Hi, I have been reading how that a good power cable can really change the sound from you Hi-Fi, but I have not seen anybody say if the affect AV equipment such as a TV, AV receiver or even a PlayStation 3. So my question is, do they affect AV equipment as much as Hi-Fi?
Power Cables
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professorhat
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- Dec 28, 2007
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I'm currently using a Merlin Black Widow with my TV and a Russ Andrews Powermax with my PS3 and, although I didn't think the difference was astonishing in picture terms, it cleared up a tiny bit of noise I could see on some aspects of the picture so I've kept them for that reason.
I also had the Clearer Audio Silver-line cable for a little while powering my Onkyo receiver and, again, I did think there was an improvement, but in this case, not £200's worth of improvement so I sent this one back for a refund. I'm currently deciding whether it's worth trying a cheaper cable for this or not.
I also had the Clearer Audio Silver-line cable for a little while powering my Onkyo receiver and, again, I did think there was an improvement, but in this case, not £200's worth of improvement so I sent this one back for a refund. I'm currently deciding whether it's worth trying a cheaper cable for this or not.
professorhat:I also had the Clearer Audio Silver-line
IMO silver is not good for hifi or A/V signals, and this is especially the case for power leads. I reckon that if you tried their Copper Line it would most likely be better (and cheaper!).
EDIT: After checking their website, A LOT cheaper!!!!!
IMO silver is not good for hifi or A/V signals, and this is especially the case for power leads. I reckon that if you tried their Copper Line it would most likely be better (and cheaper!).
EDIT: After checking their website, A LOT cheaper!!!!!
professorhat
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Thanks for this - I get on okay with the QED Silver Anniversary speaker cables, but I'll more than likely give another cable a try out at some point for the amp, quite possibly the Copper Line.
I've had good experiences using Merlin power cables, i used one of their cheaper cables (tarantula?) and distribution block and did notice an improvement. I used the power cables for dvd player and plasma telly
TomW93 - Power cables do offer benefits to AV equipment including display devices (LCD, plasma and projectors), dvd and blu-ray players, processors, AV receivers, active subwoofers etc. You can expect improvements to picture and/or audio quality which can be as significant as improvements heard in a hi-fi system. The best way of seeing and hearing if a cable will make a difference is to test one in your system. Quite a few manufacturers - like ourselves - offer money back guarantees so you can try cables without risk.
Tear drop - Silver is the best material to use in any cable offering the lowest electrical resistance and the best signal transmission of all metals (although a high quality copper will always perform better than a poor quality silver). Going down a level, silver-plated copper can be extremely effective in many applications - yielding some of the benefits of silver whilst being more cost-effective - although performance depends upon a vast array of factors. Not sure what your experience has been and perhaps you have found that silver or silver-plated do not work well in your system.
Professorhat - You could try our Copper-line Power Cable - we have lots of customers using them on Onkyo receivers to great effect. Occasionally some customers find that a Copper-line will work better for them than a Silver-line so it is worth trying. Also you could consider our new entry-level Copper-line Alpha Power Cable which draws heavily from the Copper-line Power Cable in terms of design, materials used and construction. It is also very affordable starting at £35.00 for a 1m length.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Darren
Tear drop - Silver is the best material to use in any cable offering the lowest electrical resistance and the best signal transmission of all metals (although a high quality copper will always perform better than a poor quality silver). Going down a level, silver-plated copper can be extremely effective in many applications - yielding some of the benefits of silver whilst being more cost-effective - although performance depends upon a vast array of factors. Not sure what your experience has been and perhaps you have found that silver or silver-plated do not work well in your system.
