Be careful, a lot of people are more than happy and willing to take your money.www.head-fi.org/t/667117/hi-fi-snake-oil

Steveo,

IMHO, I think analog audio cables make a bigger difference and I would make sure the RCAs you have aren't as old and in as rough a shape as the speaker wires you just swapped out. I would definitely beware of snake oil. At least one of the review sites you listed reviews a lot of. uber expensive cables that are, in my opinion, uber ridiculous. In fact, I stopped reading their reviews because of it. Back to what I've said before, there is definitely a difference between poor quality or bad cables and good quality cables; however, you really don't need to spend a lot of money and it quickly gets to a point where more is not better. Hence, the snake oil...

That said, if your dealer is willing to let you try them at home, risk free, it may be worth a try. I've listened to Nordost RCAs and they sound good. There may be cheaper alternatives to implementing silver wire as Anthem and Dilettante have pointed out. Money back guarantees of your retailer and retailers like Music Direct are great to decide for your self if you like the sound AND if it is worth the increased cost. I'd recommend having some lower cost quality cables on hand to do a comparison. I recently tested AudioQuest GoldenGate RCAs against some Monoprice premium RCAs and could not hear a significant difference.

My advice would be proceed with caution, perform direct comparisons, and it doesn't make sense to me to spend more on cables than you did your electronics. These are, however, just my opinions. Please report back your findings so we may benefit from your experience and good luck! I look forward to hearing what you discover.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Has anyone tried the Shunyata Venom Defender Power Conditioner that combines noise isolation with 22,000 amps of surge protection?
It's a plugin that Music Direct carries for $195, with a 60 day money back guarantee. The 22,000 amps of extra surge protection alone sounds attractive... just plug it in to an outlet in the the same circuit the audio equipment is on. I'm tempted to try it along with the Venom 3 power cords.

Feedback welcome.

Rick

rjohn79395 wrote:

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'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...
Rick

So i ended up talking with my pro AV / theater installer coworker. He said the following:

A.) Power cords are similar to speaker cables. There are cheap one, there are crappy ones, there are "desgined" ones, and there are high end ones. Lamp cord can sound just as bad as a high end cords if they are both crappy. Cheap cords can sound just as good as high end cords if they are good quality. But anything that's been "designed" for the purpose at hand - if it's truly designed well - should make a small difference. Rule of thumb - if your AVR is $300, spend $10. If your AVR is $3,000, spend $100. If you have really high end gear, spend no more than $1,000 on cords. The point is to spend a proportionate amount to the total cost like everything else, but it should be one of the last items to upgrade.

B.) A good power source is two-fold: 1.) Your Amplifiers' ability to do it (can it output the amount of power required), and 2.), the Amplifiers' ability to do it pretty (what it sound like). You need a good gauge power cord to pull the amps out of the wall at high volumes, but you also need low interference so that the power quality doesn't cause noise in the rest of the system. Take any old piece of electronic equipment and put a bar magnet to your power cord, or put a cell phone next to your power cord and that's going to change the way power is being delivered. Many high end sources can handle this, but not all, so it's worth keeping this noise to a minimum

A very rational explanation and recommendation. I think this is mostly inline with what most of us have been recommending. Thank you for the follow up and update!

Cheers,

T Cobe

OK, Shunyata Venom 3 power cords and Defender are ordered, plus the local GEt dealer, Audio Systems, is going to drop off a SCXXL for me to test drive vs. my SCXL upon my 9/19 arrival in TX. Things are rolling. I really need to get a GEt speaker fix. I miss my system! I have some favorite music I brought with me to NH, but having heard how it CAN sound, and then how it sounds on lesser systems, I don't even want to play it here. I'll wait until I get back.

Feedback to follow after 9/19.


Rick