Hi Lon..  

I’m a noob to Decware and this forum, but a long-time audiofool.  I was perusing the forum looking for a Decware amp to buy to avoid the 12+ week wait (and having very little luck so far I might add) and somehow following links ended up here.  I couldn’t help but notice your praise for PS Audio SC and PW-AC pwr cords - +1, +2, +3 from me on this topic!    There are none better IMO or experience.  And they got me off the pwr cord merry-go-round several years ago.  As with most “cables”, of any kind, “the connectors” are the most important component.  Yes… super-sonic-space-modulated metallurgy of the wire is important too, but the connector is where the rubber-meets-the-road.  PS pwr cords have heavy, solid, machined prongs.  I have yet to find any other brand, no matter the price, that has a connector even remotely in the same league as the PSA’s.  Pick your flavor, Wattgate, Oyaide.. etc.  they all have “stamped” prongs with “holes” in them – I don’t care what they’re plated with, they are a fraction of the PSA’s mass.  The designer cable may have 7 gauge, hyper-litz, spiraled, foamed Teflon insulation, continuous cast copper wire, but its all terminated at the ends to a micro fine plating of somekind, light gauge piece of “stamped” brass for prongs – think about it!.  In my experience, the PW-AC 12, like you praise, is about the equivalent of putting a good power conditioner or isolation transformer at you’re A/C source – the improvement is not subtle.  And I am talking "improvement" here - not just "different".  More rez, more micro and macro dynamics, blah, blah, blah - better - more like live music.  I too use the PSA PP Premier – takes the performance of every system I’ve ever tried it in (all mine and my audio buds systems), up several notches… but I digress – this an I/C topic… so on to that topic.

At the outset, let me state, that I am not an electrical engineer.  But I have good, close friends that are and I have read every technical white paper I can find on the principals and theory of the “transmission of analog audio frequencies over wire” that I could find.  The “ability” of a given piece of wire and its “connectors” to “accurately” transmit an analog frequency can be measured.  And subsequently the design of a cable and its connectors can be engineered to “effect” the signal passing thru them in a predetermined manner or to be “accurate”.  I won’t get into the electrical properties involved here as that would be a whole nother egg to fry.  However, as we all know, one may or may not “like” what the cable does to the sound in a particular system, but accuracy in the transmission of a given source signal can be attained.  But it involves knowing the output impedance of the source, and the input impedance of the target and engineering the interface(the cable) to match their electrical characteristics.  And thus those of us on the quest for the Holy Grail will never get there, because it is impossible for us to try every conceivable combination of source component, cable and downstream device possible until we get to that infinitely far away goal of perfection – the actual live performance in our listening spaces.  Once I finally realized this, I altered my quest to seek out “accuracy” as that is more feasibly obtained and choose components accordingly.  I have been chasing this carrot-on-a-stick goal for about 30 years.  I have owned more brands of cable than I can even enumerate.  But just to toss my 2-cents into this ring… I have found two brands of interconnects that, once again, got me off the interconnect merry-go-round; those designed and used to be sold by John Dunlavy of Dunlavy speaker fame, and Goertz/Alpha-Core.  Neither of these require 2nd mortgages and can be bought quite inexpensively used.  You may not “like” them in your system, but I have found them to be very neutral, “accurate” and revealing.  Dunlavy even included the testing measurements of his cables with each specific pair sold.  If you run across some – give’em a try.  The Goertz can be had in solid copper or solid silver forms.  I own both and they do allow for some tuning as they do sound different.  The Dunlavy’s only come in one flavor, as John designed for “accuracy” – period – end of story.  Dunlavy is long out of biz and John has passed on, so these would only be found used.  Goertz is still alive and well, but not generally well known.  Audiophile cables are a side-line of their main biz – transformer design and manufacture, so they do know what they’re doing..!!!

Now.. having said all that.  Since I have discovered "Decware".  I have been reading all of Steve's papers and poking around on this forum and have talked to Steve at length about his amps and what I'm seeking.  And beginning to learn what Decware is all about, I've got a pretty good hunch that Decware's cables are probably designed pretty well and are intentionally engineered to fall into the "accurate" electrical signal transmission camp and not in the "tone control" camp.  If I ever manage to purchase a Decware amp, I absolutely intend to try Decware cables too - why wouldn't you - it's almost a no brainer!  

Lon, look for some used Goertz MicroPurl IC's - copper version - I think you might find them to your liking...they're only $101 brand new for a meter pair in RCA termination.  I have been using copper and silver versions in both the micropurl and heavier TQ2 version(.22 gauge) for years.  Occasionally I try something new, I have always returned to the Goertz so far.  In fact I use Goertz copper foil inductors in homebrew speaker projects and the difference is not subtle.  Now that I'm embarking on the single, full range, high-efficiency driver, crossoverless speaker journey - I'm trying out a new homebrew speaker "cable"... buy a copper foil inductor, unwind it, and use it for internal speaker cabinet wiring and for wire from amp to speaker.. I have heard from those in the know - that there is nothing better!  gotta give it a try.  I use Goertz speaker cable right now - same thing - I try others, but always come back.  Detail, detail, detail, rez and natural dynamics without glare or fatigue even at high spl's for extended periods.  The copper is more "bloomy" than the silver.  the silver slightly more "incisive".  these characteristics hold true for their IC's and speaker wire.  But Goertz speaker cable is capacitive, but low inductance.  I want to try just plain copper foil without the capacitance of the goertz speaker cable.  

I can't wait to get my hands on a decware amp and will try some decware IC's too.  I can't quite figure out the decware speaker cable - that is going to require some more research and analysis before I bite on it.

Let’s take this one step further… we can only share our experiences with equipment and cables… put the same system in a different “room” and it will sound different.  Going even further, each of us has our own perception of “sound”.  Our ears are shaped differently, we process auditory queues differently in our brains and we have different bias’ and sensitivities to the various aspects of sound.  Boil this all down and it really doesn’t matter if what we think we hear can be measured or explained – hearing is a “perception” – if we think we hear it – then we do….. and that’s the bottom line my fellow audiofools....