Professorhat - You could try our Copper-line Power Cable - we have lots of customers using them on Onkyo receivers to great effect. Occasionally some customers find that a Copper-line will work better for them than a Silver-line so it is worth trying. Also you could consider our new entry-level Copper-line Alpha Power Cable which draws heavily from the Copper-line Power Cable in terms of design, materials used and construction. It is also very affordable starting at £35.00 for a 1m length.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Darren
Darren,
Silver may have the best specs on paper but any serious listen to it in any quantity in a hifi system (especially one with high resolution) will quickly reveal its flaws and inadequacies for music reproduction - it is totally unbalanced and unnatural. This is true of many exotic metals which are used in 'hifi land' these days - rhodium and platinum are another two 'offenders' which are cropping up more and more, especially at ludicrous price points. I believe silver is used a lot of the time to give low resolution systems the 'illusion' of greater detail, ambience etc.
Cables are the one element of the music reproduction chain which I have heard far more than any other - countless configurations, materials, connectors etc, at all price levels, so I am basing my views on a wealth of experience. I must admit though that your cables seem to be well designed in the overall with plenty of attention to detail.
Silver may have the best specs on paper but any serious listen to it in any quantity in a hifi system (especially one with high resolution) will quickly reveal its flaws and inadequacies for music reproduction - it is totally unbalanced and unnatural. This is true of many exotic metals which are used in 'hifi land' these days - rhodium and platinum are another two 'offenders' which are cropping up more and more, especially at ludicrous price points. I believe silver is used a lot of the time to give low resolution systems the 'illusion' of greater detail, ambience etc.
Cables are the one element of the music reproduction chain which I have heard far more than any other - countless configurations, materials, connectors etc, at all price levels, so I am basing my views on a wealth of experience. I must admit though that your cables seem to be well designed in the overall with plenty of attention to detail.
Ive tried all sorts of cables and conditioners.
My Pioneer hdtv in particular looked quite a bit better (more 3 dimensional etc) when connected with a 16 braided copper cable (bare in mind this is also through a russ andrews powerblock though). And i even plugged an Isotek Mira conditioner through that as well with even more improvements!
Cables do make the difference to all aspects of 'hifi' and ive found the very best ones are the braided type.
Also depends on the type, so you have (Going up in 'general' order of preference) copper, pure copper (as good as they can make it anyways), silver plated copper, rhodium plated copper (!) and solid silver. Then the number of braids makes a differnce too, so a 16 core would be better than a 4 core type. Prof' said he has the merlin on his tv and its 'ok' but the braided copper blew it away in my honest opinion!
For the record on my tv though, I HAD silver plated cables on, and on NTSC stuff it puts an audible 'buzz' through the Pioneer screen as if it was trying 'too' hard (But had a fantastic picture all the same). So for tvs id personally stick with copper.
Check out ebay
(especially 'TM3 connections' who will pretty much make anything you wish)
My Pioneer hdtv in particular looked quite a bit better (more 3 dimensional etc) when connected with a 16 braided copper cable (bare in mind this is also through a russ andrews powerblock though). And i even plugged an Isotek Mira conditioner through that as well with even more improvements!
Cables do make the difference to all aspects of 'hifi' and ive found the very best ones are the braided type.
Also depends on the type, so you have (Going up in 'general' order of preference) copper, pure copper (as good as they can make it anyways), silver plated copper, rhodium plated copper (!) and solid silver. Then the number of braids makes a differnce too, so a 16 core would be better than a 4 core type. Prof' said he has the merlin on his tv and its 'ok' but the braided copper blew it away in my honest opinion!
For the record on my tv though, I HAD silver plated cables on, and on NTSC stuff it puts an audible 'buzz' through the Pioneer screen as if it was trying 'too' hard (But had a fantastic picture all the same). So for tvs id personally stick with copper.
Check out ebay
Hello Tear Drop,
I take on board your comments about silver but have to say that I disagree. Silver has the most natural, unforced, open and transparent sound (although the quality of the silver and processes implemented affect performance very significantly). I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree. Using high-end silver cables in an entry-level system is usually superfluous especially when good quality copper cables may provide optimal performance.
I totally agree with your comments regarding the use of other more "exotic" materials - usually from the platinum group - which quite a few manufacturers are now using with premium prices. Metals such as rhodium, palladium and platinum have very low conductivity (38-16% that of copper) and offer poor signal propagation. These metals can be very useful for plating connectors due to high levels of hardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance but they perform very poorly as a conductor material.
