Tír Na HiFi

This year I have changed both my CD player and my amplifier. Both old and new components were using standard out-of-the-box power leads. I decided that I should show some respect to my new components by treating them to something other than the standard power cord. I have read many of the pro and con arguments regarding the use of more expensive/better quality power cords and I have remained sceptical over the years. However, at the Cloney show on Sunday, I treated myself to two new power cords because firstly I decided that anything above the quality of a virtual kettle lead must be an improvement (the limit of my technical knowledge is now exposed) and secondly Noel was offering the Nordost Magus for a very good price. Now I know that this is only the entry level cable in this range but that was a far as I was prepared to go at this stage! I made my purchase in the firm belief that I would not see any dramatic improvements in overall sound quality.

Now I, like everyone else, have a number of discs that I rely on as my test CDs when I am testing out anything new and I have been playing these discs since yesterday afternoon while swopping the old and new power cords in and out of the system systematically and evaluating the results as I went along. I should say that all of my reference CDs are of Classical Music.

My test CDs are designed to highlight a particular attribute of a voice or instrument. Some of the CDs are old recordings and would not be regarded as very good by today’s standards but they illustrate to me the difference that new components or cabling have on what is to me very familiar listening. I therefore can pick up differences quickly (which is obviously why they are my reference CDs).

So, at this stage of many interchanges of power cords, I can say that there is no major change to soundstage, stereo imaging, instrument separation or depth. However, what I have definitely noticed is a significant change in the lower bass register and a lesser change in the upper treble area. The bass sound is definitely more tight and controlled while the upper trebles do sound somewhat less harsh and a little more rounded.

That is the honest summation of my experience to date. Not very significant you might say. I would agree with that. Am I happy with my purchase then? Yes, definitely, because I was very objective about this and as I did not spend a significant amount of money I was not really expecting a huge effect. However, the improvements that I got were, for me and my system, significant and audible and were yet another incremental improvement. Would I get really significant improvements by buying something really expensive like Valhalla or Odin cables? I do not know and I will not be spending that kind of money anytime soon to find out. I am content to stay with what I now have for some time.

Good observations Fergus.


Fran

Hi Fergus, I took the plunge on sunday also. At the discounted price it was worth a punt.
I cant say if it has done anything as the only stuff being used at the moment are headphone amp and cd player.
Advice from a fellow forumer in a location not to be disclosed was the length of the cable. 1.5 metre or longer seems to be regarded as better. I might be wrong but I thought cloneys were using longer lengths than the metre in the nordost room.

If I read a more honest assessment than yours Fergus I'll be doing very well indeed! Brilliantly observed. Well done. Now all you have to do is try the Raviolis and you're in heaven :-)))

Very good description of the benefits of power cords in an audio system.

I have also had very positive results with power cables, Isoclean and Hifi tuning fuses.

Once you have upgraded the power cords in your system, i suggest you replace the fuse in the plug and the fuse at the Ac inlet of the piece of equipment. Changing these 2 fuses brings another step up in performance, on par with the improvement brought by the power cord.

Fran wrote:Good observations Fergus.


Fran

Cheers Fran....I was half thinking of the Quads when I bought them as another Quad owner informed me that changing the power cord in his pair made a big difference.

tony wrote:Hi Fergus, I took the plunge on sunday also. At the discounted price it was worth a punt.
I cant say if it has done anything as the only stuff being used at the moment are headphone amp and cd player.
Advice from a fellow forumer in a location not to be disclosed was the length of the cable. 1.5 metre or longer seems to be regarded as better. I might be wrong but I thought cloneys were using longer lengths than the metre in the nordost room.

Good luck with your purchase Tony. I must say that I did not notice the lenght of the power cords at the demonstration. Lars of Nordost fame always said that the ideal cable lenght was 4 meters if I am not mistaken!!!

cybot wrote:If I read a more honest assessment than yours Fergus I'll be doing very well indeed! Brilliantly observed. Well done. Now all you have to do is try the Raviolis and you're in heaven :-)))

I would actually be interested to get a demo on them Dermot....the lads who bought them seem to be well impressed!

Matt wrote:Very good description of the benefits of power cords in an audio system.

I have also had very positive results with power cables, Isoclean and Hifi tuning fuses.

Once you have upgraded the power cords in your system, i suggest you replace the fuse in the plug and the fuse at the Ac inlet of the piece of equipment. Changing these 2 fuses brings another step up in performance, on par with the improvement brought by the power cord.

Cheers for that Matt; I appreciate your recommendations and I do recall your posts regarding the benefits of those fuses.

No problem Fergus