Cords and Conditioners...Curious as to what folks think

Lads,

Having just read the last few issues of HF+ while on vacation, I was struck by the universal praise by almost all of the contributors in regard to power cords, and power conditioners. It is has become almost impossible for HF+ to not love some accessory.

During my days as a 'reviewer', I had the chance to audition a lot of "accessories" and found that most of them did not justify their often ridiculous price tag. I have been using the same Chang line filter that I bought in 1994.

I also wonder if I am the only one (especially in these tougher economic times) who found RG's review of the Nordost Odin to be utter crap. Nothing more than "I'm so happy I get to buy these at 75% off retail" shilling.

Does anyone here use a multi-buck power conditioner and really feel that it was worth the expenditure?

The same deal applies to power cords that are more than say $2-300.

 

I've used cords on ebay that cost me about £50 - £60 made by the small guys, and one that cost about £80 by Kemp electronics.
I don't think the returns are that huge, I've owned boutique cables and am happy at this cheaper level, particularly since my finances collapsed. I think there is very much a "Kings New Clothes" attitude to power cables, an attitude that is RIFE in "Hifi Plush". I can't trust the reviewers when their final words are..., "I for one, will be holding on to this blah blah..." - yeah, right.
I read of one prominent reviewer whose listening room is piled high with freebies, and the commentator wondered how he gave anything an unbiased review with speakers and high end stuff dumped everywhere. I'm reliably informed of one of the Cognescenti who allegedly got help with buying his house!.


I put a mains filter (actually meant for a plasma TV!) on my 300b valve amp and it does perform better during the day. Mains power was very dirty during the day where I live, and the hifi only sounded decent at night - this problem is now rectified. I spoke to the guy that made the filter and he said there was no reason why it wouldn't work on a valve amp. So there we go, proof of the pudding!

 

I don't know how much "dirty mains" I suffer from in my area, as I only tend to listen to my system in the evening. However, I don;t have any mains conditioning and am only using a single Russ Andrews PowerKord for my CDP - it was the cheapest on offer and to my ears made no discernable difference whatsoever.

I'll save my money for more music instead....

 

I was laughing so hard reading RG's review of the Nordost Odin that my wife yanked the magazine from my hand and wanted to know what was so funny. When I told her cables that cost more than a Sub-Zero fridge she looked me as if I had utterly lost it. When she read that it was for one four-foot pair she almost tossed my magazine into the sea.

The industry doesn't get it. I'm waiting for the Odin iPod cable next. $2,000 I bet.

 

Good one Frank!
We are use to say : "Ogni giorno nasce un pollo.. beato chi lo cucca"

Kinda "everyday a chicken borns .. lucky the one who catches it"
Just to say those boutique manifactures are waiting for the next chicken ...

 

All I can say, Hydra 8 made a hell of a difference in my system.

 

That may be true (in regard to the Hydra 8), but what were you using to begin with? I hate reading reviews that try to pretend that an accessory can make an overpriced crappy component anything more than an overpriced crappy component plugged into something that makes it sound less crappy.

 

Totally with you on this Frank. Don't get me wrong I'm completely sympathetic to obsessive setup and 'tweaky' ideas. In addition, I do think that cables sound different. However, Hi-Fi+ have totally lost the plot with regard to cables and equipment supports. For example, they seem to have rehashed the same (extensive) group test of (VERY expensive) equipment supports a number of times now and their love of cables seems to know no bounds.

I guess times are hard and Hi-Fi+ wants to support the dealers - accessories are the highest margin items (I know they are cos I've run Hi-Fi shops). Also, people do seem very (bizarrely so in my opinion) keen on cables - just look at the enormous number of threads on different forums about cables. I honestly don't see what the allure is of cables. I recently compared a multi thousand pound (by a real manufacturer) interconnect in my system. The differences wee very small and meaningless in a musical communication sense; if anything, I slightly preferred my own interconnect (I didn't make it), which I believe is made from microwave cable. You could argue that my system isn’t transparent enough, but it is transparent enough to hear minor changes in earthing, incredibly tiny changes in cartridge adjustment and changing single capacitors in the pre-amp. All of these are bigger changes than changing the interconnect was. Hi-Fi+ really need to get a grip on their subjective/value criteria.

 

YNMOAN,

Cables do make a difference, but I shake my head at some of the stuff I've bought over the years; even with some big discounts. That includes cones, cleaners, and stands.

I have been using Nirvana cables for almost 7 years, and with the exception of some Cardas and Analysis Plus stuff, I have given up on buying expensive wire. I use Analysis Plus in my Home Theater and while it wasn't crazy expensive ($4 foot), it also wasn't $12,000 for a four-foot pair. Nordost makes a nice margin on that one. I use Auditorium 23 cables in my office system and they were a demo pair with many miles on them. Good speaker cable.