Thanks for your comments on our cables.
All the best,
Darren
I take on board your comments about silver but have to say that I disagree. Silver has the most natural, unforced, open and transparent sound (although the quality of the silver and processes implemented affect performance very significantly). I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree. Using high-end silver cables in an entry-level system is usually superfluous especially when good quality copper cables may provide optimal performance.
I totally agree with your comments regarding the use of other more "exotic" materials - usually from the platinum group - which quite a few manufacturers are now using with premium prices. Metals such as rhodium, palladium and platinum have very low conductivity (38-16% that of copper) and offer poor signal propagation. These metals can be very useful for plating connectors due to high levels of hardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance but they perform very poorly as a conductor material.
Thanks for your comments on our cables.
All the best,
Darren
To be fair Darren. Id love to try your cables out as you do get good reviews. Its just I got to a point that I decided to try out custom cables and (for the price) they appear to blow away the 'graded' stuff (shrugs)
Also, my comments above were just 'generalising'. But on the whole 'solid silver' braided cables blow away everything else (So far as my tests have gone). BUT ~ they are not suitable for all aplications. Try before you buy people........
Also, my comments above were just 'generalising'. But on the whole 'solid silver' braided cables blow away everything else (So far as my tests have gone). BUT ~ they are not suitable for all aplications. Try before you buy people........
Hello aliEnRIK,
Indeed braided cables are not suitable for all applications since although they exhibit low inductance the trade off is high capacitance. Also the majority of braided cables are not shielded which can be a big disadvantage making them more susceptible to interference. But I am pleased to hear that you have found something that works for you and I wish you all the best; and your advice to others of try before you buy - or try with a money back guarantee - is very wise!
Kind regards,
Darren
Indeed braided cables are not suitable for all applications since although they exhibit low inductance the trade off is high capacitance. Also the majority of braided cables are not shielded which can be a big disadvantage making them more susceptible to interference. But I am pleased to hear that you have found something that works for you and I wish you all the best; and your advice to others of try before you buy - or try with a money back guarantee - is very wise!
Kind regards,
Darren
A friend of mine pointed this out to me ~
http://www.movingair.info/designPrinciple.htm
Its by ABBEY ROAD CABLE (All their studios are wired with it!) and they explain the benefits of braided over screened as thus ~
"Cable with a twist
Abbey Road Cable's characteristic starquad and pair twist has a
purpose. Potential electromagnetic waves meet equal areas of
positive and negative conductors causing them to cancel out the
interference by phase reversal. This type of noise rejection does not
use a screen. Without a screen, capacitance is reduced significantly.
Capacitance affects imagery and muddies the signal. In short the less
capacitance the better. We think it looks great too."
Id LOVE to try some out
[/b]
http://www.movingair.info/designPrinciple.htm
Its by ABBEY ROAD CABLE (All their studios are wired with it!) and they explain the benefits of braided over screened as thus ~
"Cable with a twist
Abbey Road Cable's characteristic starquad and pair twist has a
purpose. Potential electromagnetic waves meet equal areas of
positive and negative conductors causing them to cancel out the
interference by phase reversal. This type of noise rejection does not
use a screen. Without a screen, capacitance is reduced significantly.
Capacitance affects imagery and muddies the signal. In short the less
capacitance the better. We think it looks great too."
Id LOVE to try some out
[/b]
aliEnRIK,
A braid or tight twisted geometry (which we employ) can be effective at reducing Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). However this is a very narrow band of noise within the whole Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) spectrum and the effectiveness of noise cancelling depends upon the length of the cable. Shielding systems that are designed correctly do not significantly raise capacitance whereas braided cables usually exhibit high levels of capacitance. In addition, capacitance and inductance are inversely related so a cable with very low capacitance will exhibit a high inductance which can adversely affect performance.
If you find that braided cables work well in your system then that is the main thing!
