WayneWilmeth wrote: Found it, but was kinda put off by the first statement: "Every audiophile who has experimented with better power cables has heard the performance advantage they offer."

Not sure I am buying that, but will continue reading.

I was talking to one of the guys at work - the guys who do the high end home theaters and studios - and I was complaining about my RCA cables needing to be upgraded. He said that of all the cables that I should upgrade, however, it should be the power cords. Now that surprised me and I'll have to ask him again later what he meant by that.

As I just did a power test (load test) on my AVR system and saw a voltage drop at the wall of almost 7 volts under load of 1400 watts, I'm curious if power cords have a lot to do with voltage drops and resistance points at soldier/junctions.

I'm guessing the voltage drop has more to do with the 16 amps you were drawing from one outlet... This is not the first time I've heard the same statement about power cords and I'd certainly be interested in what the pros have to say. While I'm skeptical, like Wayne, I'll admit I'm not an electrical engineer. In another life, I fixed radars, so I have more knowledge than a layman but that was long ago and very specialized. Let us know what you find out and if you do any further experiments.

Cheers,

T Cobe

murphyslaw1978 wrote:

WayneWilmeth wrote: Found it, but was kinda put off by the first statement: "Every audiophile who has experimented with better power cables has heard the performance advantage they offer."

Not sure I am buying that, but will continue reading.

I was talking to one of the guys at work - the guys who do the high end home theaters and studios - and I was complaining about my RCA cables needing to be upgraded. He said that of all the cables that I should upgrade, however, it should be the power cords. Now that surprised me and I'll have to ask him again later what he meant by that.

As I just did a power test (load test) on my AVR system and saw a voltage drop at the wall of almost 7 volts under load of 1400 watts, I'm curious if power cords have a lot to do with voltage drops and resistance points at soldier/junctions.

Hi, murphyslaw1978

I have yet to try power cord upgrades, won't get to do it until I get back to TX. It seems there is as much mystique about power cords as there is about speaker cables. I'd be very interested in what the guys at work who do high end theaters have to say about WHY they believe power cords should be the first to be upgraded. I know from what limited material I've read that it's important for good power cords to limit impedance to allow sharp transients, among other things.

Maybe Anthem or Dilletante want to weigh in on what the Venom 3's did for their systems in this regard????

Rick

I believe up-graded power cords are just one part of the audio chain. When I first got my Decware Zen Torii MK4 back in December 2014, I was using an Decware DHC -1 silver power cord, directly into an Oppo 105 (Venom 3). I felt the Decware DHC -1 was a very good cord, with extreme resolution, but could take woodwind and some brass instruments over the top with some edginess. I replaced it with an Venom 3 and the edginess seemed to disappear. As time has gone by, i've played around with different interconnects and speaker wires, never really settling on anything until I got to know Dilettante, he turned me on to Military copper/silver plated speaker wire and interconnects with Cardis Silver Bananas...these are great sounding wires and at this point wouldn't consider anything else.

In a Gmail from April :I (me) i replayed Frank Catalano again this morning, my conclusion...the Torri is so good you don't need an preamp. If the interconnects and power cords are complimenting the system, all is good. Like I've said before, where I have heard the most noticeable improvement is the removal of the Decware DHC -1 and the introduction of the Shunyata Venom 3 power cord. I heard absolutely ZERO upper octaves shrillness on Frank's saxophone at higher than normal listening levels. I walked away from that listening session with total satisfaction.

As the months have gone by I've experimented with different power tubes ,Tung-sol EL34'S/Genalex Gold Lion KT66'S, and rectifiers (Philips 5R4GY's) liking the sound of the EL34'S for the moment...tube swapping can be a blast. I think my system sounds best with the Torri connected to the Primaluna Premium Preamp > Oppo 105. A couple months ago I replaced the power cords on the T2's (was using Emotiva) with V3's. I didn't have the experience Dilettante had, but felt there was more articulation in the bass...he felt it affected the whole speaker, personally I don't know if that's possible.

Current system consists of:
Decware Zen Torii MK4 > Venom 3
Primaluna Premium Preamp > Venom 3
Oppo 105 > Venom 3
Triton 2's > Venom 3
Military copper/silver plated speaker wire & interconnects.

As the day's & months go by, and the tubes/wires/cords continue to break in, the system as a whole, continues to get better and better. I like my system as it is and have no interest in updating power cords,and or, speaker/interconnects. Swapping tubes from time to time will be my only interest.
Wayne has said, little tweaks, here and there, can add up to a very sonically pleasing system, and that is what I'm experiencing.

Hey Guys,
Sounds like a quite good discussion going on here, and I cannot add any more.
But a question for you Bro Anthem: These speaker cables and interconnects, Military copper/silver plated, can you tell us more about them, where do you get them? Got a pic or a site? Do you get the wire by the foot and get it terminated? Mo info please.
Thanks and God Bless,
Wayne

Wayne : the speaker & interconnect wire can be purchased through apexjr.com. it's listed as PTFE Silver Plated Copper wire (we used the 10 gauge ). The interconnect wire is in the Coaxial cable listing.

Cardas Silver RCA Plugs (Cardas 64200) -- partsconnexion.com
Banana Plug (BP-SZ Plug) -- madisound speaker store.com

If you solder or know someone that does, these make fantastic sounding speaker wires and interconnects. Wires, bananas, and plugs are purchased separately and then hand assembled.

The black/white wires > speaker wire (purchased by the ft.)
Brown wire > interconnect Coaxial ( purchased by the ft.)