Rick,

Based on those numbers, I'd bet the level 1 or 2 would also yield similar sonic benefits. I would bet money it depends more on design than the gauge of the wire; though I'm sure that also plays a role. From what I have gathered, it's about filtering the power more than anything and preventing noise/interference from traveling to and from the components. GET ships the T1s with 14 gauge cable, for instance, and I'm confident their engineers know what they're doing. A good 14 gauge wire should be all they need.

I guess Moderator Dude would be in a better place to elaborate on which Pangeas they use and why. I would bet durability and aesthetics play a role as well since they use the cables for high end presentations. Doing a lot of set up and tear down would steer me towards a cable with improved durability and from a marketing perspective, you want a high end setup or display to exude quality. Appearance has a lot to do with that. Just look at most food menus, for example. When was the last time you ordered something that looked the same when it arrived to your table? Then there is also the issue of questionable power at the temporary trade show set ups. Can you imagine the electric bill for CES 2016?!

Cheers,

T Cobe

T Cobe wrote: Rick,

Based on those numbers, I'd bet the level 1 or 2 would also yield similar sonic benefits. I would bet money it depends more on design than the gauge of the wire; though I'm sure that also plays a role. From what I have gathered, it's about filtering the power more than anything and preventing noise/interference from traveling to and from the components. GET ships the T1s with 14 gauge cable, for instance, and I'm confident their engineers know what they're doing. A good 14 gauge wire should be all they need.

Cheers,

T Cobe

What I don't know is what design differences there are between the 3 levels, but I agree that all other things being equal, 14 gauge wire ought to have plenty of current carrying capacity for non power hungry source components. Amps and subs may well be a different ball game. My concern is design differences more than gauge differences. I may at some point order a Level 1 for a 30 day trial, just to hear for myself.

But for now I have three components that still have stock power cords and are thus candidates for new power cords: the T1's and the NAD amp, and only one new cord to test/use, the AC-14SE. I'll be testing the AC-14SE on the T1's, NAD, OPPO and Marantz, and decide where the Anti-Cables and AC-14SE together make the best SQ contributions on that assortment of components.

A future step would be to add/test two more power cords if I decide that all three components would benefit from power cord upgrades. More Anti-Cables? Level 1, 2 or 3? More Pangea's? AC-14's or 9's? Something else? TBD.

A step at a time. Patience, Rick, patience.

Rick

Yes, patience boys.
I could go on complaining about the USPC and Customs, but no point.
I lived in Houston for several years and in TX more years so I cheer for the Texans. J.J. Watt is a beast and
a fine guy too from all accounts!!! The Texans are not a good team, but with good coaching they did get much
better than they were when they went to Miami and embarrassed us all. A QB would REALLY help!
When they had to sign Weedon, and he came on the field with a Cowboys jersey on, with an X through Cowboys and someone
spray painted Texans on his shirt, when his QB number for Houston was 5(A) you just knew we needed a real QB.
And we still won, I mean, he couldn't even win a game with the Boys!!!
Sorry, off topic.
About wire gauge, I used to wire houses with my Dad as a kid. We ALWAYS used 14 gauge wire for switches, cause they only
turned things on and off, and we ALWAYS used 12 gauge wire for receptacles, plug ins where anything was gonna be powered. Except for 220 of course, that was larger yet.
Hope this helps,
God Bless,
Wayne

VERY preliminary stuff:

I played the Pangea AC-14 SE MKll on the left T1 for several hours. If there is a difference on my system, I am really having trouble hearing it. I did NOT play it at high volumes to see if it made a difference on total db volume I could play at those levels. At 65-80 db levels, I am hard pressed to hear a difference (the T2's reacted to the Venom 3's with much cleaner, clearer bass right away, at any sound level).

Then I moved the Pangea to the OPPO, which has had an Anti-Cable Level 3 attached to it. After less than 5 minutes, I went back to the Anti-Cable. SQ was just more to my liking with the Anti-Cable. Again, this is a personal preference thing, but I just liked the sound of Roy Orbison's voice much better with the Anti-Cable. Cleaner, Roy's voice sounding more natural. The Anti-Cord is staying on the OPPO.

Then I moved the AC-14SE to the NAD amp powering the T1's, which had a stock 14 gauge power cord on it (I think originally it came with a 16 gauge cord and when I put the the Anti-Cord on the AVR, moved it's 14 gauge cord to the NAD.. should have kept better records). Here, where I had never tried a power cord upgrade before, I felt the AC-14 opened up the T1's sound stage more, more detail. I can't say the bass was deeper, but the sound stage across the frequency range seemed more detailed, open. Definitely an improvement.

Next step is to try the AC-14 on the Marantz AVR. Frankly, since I love how it sounds now with the Anti-Cable, I really want to be unbiased when I listen.