Same power conditioner I bought almost 14 years ago. I think it worked out well.

I think many of us have systems that can reveal differences, but when does the craziness stop????

Hi-Fi+ has also become obsessed with stands and supports, almost to the point of becoming a commercial for certain manufacturers.

I'd like to see them more obsessed with helping people build complete systems at various price points, but as I discovered in the business, that is a dirty topic.

 

Whilst I think that cables can make a perceptible difference, I totally accept what critics say about most of the difference being psychological and may be impossible to discern with double-blind tests, etc.

Except... what happens when the difference you hear isn't the one you were expecting? For example, I was persuaded to part with £40 for a cable by a hi-fi shopkeeper on the grounds that I could take it back if I wasn't convinced. I plugged it in, expecting the improvement to be at the top-end, but the improvement I thought I heard was actually in the bass definition.

I'm no psychologist, so maybe it's some sort of recognised double-bluff self-delusion, but it seems more likely that you'll hear what you were expecting or what you've been told, than the opposite.

 

My problem was electricity. With Hydra 8, problem was solved, but not only that, the sound improved. More than enough for invested money. (of course, this is my personal opinion)
BTW, I use it with Lyngdorf CD-1, Audio Analogue amp and preamp and Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers. And I don't think that these are crappy components.

 

i used virtual dynamics cables from canada . make a tremendous
difference. very good value at the moment.
also love my isotek sigmas filter

 

I'm quite happy that cables and supports do make a difference. My only issue is how much of a difference they make related to how much they cost.

 

Ok Guys,

Anyone here tried the IC Mogami Neglex 2534? .. kinda cheapo cable .. 35 € for a pair 3mt balanced (Neutrik XLR!) ?
I have all my kit connected by this cable and we tried in comparison some other IC boutique cables like the MIT M1 .. the Transparent Music Link Reference .. Tara Labs ... Groneberg Quattro Reference etc..etc.. and well the Mogami was the winner!
Same happened for my Paul Speltz Anti-Cables .. the best speaker cable you can buy and it costs about 70 € for a pair 7ft.

Unbeliveable .. isn't it?

 

I have a modest system and at the bottom of it sits an ISOTEK Substation. EBAY purchase for 350 uk pounds. I bought, at almost the same cost, 2 standard Isokek power cords - one for a power amp in use at the time and one for my REL Storm III sub bass, and their fancy dancy one, I forget it's name, to feed the Substation.

The substation made a significant difference when first put in place - details, vowel sounds, sibilance, timbre, lots of things. For the paid price, it was well worth it and if I had the mmoney, I would reconfigure it now so that I could run my paired Quad 303s through it. The difference to bass was more significant than the addition of the Storm III - it cleaned, tightened and audibly deepened bass (to my ears it did anyway).

The cables though, I can't justify them. My expectation is/was that I would be reducing iinterference to other components as the cables pass by. Nah, not really.

 

I've got two Kemp power sources and for the price I paid (one ex-dem, one second hand) I think they are very good value. I've tried isolation transformers in the past and haven't got one well with them.

For power leads I currently use a mix of homemade cables based on Belden 83802 and (mostly) various cables from the Merlin range. In my view, the cables make far less difference than the conditioners and I've never been tempted to try out anything esoteric.

Current project is to take the mains electricity supply out of the equation entirely to see what improvements that might bring. That's going to involve a bloody big battery, a bloody big inverter and homemade cables out of Supra LoRad 2.5 wired directly into a consumer unit. Should be fun!

 

he he he; and maybe a new hair style when you get a good 'charge' through your locks :yikes:

 

You've seen my room then

Yup - the battery provides 6000A into a short circuit, so I'll not be licking the terminals to check the charge... :MILD:

 

I've been thinking some more, about the role of mains in my system. In our last house, I had a separate spur put into my music room (music room - grand, innit?). Even though that was the case more or less from moving into the house, the addition of the Isotek still made a significant and clearly audible difference that my partner - who isn't really that bothered one way or the other over this hi-fi malarkey - declared the difference was audible to her. Here, we're in a modern build flat without a separate spur and the pops and clicks from the flat are pretty constant - I assume through the Quad power amps because they're plugged straight into the wall. Other than the absence of those pops and clicks, though, the 'quality' of mains feed at the house and here at the flat seem to be similar and I concluded the addition of a special feed for the system is a nice to have rather than a must have. The conditioner though, is high on my list of 'additions' because it can make a difference to everything in the system and allow it to perform at its best. A good investment still.