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Who's had good results from upgraded power lead?

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venton

venton

pfm Member
Interested to hear if anyone has had positive improvements on hifi grade kettle leads.
Don't want to start an argument between people who haven't even tried them. Don't want to start an argument over the physics.
I'm thinking of getting perhaps Avondale power leads for my Naim 72 pre and or 180 power amp. But any positive improvements from any power lead upgrade please say.
I'm using Chord Mojo as source and it doesn't need lead, it's battery.
 
My Nait 3 amp sounded a little harsh until i fitted my mains extension with Belden 19364 cable from MCRUS, harshness gone, bass more solid, midrange more direct & clear, amp has now been sold but my Rega also benefits, simples.
 
I use a Nordost Blue Heaven mains cable and found the sound improved with it. Just found the sound that bit cleaner and more dynamic. This was with a Supernait2. I believe it is worth trying.
 
venton said:
Interested to hear if anyone has had positive improvements on hifi grade kettle leads.
Don't want to start an argument between people who haven't even tried them. Don't want to start an argument over the physics.
[...]
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Ah, the triumph of hope over experience.
 
Nice quote I haven't heard that one before. It was apparently penned regarding second marriages, very funny.
 
Ragaman said:
My Nait 3 amp sounded a little harsh until i fitted my mains extension with Belden 19364 cable from MCRUS, harshness gone, bass more solid, midrange more direct & clear, amp has now been sold but my Rega also benefits, simples.
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Just wait until it has burnt in!
Keith.
 
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I recently read a very interesting post on another forum from the guy from Chord who created my Dac. He was explaining how usb cables can sound different. This was due to rf interference being transferred to the ground plain of the equipment. He explained how ridiculously sensitive the brain is to this noise. Seeing as he has spent 30 years developing a great sounding dac I listened to him. Perhaps a similar thing can happen on rf protected piwer leads. Best way to find out if this is true is to ask people if they have tried them.
 
venton said:
I recently read a very interesting post on another forum from the guy from Chord who created my Dac. He was explaining how usb cables can sound different. This was due to rf interference being transferred to the ground plain of the equipment. He explained how ridiculously sensitive the brain is to this noise. Seeing as he has spent 30 years developing a great sounding dac I listened to him. Perhaps a similar thing can happen on rf protected piwer leads. Best way to find out if this is true is to ask people if they have tried them.
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The difference being that mains cables don't carry the signal.
 
I managed to find the recent post by Rob Watts of Chord electronics.
Interesting whatever your views..here's a portion..

"
In the 1980's, people started talking about mains cables making a difference to the sound quality - and I didn't believe it either - particularly as my pre-amp had 300 dB of PSU rejection in the power supply. But I did a listening test, and yes I could hear a difference. Frankly I still could not believe the evidence of my own ears, so did a blind listening test with my girl friend. She reported exactly the same observation - mains cables did make a difference to SQ.


To cut a long story short, I proved the problem was down to RF noise. RF noise inter-modulates with the wanted audio signal within the analogue electronics, and if the RF noise is random, then the distortion is random too and you get a increase in noise floor with signal. This increase in noise floor is noise floor modulation, and the brain is very sensitive to it; you can perceive tiny amounts of noise floor modulation as a brightening or hardening of the sound. By tiny I mean the noise floor modulation needs to be well below -200 dB, so the brain is very sensitive to it. With the right test equipment, you (APX5555 is only test equipment that has no innate noise floor modulation) can easily measure the effect.
"
 
mercalia said:
I use mains cable - like the rest of the electric supply - and cheap
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It will be solid wire, and so will fail if bent repeatedly. Mains cable is designed for installations. Instead you want a multi strand cable, designed for flexing. I'd go with 13 amp lead, which is 0.75mm2 cross section and at 240v which is good for 4hp, and will cost around £2 per m in small runs, and when fitted with appropriate connectors should give you a lead for a tenner. It's the starting point from which all discussions of relative merits for power leads should start.

I'm happy to start and end there, but others want to experiment, and make up their own minds that's fine by me.
 
Encountering people on a forum who reckoned a MCRU mains cable made a difference I took a chance. Still have the cable but not connected to anything. Another supplier of affordable mains cable was tried, those are still in place but made no difference to the sound.

I shall not try any others no matter what people say.

My amp is an AVI and their designer is well regarded for the quality of his power supplies. What on earth have lesser designers done to get cables to make an audible difference
 
I'm using Chord powerchord with upgraded plugs (MS-hd and Iego iec) which I found better than stock mains cable
 
At risk of starting world war three, I will admit to using Chord PowerChords & Supercreen in both my systems. I found them to improve on the standard Naim supplied leads. Like a lot of things hi fi I just treat them as a final part of system tuning. I wouldn't expect a Sarum tuned array mains lead to 'fix' a poorly setup system.
 
I've used a variety, from Nordost, MusicWorks and Studio Connections, all of which have improved system performance to varying degrees. The best was not the most expensive, which was second best. The only one which didn't make a difference to my ears was my first, an entry level Russ Andrews one*. I was therefore a sceptic when invited to try a Nordost one, and gobsmacked when it did exactly what it claimed (I wasn't told what to expect, just asked to try it. When I reported back, my comments were broadly what the Nordost bumf suggested).

*I've since tried more expensive Russ Andrews ones, to good effect.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I've used a variety, from Nordost, MusicWorks and Studio Connections, all of which have improved system performance to varying degrees. The best was not the most expensive, which was second best. The only one which didn't make a difference to my ears was my first, an entry level Russ Andrews one*. I was therefore a sceptic when invited to try a Nordost one, and gobsmacked when it did exactly what it claimed (I wasn't told what to expect, just asked to try it. When I reported back, my comments were broadly what the Nordost bumf suggested).

*I've since tried more expensive Russ Andrews ones, to good effect.
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I have tried the yello cables & the next up, i found them to improve my cd player more so than the amp but both benefitted with a more intense sound from my set up, it's the only way i can describe the effect Naim like, Very different to Belden.
 
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