Which cables and power cords ?

[Motoman]

I use a Shunyata Alpha V2 on my Pass 250.8. A very nice PC, and replaced an Audience PowerChord. Honestly, there was an improvement but not nearly the difference between the Alpha V1 and stock on my ARC REF6, which was a substantial improvement. I think it really depends on your system

 

[Ultrafast69]

There are several good brands out there, all at different price points. I would start with the more established brands, and only buy from trusted sources, specifically against fraud in the previously owned market.

 

[tarquineous]

I am using three Nelson Pass amplifiers in my system, a X150 amplifier and two First Watt F3, amplifiers to triamplify my DIY horn speakers. On all three I use the included with the amplifiers black rubber power cords.

I find them to be very satisfactory. Do you really think a great master of of electronics and sound such as Nelson Pass would include power cords which compromise and diminish the sound of his amplifiers.

Don, Nelson Pass and almost all others, except for Merrill Audio and a handful of specialty manufacturers, will NOT give you a high end power cord from another company. The cord they send you will be adequate gauge, but CHEAP. They know most buyers will find a better cord on their own time and budget. The stock cord is not intended to "diminish" the sound quality, but it will once you use a better one, then go back and listen to the stock one.

 

[Motoman]

I am using three Nelson Pass amplifiers in my system, a X150 amplifier and two First Watt F3, amplifiers to triamplify my DIY horn speakers. On all three I use the included with the amplifiers black rubber power cords.

I find them to be very satisfactory. Do you really think a great master of of electronics and sound such as Nelson Pass would include power cords which compromise and diminish the sound of his amplifiers.

Its not that the stock cords compromise and diminish the sound of the amplifiers, so much as an aftermarket cord can improve the sound.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I think the selection of cables is a difficult and frustrating morass. Just because a cable is expensive doesn't mean it necessarily offers the best sound for your ears between your particular components in your particular system.

The idiosyncratic ears of a particular audiophile will find there to be an optimal cable to use to connect any two components, but it is not possible to predict in advance, based on input impedance and output impedance, or based on cable resistance/capacitance/inductance characteristics, or based on the design of the dielectric or of the cable sheath, which cable this will be. One must try different cables between each pair of components, and attempt to be largely design agnostic and brand agnostic, and to judge primarily by ear.

In other words, ideally, we would have in inventory a wide array of different models and different brands of cables. We would cycle each of these cables through every pair of components, and see which cable sounds best to each of us between every pair of components. In practice this is very difficult to accomplish.

My answer to this morass is to start with very basic cables, like Mogami or Belden. Over time I look forward to experimenting with different expensive cables between the phono stage and the line stage.

My interconnect run is 50 feet long. It just does not make sense to me to throw a dart at a list of expensive cable brands and hope that I magically pick the one I would like best sonically were I to have the opportunity to audition each of them, side by side, in my own system.

I don’t have a problem with spending money on expensive cables. The problem is there is no intellectually honest or theoretically valid way to figure out, in advance, which expensive cables will sound the best to one’s own ears. There is no intellectually honest or theoretically valid way to figure out, in advance, which, if any, expensive cable will sound better to one’s own ears than a Mogami or a Belden cable.

 

[paolo]

I think the selection of cables is a difficult and frustrating morass. Just because a cable is expensive doesn't mean it necessarily offers the best sound for your ears between your particular components in your particular system.

The idiosyncratic ears of a particular audiophile will find there to be an optimal cable to use to connect any two components, but it is not possible to predict in advance, based on input impedance and output impedance, or based on cable resistance/capacitance/inductance characteristics, or based on the design of the dielectric or of the cable sheath, which cable this will be. One must try different cables between each pair of components, and attempt to be largely design agnostic and brand agnostic, and to judge primarily by ear.

In other words, ideally, we would have in inventory a wide array of different models and different brands of cables. We would cycle each of these cables through every pair of components, and see which cable sounds best to each of us between every pair of components. In practice this is very difficult to accomplish.

My answer to this morass is to start with very basic cables, like Mogami or Belden. Over time I look forward to experimenting with different expensive cables between the phono stage and the line stage.

My interconnect run is 50 feet long. It just does not make sense to me to throw a dart at a list of expensive cable brands and hope that I magically pick the one I would like best sonically were I to have the opportunity to audition each of them, side by side, in my own system.