I'm planning on calling Anti-Cable tomorrow AM to see if I can better understand the design differences between the Level 1-3 power cords.

I'm thinking at this point I want to try some level (1 vs 3?) Anti-Cable power cord on the NAD amp.

I am trying really hard to remain impartial in all this testing.

More to follow.

Rick

WayneWilmeth wrote: Yes, patience boys.
I could go on complaining about the USPC and Customs, but no point.
I lived in Houston for several years and in TX more years so I cheer for the Texans. J.J. Watt is a beast and
a fine guy too from all accounts!!! The Texans are not a good team, but with good coaching they did get much
better than they were when they went to Miami and embarrassed us all. A QB would REALLY help!
When they had to sign Weedon, and he came on the field with a Cowboys jersey on, with an X through Cowboys and someone
spray painted Texans on his shirt, when his QB number for Houston was 5(A) you just knew we needed a real QB.
And we still won, I mean, he couldn't even win a game with the Boys!!!
Sorry, off topic.
About wire gauge, I used to wire houses with my Dad as a kid. We ALWAYS used 14 gauge wire for switches, cause they only
turned things on and off, and we ALWAYS used 12 gauge wire for receptacles, plug ins where anything was gonna be powered. Except for 220 of course, that was larger yet.
Hope this helps,
God Bless,
Wayne

Wayne and Rick,

My drops to my dedicated outlets are 12 gauge which is another reason I've been holding off on ordering a larger gauge. I don't think it will matter if I have 3 feet of 9 gauge wire if the outlet is being fed by 60 feet of 12 gauge wire. I don't think added current is the point of the cables. I wish Pangea made a 12 gauge cable, that would be my selection if they did. I really want to try some of the PS Audio cables as well. Their entry level cable is a 12-gauge monster that looks beautiful in the pictures.

Thanks for the feedback, Rick. At low volumes and for music in particular, I did not notice a difference with the Pangeas. It was really just with home theater at high level play back that I noticed the difference. I look forward to hearing what Anti-Cable has to say about the geometry of their cables. A level 1 or 2 may be another experiment worth performing.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Today I tested the Pangea AC-14SE on the Marantz AVR by switching power cords in the stack. The Anti-Cable moved from the AVR to the NAD amp and the AC-14 moved from the amp to the AVR. Again, I only played this switch for about 5 minutes. And, again, I preferred the SQ that the Anti-Cable makes on the source, the AVR, just as I had on the OPPO.

With a Level 3 Anti-Cord on a source, it just sounds so natural, like there's nothing between me and my music. Like there are no components, no speakers, just the pure, natural music. In a way, this comparison isn't totally fair.. a $300+ 8 gauge cord vs. a $50 14 gauge cord. If I had been comparing the AC-14 to a stock cord, that would be another matter, and I don't doubt I would have preferred the AC-14. The AC-14 will stay on the NAD amp for now, though Pangea recommends AC-9's for power components... At least I know it is a step up from the stock cord.

Well, I remain just so impressed with the Anti-Cords. I really feel I got great value for the money spent. I wouldn't consider running my sources with any other power cords from here on. I don't know what else I could have gotten for just a little over $600 (2 Level 3 Anti-Cords) that would have made such a profound improvement in SQ (didn't a guy by the name of Anthem say something to this effect already??). Any further experimenting I do on any component will be with Anti-Cords. The question I have to sort out is whether there are low power applications where level 2 or 1 would be appropriate. I haven't yet been able to have a conversation with the Anti-Cable folks about product design differences between the cords, or their thoughts on using, say, a Level 1 or 2 cord on a low power source. But I will, and will share what they say. The only power cord I haven't tried on the T1's so far is the Anti-Cord. I almost don't want to know, since I'd need longer, more expensive cords.

AGAIN, personal preference. For others, different power cords, or stock cords can be the right answer, just as we all have different tastes for the "right" amp, or AVR, or pre/pro or speaker cable...

I'm now starting to look at acoustic room treatments that would be aesthetically acceptable (WAF), since I really feel the system's SQ is just so good, at least for my listening preferences, that it deserves the best acoustic environment I can give it.

Some further reports coming... I now have the MI: Rogue Nation Blu-ray, and the SPL meter (BOTH the "lost" USPS original shipment and Amazon's rush replacement arrived today...love Amazon, will sort out with them tomorrow). No time yet to listen through or do SL checks. BUT out of curiosity, I played the first 5-10 minutes...... WOW!!! T Cobe and all who recommended, you are right!!! This is one first class sound track. And yes, my T1's and T2's were just pouring out the bass. I could feel it in my breastbone!! Wow, Wow!!! Can't wait to get a chance to play it through. More later.

Happy listening!!

Rick