Kind regards,
Darren
A braid or tight twisted geometry (which we employ) can be effective at reducing Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). However this is a very narrow band of noise within the whole Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) spectrum and the effectiveness of noise cancelling depends upon the length of the cable. Shielding systems that are designed correctly do not significantly raise capacitance whereas braided cables usually exhibit high levels of capacitance. In addition, capacitance and inductance are inversely related so a cable with very low capacitance will exhibit a high inductance which can adversely affect performance.
If you find that braided cables work well in your system then that is the main thing!
Kind regards,
Darren
professorhat
Well-known member
- Dec 28, 2007
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If you visit their site, you'll see they have a 60 day money back guarantee. As I say, I've already used this as I returned my Silver-line power cable and there was no quibbles on refunding the money. Just make sure you keep the packaging!
professorhat:If you visit their site, you'll see they have a 60 day money back guarantee. As I say, I've already used this as I returned my Silver-line power cable and there was no quibbles on refunding the money. Just make sure you keep the packaging!
And your verdict is?
And your verdict is?
professorhat
Well-known member
- Dec 28, 2007
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Verdict on what? The Silver-line? As I said a bit earlier, I thought it made a difference but not enough to justify the £200 price tag so I returned it for a refund.
Have the Copper-line Alpha on order now.
Have the Copper-line Alpha on order now.
Someones just pointed me towards these actually ~
http://elucidate-cables.co.uk/Design.html
Ive never heard of them before but this bloke has tried a nodost cable which he found to be a bit c*ap, and tried these and they apparantly REALLY do the business.
What they say makes ABSOLUTE sense to me ~ im thinking of giving one a go sometime
http://elucidate-cables.co.uk/Design.html
Ive never heard of them before but this bloke has tried a nodost cable which he found to be a bit c*ap, and tried these and they apparantly REALLY do the business.
What they say makes ABSOLUTE sense to me ~ im thinking of giving one a go sometime
aliEnRIK:
Someones just pointed me towards these actually ~
http://elucidate-cables.co.uk/Design.html
Ive never heard of them before but this bloke has tried a nodost cable which he found to be a bit c*ap, and tried these and they apparantly REALLY do the business.
What they say makes ABSOLUTE sense to me ~ im thinking of giving one a go sometime
Interesting...one thing I like is that they aren't telling you what you should or shouldn't be hearing/seeing when you use their cables, usually a good sign.
Someones just pointed me towards these actually ~
http://elucidate-cables.co.uk/Design.html
Ive never heard of them before but this bloke has tried a nodost cable which he found to be a bit c*ap, and tried these and they apparantly REALLY do the business.
What they say makes ABSOLUTE sense to me ~ im thinking of giving one a go sometime
Interesting...one thing I like is that they aren't telling you what you should or shouldn't be hearing/seeing when you use their cables, usually a good sign.
I'll post what he did as it reads very well ~
"Funny thing mains cables, theirs lots of controversy and debate around whether they make any difference or not?
However,
having spend thousands of pounds on my hi fi system, I decided it made
sense to use the best mains cables with them, why scrimp and scrap and
cut corners now.so I decided to buy some mains cables from
Nordost.unfortunately I could hardly tell the difference and was rather
disappointed.
I did some more digging and spent quite a lot of
time reading around the internet and looking at double blind studies
into mains cables etc (I can provide links in people are interested?)
I
came across a company called Elucidate Cables, who claim to design
their cables using filters, screening, and twisted pair techniques to
actively reduce interference such as RFI and EMI.
Their EPIC
cable, seamed reasonably priced so I purchased a 1 meter cable to test
with, I wasn't expecting a lot to me honest with you, however I was
amazed at the difference it made, it blew my Nordost cable out of the
water.
I've since bought a second cable for the 65" Plasma TV and
was equally surprised by how much better the HD channels looked, the
colours and everything seams to come alive and look more vivid..I'd
highly recommend trying one of these cables to any sceptics out there"
He sold em to me
"Funny thing mains cables, theirs lots of controversy and debate around whether they make any difference or not?
