Anthem,

I certainly can't argue about their results. You have first hand experience where I do not And I trust your ear, but in terms of looks... The Venom 3s look like a power cord for a dental chair.

Going through Music Direct for a 60 day guarantee and the fact that they are only $150 makes them a safe purchase. I certainly would be willing to give them an audition. I could always try to camoflauge them with tech flex and shrink wrap if I like what I hear.

Cheers,

T Cobe

anthem wrote: Poor Toby, is there hope for you? The Venom 3's are not "darn ugly" in some ways they are kinda "sexy". The Venom 3's performance outperforms their aesthetics, they are a great sounding power cable and if purchased in three's are only $125.00 per cord.

Rick: musicdirect.com has a 60 day money back guarantee, you can't go wrong. Try a couple and see if your musical experience isn't much more enjoyable.

I'm using an Venom 3 on:
Decware Zen Torii MK4
Primaluna Premium Preamp
Oppo 105
Triton 2's

About a week ago I pulled the T2's off the CMX -6 > CMX-2 and plugged them directly into the wall outlets. I really like what I'm hearing at this point, and have no desire to add or subtract anything.

The only area where Dilettante and I differ is he doesn't like the sound of his Oppo 105 with the V3's, he prefers the Anti-Cable Reference power cable at over $300.00...whatever works.

Rick don't let that T Cobe character smooth talk you, try the Venom 3's.

Yup, Anthem, you already had me convinced. I'm going to try them in Sept. Report to follow. I just have to give them a try. At best, I get another notch up in performance. At worst, I get my money back, and maybe try AudioQuest, cords, or take a leap into the speaker cable upgrade minefield.

Rick

Hi Guys,
Rick I could not find your attachment from Shummiuatragasaki that explained why power cords should help (opening post). I would like to read that. I do use after market cords myself, but only on the every-little-thing-might help-some basis, I cannot say for sure I can hear any difference.
But Rick, and a few others here, you guys have spent a LOT of hard earned cash on some wonderful, Top of the Line speakers (more than I can afford) and I am shocked at the speaker cables and interconnects you guys use to run them.
I am NOT Golden-Eared, I cannot discern every little nuance of sound like some of you guys can. And I admitted to not being able to hear the diff in power cables. BUT I can clearly hear the difference in good speaker cables and interconnects (to a lesser degree).
I am not trying to put anyone's system down, please don't misunderstand me.
AND I am not trying to hijack this thread. I am just trying to put power cords into a little perspective, sounds like you guys plan to try out new power cords before even some decent speaker cables or interconnects.
Pls just let me state my humble opinion then I will hush. Upgrading power cables is a pretty recent idea to come along, well after many years of research and work on making speaker cables and interconnects better. And he argument for improvement in these areas especially conveying the all important signal between your power amp and your speakers can be made much more strongly than from the wall outlet to your player, or whatever.
YES, I admit there is a TON of snake oil being sold in this area, YES there is a LOT of hype that is ridiculous. But good speaker cables are clearly, audibly better than lamp cord. And interconnects clearly better than the cheap crap that comes free with a HTIB.
I have spent less money for really good cables than some of you are talking about AudioQuest and gotten MUCH better cables, IMHO. I would stay away from the brands that have a lot of hype and advertising.
I went with Signal cables because of their Stereophile Recommended components rating and cheap price a few years ago and have never looked back. I get their Silver Resolution cables except where I needed LONG runs for my surround and rear speakers where I used their Classic speaker cables. Same with interconnects. Frank, the guy there is great to talk to, can help you find the right cables for your system and is ZERO hype or B.S. In fact, that is to his detriment as I am sure he could sell a LOT more of his cables at a LOT higher price if he would add some bull, put arrows on the wires and tell you that his cables are directional, and that they will clear your nasal passages when you play music through them.
I do have some MIT cables that are clearly better yet, and IF someone cannot hear the difference when they are put in the system, then they have a hearing problem or a mental denial problem. BUT they were ridiculously expensive in my books. I do have to live on a budget too now that I am retired.
Sorry, I have said my piece, I would upgrade speaker cables first, interconnects second and then power cords third.
Happy Trails,
God Bless, Wayne
I have NO connection with Signal cables, just a satisfied customer

Well said, Wayne! I completely agree. Power cables are a late tweak in my opinion after the equipment and other cables are all figured out. I would also spend money on acoustic treatments before power cables as well as I think these areas have more impact on sound quality and results are very noticeable.

