Chord Superscreen - BD player or amp?

[Liam19]

I'm about to take delivery of a Chord Superscreen mains cable, but I'm wondering where it might make the biggest impact in my system.

I took delivery of a Denon AVR-1910 last month, and up until last week I used it with the bundled mains cable. I switched it for the Clearer Audio Copper-line Alpha from my Panasonic BD80, and instantly noticed an increase in weight, punch and clarity of sound. Only thing is, now the BD80 is back on its bundled cable, picture quality has definitely suffered slightly.

Enter the new Superscreen. Only I can't decide whether it'll do better on the Blu-ray player or amp. Obviously I'll try both, but anyone have any ideas? My instinct tells me Alpha back to the Blu-ray, and Superscreen on the amp.

 

[Anonymous]

Should work fine either way - they are both good cables. Experiment and decide which way you like it best.

It's your ears and eyes that matter.

 

[Anonymous]

bd player, more to improve id say than on an amp....

 

[Liam19]

Just a quick update - took delivery of the SuperScreen last week. Tested it briefly on the Blu-ray player first - picture quality definitely improved, but to be honest I was keen to try it on the amp, since I've found the audio gains of good mains products to be far more noticeable.

And sure enough, the Superscreen really, really did impress me when hooked up to the Denon (and also into my Tacima CS929 for the first time - I know some frown upon plugging amps into mains conditioners, but I'd definitely recommend trying it out!). Every Blu-ray I tried sounded substantially cleaner, weightier and less cluttered than before. I was especially astounded by the improvement in musicality - be it High School Musical (there, I said it) or Metallica Live at Nimes, my system has NEVER sounded quite this lively and rhythmic before.

So I'd highly recommend the Chord SuperScreen to anyone looking to further improve upon the performance of already good quality source components.

 

[Anonymous]

Liam19:

Just a quick update - took delivery of the SuperScreen last week. Tested it briefly on the Blu-ray player first - picture quality definitely improved, but to be honest I was keen to try it on the amp, since I've found the audio gains of good mains products to be far more noticeable.

And sure enough, the Superscreen really, really did impress me when hooked up to the Denon (and also into my Tacima CS929 for the first time - I know some frown upon plugging amps into mains conditioners, but I'd definitely recommend trying it out!). Every Blu-ray I tried sounded substantially cleaner, weightier and less cluttered than before. I was especially astounded by the improvement in musicality - be it High School Musical (there, I said it) or Metallica Live at Nimes, my system has NEVER sounded quite this lively and rhythmic before.

So I'd highly recommend the Chord SuperScreen to anyone looking to further improve upon the performance of already good quality source components.

Apologies if I'm missing something, but how did you connect the BD80 to the SuperScreen? The Panasonic DMP-BD80 has a figure of eight socket and the Chord SuperScreen has an IEC plug.

 

[Anonymous]

Depends if you want to better the sound or the picture, as to where you add the cable.

 

[Dan.m]

Liam 19

Does the Chord superscreen fit the PANA 42px70 TV. I have had problems getting a mains cable to fit the recessed socket on the back of my 42px80.

 

[Anonymous]

potboyslim:Depends if you want to better the sound or the picture, as to where you add the cable.

But if the cable plug is incompatible with the equipment it is to plug into, how do you plug it in??? This is what I was getting at earlier. Liam19 has tested it, so I'm interested to know how. The Panasonic DMP-BD80 has a figure of eight socket and the Chord SuperScreen has an IEC plug!

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone know how a Chord SuperScreen has been used with a Panasonic DMP-BD80 ???

The Chord has an IEC plug and the Panasonic has a "figure of eight" socket! Am I missing something fundamental here??

 

[nads]

Mmm i smell some ******** here.

 

[Anonymous]

nads:Mmm i smell some ******** here.

lol... I'm glad someone other than myself has said that... I own both the SuperScreen and the BD80 and there's no way of using the two together without some third party adapter!

 

[nads]

N_Taro:
nads:Mmm i smell some ******** here.

lol... I'm glad someone other than myself has said that... I own both the SuperScreen and the BD80 and there's no way of using the two together without some third party adapter!

I went about it the other way and looked at the connectors on the Denon and the Panna. and like you say NO way.

 

[Anonymous]

nads:

N_Taro:
nads:Mmm i smell some ******** here.

lol... I'm glad someone other than myself has said that... I own both the SuperScreen and the BD80 and there's no way of using the two together without some third party adapter!

I went about it the other way and looked at the connectors on the Denon and the Panna. and like you say NO way.

Agreed. I'm new to this forum, so I initially thought I was missing something, but I've now concluded this thread is a complete waste of time.

 

[Dave_]

It's really not difficult- Maybe,the OP just used one of these...

 

[b33k34]

But surely your sound/picture quality is limited by the weakest point in the chain? Isn't this like building a 6 lane motorway that suddenly narrows to two single lanes?

What's the point in having a mains cable as thick as a baby's arm if the actual connections between it and the equipment (which the manufacturer must have thought more than adequate for the equipment to perform at it's best) are a couple of square mm?

