

Your amps run on AC internally?

was that question for me? I don't think I understand it.

[X]

I wonder about the benefit of "purer" AC if the amp doesn't run on AC internally. That is, if it immediately converts the AC that it's plugged in to into DC before it does its work.

So I was wondering if your amps skipped that AC->DC conversion and ran on pure AC internally.

[BobDole42]

I wonder about the benefit of "purer" AC if the amp doesn't run on AC internally. That is, if it immediately converts the AC that it's plugged in to into DC before it does its work.

So I was wondering if your amps skipped that AC->DC conversion and ran on pure AC internally.

gotcha - no, the amps don't run on pure AC internally.

I was skeptical of the benifits of aftermarket power cords myself. I actually purchased them to see if there was anything to them or if it was just snake oil. Much to my surprise, I found the benefits to be immediate and readily perceivable, so much so that I ordered a third one for my DAC a few days later.

[X]

Are you plugging those cords into the wall? I'm concerned about the normal crappy wiring from the fusebox to the outlets. Or did you put in new wiring to the outlets that your sound equipment plugs into?

[BobDole42]

cords are plugged into the wall. I know, it sounds absurd that the last 5 feet of high quality wiring could have an affect given miles of crappy wiring.

[GIjon213]

Have you tired a blind test, where some one plugs a normal or the expensive plug and you don't know which one? I mean, if I spent that kind of money on a power cable, I am sure I could convince myself of a huge difference. Have other people noticed also, and did you tell them about the cables before they noticed or after?

[BobDole42]

Have you tired a blind test, where some one plugs a normal or the expensive plug and you don't know which one? I mean, if I spent that kind of money on a power cable, I am sure I could convince myself of a huge difference. Have other people noticed also, and did you tell them about the cables before they noticed or after?

I'm in law school, so I don't exactly have a lot of audiophile buddies. In fact, most of my friends consider a Bose sound dock to be "high end!"

I'd love to do a blind test, but my system as currently set up doesn't lend itself to easy cable swapping. The one thing I can say for sure is that the noise floor of my system is considerably lower than it was with the stock cables. I used to be able to hear a slight but audible hiss from my speakers during silent portions of a track or between tracks from the listening position (approx 7 feet away). Now I have to literally be 3 inches from the tweeter to hear the hiss. As for the other improvements I mentioned (tighter and more bass, etc.) - who knows? Maybe I'm just fooling myself. At any rate, I got a great deal on the Harmonic Tech cords (they retail for $240 each - I paid $125 each for mint condition dealer demo cords). If I decide they aren't worth it, I can re-sell them on Audiogon and not lose any money :)

[X]

I wonder if the hiss comes from bad shielding of the stock cables? I could see hum, but hiss seems unusual from bad shielding.

I suppose you could take a stock cable and wrap it with some aluminum foil and see if it makes the hiss go away.

[BobDole42]

I wonder if the hiss comes from bad shielding of the stock cables? I could see hum, but hiss seems unusual from bad shielding.

I suppose you could take a stock cable and wrap it with some aluminum foil and see if it makes the hiss go away.

I don't think its a shielding issue. Noise is inherent in all preamps and amps - the power cords significantly lowered my noise floor, but it's still audible at about 3 inches away.

[Spiky]

It shouldn't be the makeup of the conductors. They should be the same as any other 20A power cable, according to the website. If you aren't imagining the difference, it must be the shielding. I have lesser amps than you and have no noise that I have noticed. Are you talking about noise from the speakers or directly from the amp?

[BobDole42]

noise from the speakers.

[Spiky]

Curious. I'll have to pay attention, see what I find at home. But I am reasonably sure I have very little noise. Once I got things grounded & protected properly and got decent equipment, all such issues went away. I do hear noise from cheap amps all the time, and have considered mine noiseless in comparison.

[hharrah31]

Yeah, it must have gold inside or something.

[Pwman]

Yeah, it must have gold inside or something.


Or even diamonds!

[BobDole42]

yeah, yeah, laugh it up :)

[Numanoid]

You know, BobDole42, there are children starving in Africa. ;)

[BobDole42]

You know, BobDole42, there are children starving in Africa. ;)

I'm certainly not blind to the absurdity of it all :)

When I think about the cables in my system, I sometimes feel silly. I've spent about $1000 on cables, all told. I did buy most of them used (MSRP is closer to 2k) - still, I'm a bit insane.

