well known fact: you hear the weakest link! One of the latest comments Steve has made on the forum.

Thanks guys,

I'm already believer in higher end cables, I'm simply wondering if it's necessary for every item in the chain, or prioritized more for some items over others. IE, perhaps it's beneficial for the preamp, but not so much for something like a zrock.

Right on. Thanks, so the ultimate endgame is primo interconnects everywhere, correct?

Thank you so much for the reply!

Glad to hear it made a sonic improvement! This will probably be the step that I take!

Power cables and good interconnects are worth it even on lower-end systems. I am running a Decware UFO and a USB-powered $100 DAC and the difference was huge with a good power cable.

It just makes everything sound airier, less distorted, less grainy, and blacker background.

A friend of mine has several $2000 tube amps and a $7500 Bricasti DAC she bought some $25 hospital-grade cables from Amazon and that was a big improvement too.

It took me less than a week to order and receive one of the new DHC-3 power cords from Steve.

It is a fantastic cord for the money. I have it now powering my
CSP2+ with the Anniversary mods and the sound is great.

I went ahead and upgraded my vintage JVC QLY66F TT with new higher quality hardwired AC cord and RCA connects. Yesterday I ordered and got on the list for a SE34.6 I and the ZP3 Phono. Along with that I've ordered the high-end DECWARE -3 AC cables, interconnects and speaker wire. I will A B compare Steve's stock AC plugs with his top-of-the-line when I receive them in 14 months lol. Again as I said above I think my weakest link is going to be my apartment buildings power out of my apartment's wall outlet. I'm only going to use one breaker for the amps so on my to do list is to replace the Wall receptacles on that breaker with hospital grade Leveton T8300-IG outlets. I am seriously considering after I run my system for a while getting a Z Power system.

I thought the same thing but after serious consideration since I do not put my components on the floor but on my racks shelves 1.5 meter AC cables Male end to EIC might not be long enough. My top shelf is 36" high

The interconnects between components come in 1m length tip to tip, If you are laying your components 12" inches apart that won't leave much slack to lay the cable correctly with out crimping and stressing, I may not even keep my components next to each other but on separate shelves. I believe Steve has taken all of this into account. He also mentioned that there will other sizes as they become available. Make an inquiry as to when this might happen and what you need.

I've cut just about every power cord to fit my layout. Also, constructed interconnects to fit. Now going inside the conponets to replace the output/input leads. Seems this is about the easiest and most profound upgrade one can make to the audio system string.

John

While I personally believe in quality cables to a degree, I also freely admit that it is only a belief which is largely not backed by empirical scientific data on either the objective or subjective effects.

For literally millions of years the human mind has convinced us, on a myriad of fronts, to believe all sorts of things with great conviction that are ultimately completely untrue.  And even science is limited by that same unreliable mind from a primitive primate species called humanity.  Our DNA is only 1% different than a chimpanzee and our capacity to genuinely understand reality is very limited.  Science is limited in its ability to perceive facts, the issues, how to conceive tests and interpret results.  Limited by that same primitive brain that seemingly will believe just about anything.  Science can only be as deep as the capacity of the one who perceives it.  All that glitters is not gold.  

Belief and science, seemingly opposites, are both products of the same unreliable human brain, as evidenced by our remarkably poor track record as residents of earth.  No known species in millions of years of history has been a worse neighbor than humanity.  There is no close second.  And yet we still have that persistent arrogance of our superiority and misunderstanding of our tiny place in existence.

It’s an easy out to declare the opinion of an expert as gospel, and then follow it. But even someone as venerable as Nelson Pass is using his notoriously unreliable monkey brain as a guide.

Therefore I purchase quality cables knowing that their effects may or may not be a monkey god of my own creation.  But in case the rapture does actually come, at least I’ll have the right cables!

Thanks Will. The main thing I wonder about is why my particular brain requires a $15k stereo to enjoy music?  My Hawaiian neighbor has a $200 boom box which he enjoys easily as much as I enjoy my elaborate system.

We are both human.  The music is still music.  Who is the one that enjoys and how does that part of our minds release the various chemicals that let us know that we’re experiencing enjoyment?  And why does that whole process have such a wide variety of triggers across the species?

I’ve had guests who look with stunned amazement at what they hear from my system. And others who don’t get it in the least, for whom a $200 boom box and $15K rig have the same enjoyment producing capacity.

It seems at that point what is “best” has no empirical meaning. All that matters is that a given external stimulus triggers our particular pleasure receptors.  What that stimulus is seems not really matter in the big picture.

This leads one to wonder who is that perceives that pleasure?  That dynamic seems to have an astonishing influence on our perception of what is meaningful.  Yet the very nature of that dynamic is specific and fickle.  It’s scope of what triggers the satisfaction response is very limited. And the shadow of dissatisfaction is always close at hand.  Step off the tracks and we get zapped by displeasure which then leads us to seek the pleasure tracks again.  We fight wars over such things.

Is it possible to be free of all that?  To not be slave to this fickle master of satisfaction and dissatisfaction?

If I could figure that out I’d save a lot of money on cables!

Quote:


Sorry, but it is inborn - we forum members have all been cursed with the 'Audiophile Gene'. You cannot fight it. There is no cure for it.

You just have to struggle along, and do the best you can to survive.

Best, and good luck.

This thread has wandered all around but I'll answer the original question:  Power cable for the amp.  

While many like to upgrade all their power cables and this is where the debate starts to happen, and then there is the debate between "premium" power cables and just heavy generic power cables.

The AMP is the only piece of equipment that needs enough power in a manner to require a huge power cable.  The mistake people make is sizing a power cable for the average load of their amp.  An amp needs ready power available for transients, not steady state.  I've had a 10 wpc sophia baby amp performing poorly with a 14 awg and straightened right out with a 10awg cable.  

So my advice is for the amp and the amp only, at a minimum go with a generic 10 awg power cable.  Many an amp goes up for sale because someone bought a "premium" cable that was 14 awg because "hey, it's only a 200 watt load".  

Other components do not have significant dynamic loading and upgrading the power cables will be more peace of mind than anything else.

Jerry

Archie it is true that most home outlets in the USA are 15amp. The wire is 12 gauge though and protected with a 20 amp breaker. This is common practice here at the good old mainland.

Hindsight brings to mind that a home run 10 gauge wire should have been run instead of 12 gauge to my system. Oh well!

Archie, allow me to help. As a Hawaiian, the mainland is most of the USA.  When used in a sentence, “Slowdown, this ain’t the mainland!”