Del,

One last comment. Even if the cables are completely broken in (by the dealer, for example), if they are disconnected and coiled up (or otherwise "bent"), then when hooked up again they could need another day or more to recover. I know this sounds crazy, but I experienced it.

I think the reason is that the insulation is what breaks in, and if you flex the cable you stretch and compress parts of the insulation, which causes charges to appear (piezoelectric effect) that affect the sound. This is the only theory I've seen that makes sense to me.

I think it's great fun going to different cables. You never know what you are going to hear, and the TOnes are definitely capable of resolving that kind of detail.

Charlie

charliehatch wrote: Del,

One last comment. Even if the cables are completely broken in (by the dealer, for example), if they are disconnected and coiled up (or otherwise "bent"), then when hooked up again they could need another day or more to recover. I know this sounds crazy, but I experienced it.

I think the reason is that the insulation is what breaks in, and if you flex the cable you stretch and compress parts of the insulation, which causes charges to appear (piezoelectric effect) that affect the sound. This is the only theory I've seen that makes sense to me.

I think it's great fun going to different cables. You never know what you are going to hear, and the TOnes are definitely capable of resolving that kind of detail.
Charlie

Charlie, good point and a nice explanation. I had not thought about that situation resulting in a breaking in period. Thanks for sharing.

Del

So today my dealer allowed me to bring home his Nordost 'kit' which has a set of the Leif models - White Lightning, Purple Flare, Blue Heaven and Red Dawn - speaker, interconnect and power.

I started out with changing out the power cable on the MA252 and my wife noticed a difference immediately on all types of music. I played Tears in Heaven/Clapton first. The sound was 'warmer' and more defined. Followed by Diana Krall and then Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances. After about an hour of listening we put the stock power cable back in and now you could really hear the difference. I then changed out the interconnect on the CD player. Not as noticeable as the power cable at first but again after listening for an hour and then going back to the audioquest it was very apparent. Next I changed out the speaker cables from the White Lightning to the Blue Heaven...my system has never sounded so good. I have been thinking about trading the T Ones for the Reference even though my dealer has advised against it. He was the one who suggested trying different cabling first....
I know Nordost seems to get a bad rap as being overpriced and I'm sure there is other cables out there but I trust my dealer because I know at the end of the day he will make sure I'm happy with my decisions.

Hi Gary, good report.
Thanks for that.
So what cables are you gonna buy/keep?
I will jump in with a coupla comments, but just strictly subjective, my own opinions and you know about opinions, they are like rear orifices, everybody has one.
You mentioned having Audioquest cables, and auditioning Nordost cables.
To me, that is a BIG step up!!!
You said you feel Nordost have a bad reputation for being expensive cables. I would agree with that, as they certainly are. BUT I would not say they have a bad rep for being expensive for what you get. For how good they are, I think, again, just my opinion and perception, they are WAY better than Audioquest and fairly priced for what you are getting.
I base this on having only one AQ cable and it is so p***poor I will never buy another, and not having any Nordost cables now, but having listened to them for quite a while previously with pleasure.
BUT everybody, YMMV.
I am soooo surprised that so many people on this forum (whose opinions I appreciate) can hear a significant difference in POWER CABLES. That is the LAST place I would expect to hear improvement.
God Bless,
Wayne

I'm surprised about the power cables, too. I tried an experiment with Pangea power cables to everything, and I really couldn't hear a difference. Maybe because the Pangeas are not high end. I eventually removed them, one at a time, and still didn't hear a difference.

Unfortunately, I have so many power cables in my system that going to high-end cables would be a very expensive proposition. You can probably get by with inexpensive cables to feed the Tritons (no high frequencies there, just bass amps), but as I said, I could not hear a difference.

I'm glad to hear that someone could hear a difference!

Charlie

WayneWilmeth wrote: I am soooo surprised that so many people on this forum (whose opinions I appreciate) can hear a significant difference in POWER CABLES. That is the LAST place I would expect to hear improvement.
God Bless,
Wayne

Hi, Wayne

That is exactly where I started out, also. Until I tried different power cords. One of the better explanations I've seen (probably over simplified) why power cords matter, is that, whereas interconnects and speaker cable's main job is to transmit the signal from the source as cleanly as possible with no blurring, and with as little noise added as possible, better power cords, on sources especially help the source/amp PRODUCE the best possible, cleanest, most natural,, noise free signal for the interconnects and speaker cables to then deliver ultimately to the speakers.

Gary, I'd be interested to know which Nordost power cable you tried that you liked so much. If memory serves, I believe T Cobe ended up with a Nordost power cable also.

Rick