[Sdallnct]

You know, BobDole42, there are children starving in Africa. ;)

Really, I thought Angelina Jolie adopted them all?

[Sdallnct]

I'm certainly not blind to the absurdity of it all :)

When I think about the cables in my system, I sometimes feel silly. I've spent about $1000 on cables, all told. I did buy most of them used (MSRP is closer to 2k) - still, I'm a bit insane.

Oh, don't worry about it. If you enjoy it that is all that matters. Tho if I remember right you have Krell amps, right? Have you contacted Krell to see if they recommend or suggest a new power cord?

[dvd_luver]

Yikes, if people have that kind of money to burn on stuff like this, you have to just think of all people truly in need in this world. It's just so sad. I know I would never go that high for cords, not ever.

[Spiky]

I checked out my system, the only thing I have is a 60Hz buzz if I turn the volume up loud enough. I'm going to be experimenting with some more ferrite cores to see if I can reduce that. I have zero noise at normal volume levels.

Once I grounded my house properly, got decent surge protectors for the HT, and put ferrite cores on them, my problems pretty much evaporated.

[BobDole42]

I checked out my system, the only thing I have is a 60Hz buzz if I turn the volume up loud enough. I'm going to be experimenting with some more ferrite cores to see if I can reduce that. I have zero noise at normal volume levels.

Once I grounded my house properly, got decent surge protectors for the HT, and put ferrite cores on them, my problems pretty much evaporated.

You don't get any noise, even when you put your ear up to the speaker with the preamp turned up about halfway? I've never heard a system that was totally silent - and this includes 75k+ stereo setups. Mike L at AVS claims his system is silent, but his gear is past 500k+ for a 2-ch setup...

[ShallowHal]

I'm going to put on my flame suit before I say this....

I have three Harmonic Technology Pro AC-11 power cords ($240 each) - one for my Krell preamp, one for my Krell amp and the third for the outboard power supply for my Perpetual Technologies DAC. http://www.harmonictech.com/products/pro_ac11.html
So you're saying Krell ships their nice amps with cheap cords? ;)

[awmurray]

You don't get any noise, even when you put your ear up to the speaker with the preamp turned up about halfway? I've never heard a system that was totally silent - and this includes 75k+ stereo setups. Mike L at AVS claims his system is silent, but his gear is past 500k+ for a 2-ch setup...

Mine was 100% silent and nowhere near that price. The chain was Parasound 1500THX prepro, ATI 1505 amp, 12 Ga. stranded speaker wire, Martin Logan SL3s, and some fairly cheap Toshiba DVD player. Played a disc with all bits set to zero, cranked the volume to +5db with no sound at all (ear next to speaker). At +0db it would be full volume, but I went past that to see what would happen.

I would estimate the cost of the components to be $4k.

I say "was silent" because I swapped out the Parasound for a receiver w/pre-amp outs and have not tried with that setup.

[Spiky]

Define halfway. My receiver turns on at -50, which is almost loud enough for normal TV watching around 50db output, I would imagine. I didn't hear any noise until I got to about -15. At 0 the buzz was just loud enough to hear in the room with 7 speakers making it. It was never loud enough to measure effectively with my SPL meter (even up close) since they don't do well at low db.

Silence is part decent electronics and part proper electrical hookup. But the 60Hz buzz is from the electricity, I imagine in Europe it is a 50Hz buzz. Masking that can be difficult.

I'm not sure where the discrepancy is, here. I have a $1500 receiver with a permanently attached power cord and extremely efficient Klipsch speakers. If anything would put out excess noise, it would be these horns. My protector is a Monster HTS2000MKII with at least a 15A cord, I believe. And my speaker cable is 10AWG except for the L&R surrounds that are still stuck with lowly 12AWG.

I have cores to put on the speaker wire, just haven't gotten to it yet. They take up lots of room and weigh a bit, so I need to figure out a good arrangement. Cheap way to simulate some of those $1000+ power or speaker cables since that is one of the first things they do, add a core. Actually, I need to recheck my core on the protector's cord. When I traded up to the MKII, I discovered it had a thicker cord than my original. I can't remember if I got my old core around it or not. Parts Express (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=110-452) is where I get mine.