Recent cable purchases by ex cable skeptic

[Drummerdave]

I held out for over a year, no upmarket cable was going to be installed in my new system. The manufacturer (AVI), some well meaning friends and common sense had told me not to waste my money on expensive bits of wire.

However, a January e-bay purchase of a Kimber Crystal CU interconnect started the ball rolling. There was a noticeable improvement over my Cambridge Audio Pacific - more detail / clarity.

Next there was considerable internal conflict / debate as to whether to upgrade my speaker cable or not. My existing multistrand copper cable was a good product, could it be improved upon and if so how? Eventually Kimber 4TC was ordered - it has a 60 day money back trial period so there would be no risky financial outlay if the product was no good for me. Once hooked up there was a big difference. I'd previously been considering buying a sub because of the lean sound I was hearing from the Duos (they're floorstanders but only 770mm high). AVI had again been consulted and they told me that if anything the Duos produced too much bass! This was perplexing. The 4TC has somehow changed all this, bass is now deep and dynamic, the tonal balance now sounds so right. Much more detail, bigger soundstage - don't know how but it's done it.

Recently hooked up my cd player with a Kimber Classic Powerkord and amp with a Clearer Audio Alpha. Both on 60 day trial - initial thoughts are that the soundstage has opened up even more. They will be removed from system in a few weeks to see if there is a big difference from the old cables - then the decision will be made to return them or not.

The speaker cable and I/C are staying put. Bottom line is you have to try these things (imo) - my hifi sounds fantastic now.

 

[Anonymous]

Pleased that you have found they work well for you.

I made this discovery many years ago and have Classic Powerkords and Kimber 4TC on my set up (as well as SA XT). It still amazes me how few invest in getting the most out of there music but will happily spend big bucks upgrading for a less noticeable difference.

You are still only around 50% there though, grab a BT unit and be shocked!

 

[aliEnRIK]

Glad to see you 'took the plunge' mate

I could always see why inteconects and speaker cables could make a difference but I couldnt for the life of me understand why mains cables could. After reading about the changes people had heard with them I decided to buy a 2nd hand Isotek Elite for my Arcam amp. The difference was clear as day and ive never looked back.

I now have 16 core braided copper or solid silver mains cables connected to everything. Isotek Mira and Sigmas conditioners. 8 core braided solid silver interconnects and 16 core solid silver braided speaker cables. The difference is truly staggering.

 

[idc]

Can I chip in and suggest attenuation will make further improvements. I bought an attenuated interconnect for CD to amp and it opened up the sound and allowed more volume control.

 

[Drummerdave]

trevor79:Pleased that you have found they work well for you.

I made this discovery many years ago and have Classic Powerkords and Kimber 4TC on my set up (as well as SA XT). It still amazes me how few invest in getting the most out of there music but will happily spend big bucks upgrading for a less noticeable difference.

You are still only around 50% there though, grab a BT unit and be shocked!

Just starting to think about/research the BT units Trevor (damn, thought I had finished my cable upgrading) Can you explain what they do and how they are connected?

Cheers.

 

[Drummerdave]

aliEnRIK:
Glad to see you 'took the plunge' mate

I could always see why inteconects and speaker cables could make a difference but I couldnt for the life of me understand why mains cables could. After reading about the changes people had heard with them I decided to buy a 2nd hand Isotek Elite for my Arcam amp. The difference was clear as day and ive never looked back.

I now have 16 core braided copper or solid silver mains cables connected to everything. Isotek Mira and Sigmas conditioners. 8 core braided solid silver interconnects and 16 core solid silver braided speaker cables. The difference is truly staggering.

Glad I took the plunge too alienRIK, cheers.

 

[Drummerdave]

idc:Can I chip in and suggest attenuation will make further improvements. I bought an attenuated interconnect for CD to amp and it opened up the sound and allowed more volume control.

My Kimber I/C has 11dB attenutation as it happens.

 

[Anonymous]

The BT units were designed for IT systems to give a stable filtered power feed smoothing out voltage surges and even providing protection circuits against overloads.

They come in various sizes from a 125va mains transformer to a 500va transformer, also they have 2 big Mains capacitors.

Plug them straight into a 13A socket and the equipment into the unit. The mains output from them is so clean that it makes no difference if you use expensive cables or kettle leads!
(Providing there is no stray interference effecting the cable)

 

[Drummerdave]

trevor79:The BT units were designed for IT systems to give a stable filtered power feed smoothing out voltage surges and even providing protection circuits against overloads.

They come in various sizes from a 125va mains transformer to a 500va transformer, also they have 2 big Mains capacitors.

Plug them straight into a 13A socket and the equipment into the unit. The mains output from them is so clean that it makes no difference if you use expensive cables or kettle leads!
(Providing there is no stray interference effecting the cable)

There is an MCU/5a-125 on a certain site now Trevor - it appears to only have the one plug socket, is this correct? If so, then what model has two sockets (the MCU/5a-250?), as I'd be planning to plug my cdp and amp into it. Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, that's right, the 500va is the one with 2 sockets, I have also seen a 500va with 3 as well.

Prefer the 2 socket one, if you need more sockets buy another one!

 

[Drummerdave]

trevor79:Yes, that's right, the 500va is the one with 2 sockets, I have also seen a 500va with 3 as well.