I'm not knocking spending a bit of money on cables but some people spend an insane amount of money on cables and I really don't think it's worth it. I'm not talking $150 power cables or $300 speaker wire, I'm talking about BIG money! Shunyata for example, sells power cables that are a few thousand each! I think we've all seen articles on uber expensive speaker cables that can run tens of thousands of dollars... There is a big difference between cheap, poor quality cables and a solid, reasonably priced and well constructed cable. After that, there is a point of diminished returns and a lot of predatory practices in the cable market. As you've stated, you can get very good cables for a reasonable amount of money. I feel that the Venom 3s are very reasonable as well at only $150.

I'd be curious what others are using here. I think most of us are in reasonable territory. I have a local dealer that is willing to lend me cables to see if they make an audible difference to me, in my system. Once I have everything else set, I'll work on the cables. I may check out those signal cables. Thanks for the tip, Wayne. Happy listening.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hi, all

Our internet service provider has been having technical hiccups.

Well, this is certainly, and predictably, a lively topic. Thanks, all, for weighing in. The path to audio perfection is full of choices and alternate pathways.

Wayne, you are right that I need to be thinking about speaker cables and interconnects, and I do. Thanks for the helpful tips. I will contact Frank at Signal Cable. My chief concern is possibly creating tonal differences among the speakers if I use different metals or different cables to different speakers. A quality I prize right now, with copper to all speakers, is that they all blend in together so tonally seamlessly. I LOVE that. If I end up using different cable types to the fronts/center (short runs) than to the rears/surrounds (LONG, potentially expensive runs), my concern is that I'd lose some of that perfect tonal balance and regret the trade-off that I'd made in better sound quality up front but less tonal balance with the rears/surrounds.

T Cobe, re things like room treatments, I totally agree that fixing room dynamics pays big dividends, better than room EQ instead. Wouldn't we all love to come close to an anechoic chamber and not have to deal with room modes.

Unfortunately, we all have to live with some compromises. I don't have the luxury of having my system in a dedicated theater room. My system, by conscious choice, was installed in the living room/dining room/kitchen great room, and is used more than half the time as an all speaker music system, followed by watching tv in surround mode, followed by watching movies plus forays into pure stereo, fronts only. I'd be headed for divorce court if I began putting up bass traps, acoustic panels, ceiling treatments, etc. in the living room/dining areas. I have fabric vertical blinds for the windows and slider on one side wall, that when closed cover at least 60% of that wall with soft fabric. It does a pretty good job of reducing reflections/brightness. The other side is open to the kitchen and also seems to reduce reflections. I will keep my eye out for AESTHETICALLY OK/wife friendly further options.

So, having said all that, I guess I see my potential future projects on the way to audio perfection as:

1. Try out a SCXXL as probably the last change to speakers I will ever make. I feel the speakers I have represent an extremely capable foundation as a collection of equipment that will appreciate and reward any improvements I make to the components feeding them.
2.Change out the NAD 7.1 AVR I have now for a Marantz SR 7010, which has Audyssey EQ XT32 room correction features plus other receiver refinements like 32/192 DAC. I'd still run power to the fronts through my NAD 2 channel amp. For now, I think that mono blocks take up more space than I have in our entertainement center.
3.Enter the realm of power cords, speaker cables and interconnects. For reasons of the simplicity, low cost and ease of reversing the experiment if i don't see a benefit, I want to try the power cords as a first step and then work my way into what to do about speaker cable upgrades, keeping in mind how to deal with possible tonal changes/imbalances if I don't work out good trade-offs between what I do for the short run fronts/centers vs. the cables for long, potentially very expensive runs to the surrounds/rears.

So there you have it. We all end up adapting our approaches to our unique room limitations, budget constraints, listening preferences, aesthetic issues, etc.
I STILL HAVE TO SAY THAT I CONTINUE TO BE AMAZED AT HOW GOOD MY SYSTEM SOUNDS EVEN NOW, thanks in large part to the decision to go with GEt speakers throughout, knowing that there are further feedstream refinement steps available. Looking back several years, i had no idea that I could have gotten to even this stage of audio bliss. I'm a happy camper.

All comments/suggestions appreciated. I'm especially interested in ways to preserve tonal equality among all speakers as I explore speaker cable options.

Rick

P.S. to Wayne. Not sure why that file doesn't go through, even temporarily turned off my firewall (Norton firewall is finicky about allowing uploads). Will try another approach.

Well said, Rick. Life is certainly about compromise and marriage is no exception! I think you've got a great system already and I bet it would sound great with even the most modest cables. You've got a great looking room as well so I can certainly see how a lot of acoustic treatments aren't really viable. Let's face it, the differences we are talking about here are marginal, though we seem to agonize over them just the same... Happy travels!

Cheers,

T Cobe