maxg Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 And its PURPLE!!! I am not joking - but I haven't bought it (I may be insane - but not that loony). Lent to me by Antonis at Stepcom (the local bastard that keeps doing this kind of thing). Actually he has given me a $100 cable as well to compare to. I was in his shop and we were chatting when he asked me what power cables I use. I told him they are all built in except for the phono stage which is using a $3 computer cable. He hit the roof - hence the cables are now at my house. So is there a difference. After a quick test of all 3 - no idea. We are not talking smack you upside the head difference whatever these things do - so the $1000 is going back. The $100 I am not so sure about - I will have a play and see. For reference the purple cable is from Nordost and is made in the US. That is all I know - no other clues on the cable - purple though - what were they thinking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 They probably charge more for tuxedo black! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike stehr Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 "Purple though - what were they thinking?" Bling Bling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 ---------------- On 5/28/2005 12:09:26 PM maxg wrote: For reference the purple cable is from Nordost and is made in the US. That is all I know - no other clues on the cable - purple though - what were they thinking? ---------------- Come on Max, what's the matter with you? We need the manufacturing jobs over here. Buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted May 28, 2005 Author Share Posted May 28, 2005 More like ca-ching ca-ching Mike. The margin on cables is pretty impressive. Antonis has been offered the distributorship for some cable from Germany - with a 72% discount from retail. Very good for a dealer that - he normally works on a 20% to 30% margin for everyting else. Anyone here ever heard of Valhalla cables? $2500 for a 1.5 meter pair of interconnects. He had a pair of those in too - but I didnt take them. The wooden box they put them in must be worth about $500 on its own. Really is audio-jewelry when presented like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 ---------------- On 5/28/2005 12:09:26 PM maxg wrote: The $100 I am not so sure about - I will have a play and see. ---------------- Give any of these some break-in time if new out of the box, or at least see if they don't improve in 10-20 hours (I know many here don't take this seriously). Tradeoffs abound in power cord "sound," mostly pretty subtle. In my setup, I got best bass from standard cords -- Edit: though that's not what I use. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholtl Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 ---------------- On 5/28/2005 12:45:02 PM maxg wrote: Anyone here ever heard of Valhalla cables? $2500 for a 1.5 meter pair of interconnects. He had a pair of those in too - but I didnt take them. The wooden box they put them in must be worth about $500 on its own. Really is audio-jewelry when presented like this. ---------------- Sure, Valhalla is Nordost's top-of-the-line name for speaker cables and interconnects (over Solar Wind, Black Knight, Blue Heaven, and Red Dawn). An 8-foot pair of Valhalla speaker cables cost $11,000, if I remember correctly. It's nice to see that you don't hear a difference with their $1000 powercable though. That lets us know that when objective (as I know you are), sometimes you can see through the smoke and mirrors and realize it's just a $3 cable wrapped up in $10K worth of pretty purple shielding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjones4841 Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Just think - that fancy power cord plugged into a wall receptacle (don't forget to install the $50 audiophile receptacles!) wired with 5 cent a foot romex cable, connected to a 5 dollar breaker in the house power box, connected to outdoor power distribution cables, connected thru - I assure you - non-audiophile pole and substation transformers, connected to 230KV or 500KV transmission lines (nice, noise-free environment there!), connected to another set of surely non-audiophile substation transformers to power generating plants with all kinds of electrical noise running around in them (I know, I design them). Now, exactly what is that fancy-smanzy, highway-robbery priced power cable supposed to do for your audio system? Sorry for the rant - the engineer in me had to cut loose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 No need to be sorry, hjones. The Forum can always benefit from informed debunkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 A friend has a brand new 10' pair of NBS Omega 0 for sale. Retail is $16000. Yours for $3500. 12' length is available too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 I am not a big believer in power cords BUT I am also not a big believer in the crappy wall wire power pole / plant method of debunking. What comes in comes in...people who have thousands in their powers cords (I am IEC guy) are trying to improve on what comes in. ok ok...I'm not a power cord guy, but I DO have a PS Audio power plant. Does it make a difference. ABSOLUTELY YES! In MY setup (in a densly populated city) it is like listening to my system at 3 am (i.e. not alot of other people using the power) all of the time. YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heresy2guy Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 I've never heard of needing "break-in" time for a wire before. If somebody knows something I don't about this, by all means please explain because I don't understand how a wire could possibly break-in. Hjones - you're an engineer...please sound-off on this issue. -H2G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 ---------------- On 5/28/2005 2:57:38 PM hjones4841 wrote: Just think - that fancy power cord plugged into a wall receptacle (don't forget to install the $50 audiophile receptacles!) wired with 5 cent a foot romex cable, connected to a 5 dollar breaker in the house power box, connected to outdoor power distribution cables, connected thru - I assure you - non-audiophile pole and substation transformers, connected to 230KV or 500KV transmission lines (nice, noise-free environment there!), connected to another set of surely non-audiophile substation transformers to power generating plants with all kinds of electrical noise running around in them (I know, I design them). Now, exactly what is that fancy-smanzy, highway-robbery priced power cable supposed to do for your audio system? Sorry for the rant - the engineer in me had to cut loose ---------------- DING DING DING!!! The ONLY thing I can see if power cords that have built in RF blockers or such - just a straight power cord, well, what can it improve if everything 50 miles upstream is cheap industrial 'wire'? Oh sh!t - how did I wander into the 2-Channel forum!