I don’t have a problem with spending money on expensive cables. The problem is there is no intellectually honest or theoretically valid way to figure out, in advance, which expensive cables will sound the best to one’s own ears. There is no intellectually honest or theoretically valid way to figure out, in advance, which, if any, expensive cable will sound better to one’s own ears than a Mogami or a Belden cable.

Thank you Ron, for your reasoned post. I don't deny that there are differences in how various cables sound. The options and combinations are virtually endless.

But, I sometimes do marvel at the extent of the hype, the sometime beyond silly claims, and verbiage, and from my perspective, the vast sums that some are willing to spend on this or that or the other cable(s,) - otherwise known as wires.

One memorable experience occurred a few years ago when I went to a dealer to audition a pair of Magnepan 1.7i speakers. The salesman mentioned the speaker wires which sold for about $3500/pr. At the time, this dealer was selling the Maggies for a bit under $2200.

I wondered about what seemed to me to be a sort of discrepancy, or dare I say, "disconnect" pun intended, between the price of the speakers and those wires. I mentioned this to the salesman, and he "yeah, sure, the Maggies do sound good now" BUT, and then he gushed about how much better the 1.7i's sounded with the $35,000 speaker wires of the same brand the dealership had just gotten in. Just think, speaker wires which cost a mere $2187.50 per linear foot, plus sales tax!

 

[Motoman]

I am using three Nelson Pass amplifiers in my system, a X150 amplifier and two First Watt F3, amplifiers to triamplify my DIY horn speakers. On all three I use the included with the amplifiers black rubber power cords.

I find them to be very satisfactory. Do you really think a great master of of electronics and sound such as Nelson Pass would include power cords which compromise and diminish the sound of his amplifiers.

In a word, yes. ARC is no slouch in the engineering dept., and I found that using a Shunyata Alpha v1 PC instead of the stock cord made a startling improvement in the sound. On my Pass 250.8, I was already using an Audience pc , and although I liked the Shunyata alpha v2 that I replaced it with, the improvement was not nearly as significant.So it is not a question of using a power cord that compromises and diminishes the sound, which I doubt they would do, but rather, will an aftermarket power cord perform better than the stock one. In my case, that was certainly the case.

 

[hongkongfoufou]

Thank you Ron, for your reasoned post. I don't deny that there are differences in how various cables sound. The options and combinations are virtually endless.

But, I sometimes do marvel at the extent of the hype, the sometime beyond silly claims, and verbiage, and from my perspective, the vast sums that some are willing to spend on this or that or the other cable(s,) - otherwise known as wires.

One memorable experience occurred a few years ago when I went to a dealer to audition a pair of Magnepan 1.7i speakers. The salesman mentioned the speaker wires which sold for about $3500/pr. At the time, this dealer was selling the Maggies for a bit under $2200.

I wondered about what seemed to me to be a sort of discrepancy, or dare I say, "disconnect" pun intended, between the price of the speakers and those wires. I mentioned this to the salesman, and he "yeah, sure, the Maggies do sound good now" BUT, and then he gushed about how much better the 1.7i's sounded with the $35,000 speaker wires of the same brand the dealership had just gotten in. Just think, speaker wires which cost a mere $2187.50 per linear foot, plus sales tax!

I have Magnepan 3.7i ( price in Europe = near 10.000 euros ).
My old speaker cable are Van Den Hul Revelation ( 4 x 4 meters ) : 1800 EUR
My new speaker cable are Furutech Speakerflux (2 x 4,5 meters ) : 4600 EUR

So the 1/2 of the price of my Magnepan.
Is the sound better than Van Den Hul Revelation ?
For me yes, for other no !
VDH is warmer but has much more less detail than Furutech...

 

[paolo]

I've got a pretty good system. Sonus Faber Guarneri Homage, Luxman Class A integrated, sometimes alternated with a Conrad Johnson CAV 45S-2 control amp. Cables are Mogami, and I recently added a pair of REL T5x subs.

One of the best aspects of this gear is that I am able to simply listen to the music and don't fret over whether this or that change (especially wires) is going to make this or that improvement. Or not. Primary source is a Gold Note DS-10 DAC/streamer with Gold Note power supply, and when I'm in the mood for ritual, I'll spin some vinyl on a Rega P6/ Hana SL.