nordost power cords and power strips

Try using your old power cords bypassing the shunyata power conditioner to see how the shunyata was affecting your system.

dentlfly said:

anyone have experience using nordost power products. i demo'd nordost fry2 for plinius amp and heimdall for oppo 105d. currently using WWsilver electra 7 with platinum ends and shunyata MPC12-A unit. with nordost bypassing shuntaya the soundstage was much wider and much more low end. but frey 2 fairly pricey PC. just wondering if others have heard the same results with nordost. thx.

ed

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I have heard an expensive ($ 8K) Nordost power conditoning system that someone had on extended loan and I was greatly disappointed. Yes, the music sounded cleaner and with lower noise floor, but there was much less liveliness and dynamics than with an Art Triangle conditioner ($ 3K) which that person eventually would buy and is still happy with.

The lack of liveliness and dynamics is quite evidently due to current restriction by the Nordost power conditoning system. Twentyfive years ago my Tice Powerblock II was the first power conditoning device that did not suffer from this ailment, but in the meantime you would think that all manufacturers would have learned to avoid making that mistake. That Nordost apparently didn't is inexcusable and disqualifies them for me from the power conditoning business. (This says nothing about ttheir main business, cables, of course).

Sorry for the harsh opinion, but it is my honest assessment. I do not take foolishness in audio lightly anymore. Yet perhaps the devices you tried out do not show the weakness that I described; in any case I would recommend rigorously testing them for it.

Al M. said:

(...) The lack of liveliness and dynamics is quite evidently due to current restriction by the Nordost power conditoning system (...)

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Al. M.,

What is the technical feature that in your opinion restrains current in the Nordost power conditioning system? I only listened to it in an all Odin power system and it was one of the more dynamic systems I ever listened to!

microstrip said:

Al. M.,

What is the technical feature that in your opinion restrains current in the Nordost power conditioning system?

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I don't know the technical details in this case, but I have heard many times that current restriction is responsible for lack of liveliness and dynamics through a power conditioner (which then ironically may be mistaken for a less aggressive and more 'pleasant' sound). It's a very old problem. Often a buffering transformer may be too small, for example.

I only listened to it in an all Odin power system and it was one of the more dynamic systems I ever listened to!

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That is great to hear! As I suggested in my reply to the OP, perhaps the Nordost components that he listened to do not show the described weakness either.

As an example for the many voices over the years that have cautioned against loss of dynamics and liveliness through power conditioners, here from the review of the original Shunyata Triton/Typhon combo by Tim Aucremann in The Audio Beat (emphases added):

"When I reviewed the V-Ray II a couple years ago, I noted that its noise reduction helped my amplifiers deliver richer tonality and firmer bass, but its use on the amps came with the tradeoffs of reduced ambient air, faintly rounded low-level transients and a diminished dynamic liveliness. It wasn’t a bad tradeoff, but my preferences found me putting the conditioner back on my front-end and returning the amps to feed straight from the wall.

With a little trepidation, I put my front-end on a Hydra V-Ray II, then moved the Triton and Typhon to power Lamm M1.2 Reference amplifiers. And there it was, thank you very much, the first conditioner to deliver all the power the Lamms requested, unfettered into the 2-ohm territory of the Wilson Sasha’s bass regions. There was the current-delivery payoff of Shunyata’s attention to DTCD. From the sock-to-‘em bass on Keith Richards’ "Words of Wonder" from the Main Offender CD [Virgin 86449 2] to "Siegfried’s Trauermarsch" in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (CD [BPO, DG 289 459 141-2]), when the music called for low-end bass punch or full orchestral weight with combined trombones, string bass, cymbals and timpani, the Typhon and Triton delivered."

Link:
http://www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/shunyata_research_triton_typhon.htm

G'day folks! We are in winter now and things are looking pretty cool...
The weather has been very erratic, nearly everyone was down with the flu at the office, and eventually I got it! Back on deck now, fully recovered.

Speaking on "fully recovered" I must agree with those who have used far lesser priced cables vs. more expensive ones. I have omitted one Nordost power cord from my main power strip to the Thor power conditioner, replaced it with a custom made high grade power cord, locally made from a well respected chap in Melbourne. This guy also makes interconnects and speaker cable, they sound superb! For a fraction of the cost, I am extremely pleased with this power cord. In fact, the dealer whom I ordered and bought from, uses a wide array of these in all demo components. These include ARC, Rega, EAT, Sonus Faber, Ambience, MA, Kharma, and Kondo amps. Even on the 200 grand reference system, which has all ARC gear with SF Strads, they're using these custom made power cords/interconnects however, the speaker wire is from Nordost(Valhalla).

I'm currently using a 300B SE integrated to drive the Quads, and with the Nordost, DH-Labs + Custom made power cords, the system seems to have "fully recovered" from some sort of veil that was ever present and didn't sound this good after departing with the ACT2 & Classic 60SE. With the cj gear, this was not so much an issue I noticed, and the ACT2 + Classic 60SE was well capable of driving the Quads to superb level of realism. When I initially used the 300B amp, I noticed at once the lack of impact, unless I was to turn up the level, which would then cause the whole presentation to get muddy since 8 watts of SE would run out of steam. However, after placing this power cord into several points in the system between power strip/power conditioner/amplifier to QX4/Qx4 to power strip- the full impact and presence is all there, without having to turn up the level. Now I have 3 Nordost power cords laying in their boxes, and using Nordost only for the CD player and phone stages.

Now I'm not saying Nordost is bad nor over priced and all those negative comments, rather I strongly believe it is system dependent after all. On the cj gear, the Nordost was superb, but on this particular amplifier, the custom made is better. Of course Frey and Odin would be far superior, I definitely know, since I have tried both but at that price point it is something I am not willing to spend on. I do have other priorities other than spending 30 grand on cables.

We also ran a Kondo integrated (Overture) with this power cord driving the Strads and it was outstanding. I was very interested on the Overture but again at 20 grand for a 32 w/ch integrated, again something way beyond my budget. I must say the Nordost range does have some good value but then again so does DHLabs and Crystal cable and so on, I would think this is very system dependent, there is definitely "no one best type of cable" in the world.
Another new range worth trying is the Clear reference from Cardas, very neutral and flat response, lets the music flow very nicely, and very realistic price range.
Cheers and happy cabling!
RJ