 

[Anonymous]

or you could ask whats the point of having a mains cable the thickness of a babys arm , when a standard cable is just as good ? the weak link imo is peoples common sense ..

 

[Anonymous]

daveh75:

It's really not difficult- Maybe,the OP just used one of these...

I think you're missing the point here. Your adapter is like introducing a containment chamber to prevent oil from leaking in the Gulf of Mexico. You might contain some of the leakage, but you still have significant amounts spilling. Try telling that to the poor wildlife!

The reason the SuperScreen is so thick is to provide effective high frequency shielding and bring the leakage to a minimum - something a standard cable allegedly cannot match when the end results in terms of AV performance are compared.

The point is, if you're thinking of using an adapter, you're introducing significant enough leakage (amongst other loss of performance) that you might as well save your money and not bother with the Chord SuperScreen at all.

 

[Anonymous]

oh dont worry , im sure russ andrews sells a suitably sheilded and expensive adaptor ..id be surprised if he didnt..

 

[b33k34]

The Chord site says the cable is shielded to protect it from 'high
frequency interference'. I'm not clear how shielding 1m of cable
between the wall and the bit of kit will help when the rest of the
house wiring to which the Chord cable is connected is not shielded. To
carry on with my earlier metaphor, isn't this like putting a roof over
the last mile of a 100m 6 lane motorway and saying that this will
ensure that the traffic never gets wet?
Normally when you screen cables it's vital to maintain the shielding for as much of the length as possible but here you're only actually shielding a very small part. How does that work?

 

[Anonymous]

maxflinn:oh dont worry , im sure russ andrews sells a suitably sheilded and expensive adaptor ..id be surprised if he didnt..

Adaptors by their very nature are a weak addition to any AV system, whether they're expensive or not.

Nobody in the right frame of mind would spend hundreds on highly shielded cables, only to introduce adaptors. Why not just use the right cable with the right moulded plug in the first place?

Either you're trying to implement a solution that maximises a system's performance to the full, or you're wasting your money and you're better off sticking with the amp's/bluray's original manufacturer mains leads.

 

[Anonymous]

N_Taro:maxflinn:oh dont worry , im sure russ andrews sells a suitably sheilded and expensive adaptor ..id be surprised if he didnt..

Adaptors by their very nature are a weak addition to any AV system, whether they're expensive or not.

Nobody in the right frame of mind would spend hundreds on highly shielded cables, only to introduce adaptors. Why not just use the right cable with the right moulded plug in the first place?

Either you're trying to implement a solution that maximises a system's performance to the full, or you're wasting your money and you're better off sticking with the amp's/bluray's original manufacturer mains leads.
actually i was being ever so slightly scarcastic , lets just say its highly unlikely that r andrews ever sees any of my money

 

[Anonymous]

maxflinn:N_Taro:maxflinn:oh dont worry , im sure russ andrews sells a suitably sheilded and expensive adaptor ..id be surprised if he didnt..

Adaptors by their very nature are a weak addition to any AV system, whether they're expensive or not.

Nobody in the right frame of mind would spend hundreds on highly shielded cables, only to introduce adaptors. Why not just use the right cable with the right moulded plug in the first place?

Either you're trying to implement a solution that maximises a system's performance to the full, or you're wasting your money and you're better off sticking with the amp's/bluray's original manufacturer mains leads.
actually i was being ever so slightly scarcastic , lets just say its highly unlikely that r andrews ever sees any of my money

Sorry if I didn't come across right - I did sense (and appreciate) the sarcasm

I was actually trying to kill the idea of adaptors altogether - somewhat irrelevant in this thread anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

 

[Liam19]

N_Taro:nads:
N_Taro:
nads:Mmm i smell some ******** here.

lol... I'm glad someone other than myself has said that... I own both the SuperScreen and the BD80 and there's no way of using the two together without some third party adapter!

I went about it the other way and looked at the connectors on the Denon and the Panna. and like you say NO way.

Agreed. I'm new to this forum, so I initially thought I was missing something, but I've now concluded this thread is a complete waste of time.

N_Taro, as daveh has already pointed out, it's perfectly simple using a Figure-8 adaptor, which is how I connected the SuperScreen to the BD80 to begin with (now upgraded to the PowerChord, just FYI). Nads, not at all sure what you mean about the Denon and Panasonic connections - both have standard IEC sockets which require no such adaptor. And so, no, the thread wasn't really a waste of time - at least it wasn't received as such when I started it over three months ago.

I can only speak from experience. Adaptor or no adaptor, the SuperScreen (and the PowerChord since) has provided a day-and-night improvement in picture and sound quality over bundled cables in my system. I urge anyone who disputes how this can be at all possible to actually try it themselves first.

 

[Anonymous]

Liam19 - from your experience of looking and trying various mains leads, can you suggest what power lead you might use for a ceiling mounted projector?

Let's say 10-15m length mains lead is required with IEC plug at the projector end and I'm open to suggestions at the other end (e.g. 3-pin plug neatly coming out of a wall; or a dedicated wall switch, since the mains lead will be hidden in the ceiling and the walls).