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 ---------------- On 5/28/2005 4:46:45 PM heresy2guy wrote: I've never heard of needing "break-in" time for a wire before. If somebody knows something I don't about this, by all means please explain because I don't understand how a wire could possible break-in. ---------------- This was an ingenious marketing ploy, that's all. You buy a $1000 power cord with a 30-days satisfaction guarantee. You take it home and don't notice a difference. So normally you'd take it back for the refund. BUT, the dealer tells you that you have 30 more days to think it over, to appreciate the subtleties, to try it with various music selections, etc. etc. Every day more he can get you to keep it, is a day more unlikely that you'll bother to return it. In that month you may start talking yourself into thinking it's better. You may decide not to go through the hassle of returning it and having the salesman look disappointed at you for not having the golden ears he thought you had. I'd like to know what the wholesale price is for the best manufactured raw wire in the entire world. I would be surprised if it's even a buck a foot. And that's the ingredient that's found in exotic cords and cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Seems to me the only way a power cord can make a difference is if it's plugged into a power conditionner or the like. If itr's plugged into the wall, then what's the point? But I prefer Parrot's explanation to what I just said above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjones4841 Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 kev313 - congratulations, you will ALWAYS have friends at your local "esoteric" audio dealers! Lessee now, break-in time for wires. Now you guys know that an electrical engineer is much too practically minded to believe in such. Wire has several characteristics: biggest factor is resistance. The only way that a piece of wire's resistance can change (excluding resistance in terminals) is via a temperature change. So, if you pass enough current thru a wire, it will heat up and cause a SLIGHT change in resistance. However, get out the fire extinguisher if you want to see a significant change in resistance... OK, wire also has capacitance and inductance (mainly in parallel runs). The vector sum of a cable's resistance, capacitance, and inductance is its impedance. To change capacitance or inductance, the spacing between the cable conductors has to change, its proximity to metallic objects has to change, or perhaps the conductors are twisted. Hmmm, don't see any connection there to break-in time. The physical characteristics of wire include the chemical composition of the insulation and jacket. These factors can also influence the impedance of the cable (particularly in coax cable)as well as where it is approved for installation (plenum rated, in wall, etc.). I cannot believe that any cable manufacturer would use a chemically unstable compound that would change its properties over several hours of "break-in time." OK, so what factors do make some degree of difference in cables? Obviously, the cable has to large enough to carry the desired amount of current without overheating. For home audio system amplifier outputs, I doubt that appreciable temperature changes occur in even #26 or #24 wire, and how many of us would use cable that small anyway? The reason we use large cable is to minimize the cable's contribution to the total circuit resistance (really impedance) from the amplifier output stage to the speaker - this is called damping factor. You can find many in the audio field (even PWK if memory serves me correctly) that would agree that the small contribution of cable resistance makes any audible difference to the overall system (amp, cable, speaker)damping factor. Beyond that, making sure that the cable connections are tight and secure is about it. And, no, the $50 banana plugs don't make any difference, either. So, what good is all this esoteric cable? Well, $profit$ is surely the prime motive, not only on the cable itself but on the stuff that goes with it. The best laugh I had about all this was a picture of a guy's HT in a magazine several years ago. He had single conductor, very large and I am sure very expensive, cable between his amp and speakers. These single conductor wires were supported above the floor on little towers that looked like a 230KV transmission line installation. There is no telling how much $$$$ that poor guy spent on that. Of course, in the mag the owner praised how much better his rig sounded..... Like I said, it is dangerous to get an electrical engineer started on esoteric audio cable After all we all know that our food will taste better if we put a $250 power cable on our $75 microwave... There are those who believe because they want to believe, especially after spending all those $$$$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Disc Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 LOL Max. I would of thought you would of learned your lesson from the last item he lent you? If I recall you were calling him a bunch of names for "lending" it to you. I highly reccomend the VH Audio line of power cables. Thats the great cable for the money. I use the Flavor 4 cable for my SACD player. Ole George Wright does not believe in removable cables for his products so I have no choice on my amps and preamps. No Disc ---------------- On 5/28/2005 12:09:26 PM maxg wrote: And its PURPLE!!! I am not joking - but I haven't bought it (I may be insane - but not that loony). Lent to me by Antonis at Stepcom (the local bastard that keeps doing this kind of thing). Actually he has given me a $100 cable as well to compare to. I was in his shop and we were chatting when he asked me what power cables I use. I told him they are all built in except for the phono stage which is using a $3 computer cable. He hit the roof - hence the cables are now at my house. So is there a difference. After a quick test of all 3 - no idea. We are not talking smack you upside the head difference whatever these things do - so the $1000 is going back. The $100 I am not so sure about - I will have a play and see. For reference the purple cable is from Nordost and is made in the US. That is all I know - no other clues on the cable - purple though - what were they thinking? ---------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurs Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 Second the VH Audio, Chris makes great products at real world prices, and is a heck of a nice guy to deal with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbert Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 ---------------- On 5/28/2005 12:09:26 PM maxg wrote: (but not that loony). ---------------- I beg your pardon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted May 28, 2005 Share Posted May 28, 2005 hjones: It does seem reasonable if a more expensive cord installed on a microwave oven will make food taste better, that over a number of years it might well be worth it. Perhaps wiring it to 240V and using stove wire? Would I have to downconvert all the cooking times? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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