Posted by Albertporter on November 25, 2002 at 18:52:25:
In Reply to: How Do After Market Power Cords.......Sound ? posted by Terry Koehn on November 25, 2002 at 17:31:22:
Describing the sound of various power cords is as difficult as putting words to the differences between top quality NOS tubes. Certainly power cords do not have the mechanical sound of brass cones substituted for the furniture glides under a Soundlab, but it does often increase the dynamics and clarity, as a good footer can do.
There was a time not too many years ago when I could have written pages on why power cords cannot work. Among these arguments were statements about distance from the generating plant, big wire at the end of small Romex, additional cable added to an already long chain and so on. Certainly from a common sense point of view power cords do not make sense. But then again science is not always able to describe, much less measure, what we hear.
In the end I was given the opportunity to try for myself. The first time was on an amplifier, and I admit that this is an easier place to make the test than a pair of Soundlab. As Terry has pointed out, the draw from the Soundlab power supply is miniscule.
None the less, the power supply is VERY important on every electrical device, and the Soundlab speaker is no different. The amount of change the cord will provide depends on the resolution the system is capable of, the cord supplied and how critical a listener you are.
Those seeking the "Holy Grail" by simply plugging in a new cord will be severely disappointed. Those who tweak their systems to achieve the highest possible performance will discover they cannot build their system around Soundlabs without supplying that world class speaker through a premium power cord.
For what it is worth, my experiments with power conditioners from Tice, Accuphase, Power Wedge, Audio Prism and Shunyata, hurt the Soundlab performance more than it helped.
Good power cables to try with Soundlab to see what this is about.
Purist Dominus, Cardas, Omega Micro and Audioquest. These are significantly different from each other to give an idea of the effect power cords have on the Soundlab supply.