However,
having spend thousands of pounds on my hi fi system, I decided it made
sense to use the best mains cables with them, why scrimp and scrap and
cut corners now.so I decided to buy some mains cables from
Nordost.unfortunately I could hardly tell the difference and was rather
disappointed.
I did some more digging and spent quite a lot of
time reading around the internet and looking at double blind studies
into mains cables etc (I can provide links in people are interested?)
I
came across a company called Elucidate Cables, who claim to design
their cables using filters, screening, and twisted pair techniques to
actively reduce interference such as RFI and EMI.
Their EPIC
cable, seamed reasonably priced so I purchased a 1 meter cable to test
with, I wasn't expecting a lot to me honest with you, however I was
amazed at the difference it made, it blew my Nordost cable out of the
water.
I've since bought a second cable for the 65" Plasma TV and
was equally surprised by how much better the HD channels looked, the
colours and everything seams to come alive and look more vivid..I'd
highly recommend trying one of these cables to any sceptics out there"
He sold em to me
aliEnRIK:Send me some cables so I can try em out
Hi aliEnRIK,
As professorhat pointed out we offer a 60 Day Money Back Guarantee so you can try any of our products in your own system without risk. If you find that a product does not work for you or you simply want to return for any reason then you can do so for a full refund.
If I can be of any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact me on 01702 543981.
All the best,
Darren
Hi aliEnRIK,
As professorhat pointed out we offer a 60 Day Money Back Guarantee so you can try any of our products in your own system without risk. If you find that a product does not work for you or you simply want to return for any reason then you can do so for a full refund.
If I can be of any further assistance then please do not hesitate to contact me on 01702 543981.
All the best,
Darren
What I want to know is, this Clearer Audio Cable, the new £35 copper one. What is so different from that and the one that came in the box with my Panny HD Plasma screen?
What do pannasonic use in there power cables? Im sure the out the box cable would use the same copper material!?! Would that justify me spending £35 on clearer audios cable?
What do pannasonic use in there power cables? Im sure the out the box cable would use the same copper material!?! Would that justify me spending £35 on clearer audios cable?
l4dva:
What I want to know is, this Clearer Audio Cable, the new £35 copper one. What is so different from that and the one that came in the box with my Panny HD Plasma screen?
What do pannasonic use in there power cables? Im sure the out the box cable would use the same copper material!?! Would that justify me spending £35 on clearer audios cable?
Hello l4dva,
Our Copper-line Alpha Power Cable differs from a standard power cable in many ways. Standard power cables usually have 0.75sq/mm conductors using tough pitch copper (a low purity copper) and will not be shielded. The Copper-line Alpha Power Cable utilises Ultra High Purity Oxygen Free Copper (UHP-OFC) with larger gauge conductors along with a very high performance shielding system. There are also other aspects which contribute to performance. You can read our press release which gives full details of the cable here.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Darren
What I want to know is, this Clearer Audio Cable, the new £35 copper one. What is so different from that and the one that came in the box with my Panny HD Plasma screen?
What do pannasonic use in there power cables? Im sure the out the box cable would use the same copper material!?! Would that justify me spending £35 on clearer audios cable?
Hello l4dva,
Our Copper-line Alpha Power Cable differs from a standard power cable in many ways. Standard power cables usually have 0.75sq/mm conductors using tough pitch copper (a low purity copper) and will not be shielded. The Copper-line Alpha Power Cable utilises Ultra High Purity Oxygen Free Copper (UHP-OFC) with larger gauge conductors along with a very high performance shielding system. There are also other aspects which contribute to performance. You can read our press release which gives full details of the cable here.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Darren
I'm a big fan of the QED SA XT, it seems to suit my system far better than copper. Maybe that's because Arcam is not bright sounding, but Having both the aforementioned cables hooked up the same system and also having used my second speakers with the QED, I have to say the QED is a much more accomplished listen than the OFC.
ÿ
ÿ
I have 6 clearer audio silver line power cables in my system and the difference they make is astonishing. I've also trialed chord company's power chords, which are a huge improvement over the free bundled cables, but the clearer audio cables are something else.
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