Prefer the 2 socket one, if you need more sockets buy another one!

So if I got the one socket version would it be best to plug the amp into it as opposed to the cdp? Cheers Trevor.

 

[Anonymous]

Bought off that auction site yesterday a Russ Andrews "Yellow" mains cable. Was cheap enough (£25) so I couldn't resist.

I can't find anything on the manufacturer's website regarding that cable. Can anyone help? Is it going to be similar to the "Powerkord" range? It's terminated with IEC connector.

 

[Anonymous]

Dave, if you are going to drive your AV amp with it the 500va model is much better than the 125va (it isn't powerful enough)

The 125va unit I find is ok for the PS3 / RDR970, or the Sub.
But on the 'Class A' designed Onkyo 875 it draws too many Amps!

 

[Drummerdave]

trevor79:Dave, if you are going to drive your AV amp with it the 500va model is much better than the 125va (it isn't powerful enough)

The 125va unit I find is ok for the PS3 / RDR970, or the Sub.
But on the 'Class A' designed Onkyo 875 it draws too many Amps!

Trevor, it's an integrated stereo amp not an AV amp (don't have one of those yet), albeit a pretty powerful one. Will keep an eye out for the 500va model.

 

[aliEnRIK]

momo72:

Bought off that auction site yesterday a Russ Andrews "Yellow" mains cable. Was cheap enough (£25) so I couldn't resist.

I can't find anything on the manufacturer's website regarding that cable. Can anyone help? Is it going to be similar to the "Powerkord" range? It's terminated with IEC connector.

They're the cheapest range they do (did). Not a patch on the 'powerkord' im a afraid

 

[Anonymous]

aliEnRIK:momo72:

Bought off that auction site yesterday a Russ Andrews "Yellow" mains cable. Was cheap enough (£25) so I couldn't resist.

I can't find anything on the manufacturer's website regarding that cable. Can anyone help? Is it going to be similar to the "Powerkord" range? It's terminated with IEC connector.

They're the cheapest range they do (did). Not a patch on the 'powerkord' im a afraid

Thanks. We'll see if it still improves the bog standard mains cable.

 

[Drummerdave]

trevor79:Dave, if you are going to drive your AV amp with it the 500va model is much better than the 125va (it isn't powerful enough)

The 125va unit I find is ok for the PS3 / RDR970, or the Sub.
But on the 'Class A' designed Onkyo 875 it draws too many Amps!

A bit confused now Trevor - is the 125va model not powerful enough for my integrated amp?

Also, are the Russ Andrews purifiers that are plugged in beside other components up to much?

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Morning Dave,
The 125va unit is much better suited to feed a lower power item like a CD, DVD, PS3 player. Although I am driving a 500w Sub off one without any problems. Mind you the subs duties is light compared to what an Amps would be.
The 500va is the daddy and is what I would plug my high current source into.

I haven't used a RA purifier so can't help on that one. All I can say is that if you manage to obtain the BT Units you will not need any other accesories to clean the supply.
It is just the question then of not picking up any RFI between the Unit and the equipment.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to jump in, but where can I get one of these BT mains conditioners? Would you recommend the 500va for my CA hifi amp?

 

[margetti]

Ebay - but they only come up every so often (waited 6 months myself).

For your hi-fi amp you should not need the 500va - I have my hi-fi amp plus cdp running off a 125ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Six months...! Haha thanks for the information, guess I'll have to keep checking up! Do you just search for BT mains conditioner?

 

[margetti]

"BT mains" is what I used to search on - it pulls up a few other unrelated things but covers most variations (conditioner, conditioning, etc etc).

ÿ

 

[kena]

momo72:aliEnRIK:momo72:

Bought off that auction site yesterday a Russ Andrews "Yellow" mains cable. Was cheap enough (£25) so I couldn't resist.

I can't find anything on the manufacturer's website regarding that cable. Can anyone help? Is it going to be similar to the "Powerkord" range? It's terminated with IEC connector.

They're the cheapest range they do (did). Not a patch on the 'powerkord' im a afraid

Thanks. We'll see if it still improves the bog standard mains cable.

Yes it will improve greatly over supplied lead , I bought 4 Yello's when RA was selling them 1/2 price just before they replaced them with Powermax Plus as new entry cable, was a definite sceptic before but the difference was amazing so much clearer/cleaner. Now slowly looking to replace them with Classic PowerKord with Wattgate 320i and relegate Yello's to sons PS3 etc.

 

[Drummerdave]

trevor79:Morning Dave,
The 125va unit is much better suited to feed a lower power item like a CD, DVD, PS3 player. Although I am driving a 500w Sub off one without any problems. Mind you the subs duties is light compared to what an Amps would be.
The 500va is the daddy and is what I would plug my high current source into.

I haven't used a RA purifier so can't help on that one. All I can say is that if you manage to obtain the BT Units you will not need any other accesories to clean the supply.
It is just the question then of not picking up any RFI between the Unit and the equipment.

Thanks Trevor. As the 500va seem to have very limited availability and there are 125va models out there at the moment, what would the potential problem be with connecting an integrated amp to the smaller unit? (basically, is it worth getting a 125va unit)