eric343
Member of the Trade: Audiogeek: The "E" in META42
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2001
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Not an April Fools post.
However, it's another "Eric discovering something he didn't know about his system" post.
My KGSS has two power supplies. I've discussed the changes that the +/-15V supply has made in the sound, but I haven't mentioned the +/-350V supply. In my KGSS, this supply is entirely unregulated, due to my own laziness (hey, it sounds so good that I haven't yet persuaded myself to upgrade it!). Normally, I use a Quail power cord feeding the +/- 350V supply, simply because that's the power cord that I had around when I built the KGSS.
Recently I packed up the most important bits of my system in anticipation of taking it to hear the Meitner DAC. Unfortunately, that appointment fell through, so I unpacked the KGSS and set it back up until the weekend. When I did so, I used a cheap black computer power cord instead that I normally use. I set my system up in anticipation of auditioning some new cable (interconnect) prototypes, so I started off with a recording I know very well -- people who have heard my system at meets will have noticed Liza Minnelli at Carnegie Hall close by. Yet, it sounded much different than usual. I reached my hands up to my ears, to make sure I hadn't somehow accidentally put on the Omega 2s -- the HE90s had that much of a different tonality! In retrospect, it would be grossly inaccurate to say that what I heard was anywhere near the Omega 2 sound, but some elements of Omeganess were definitely there. The highs were reduced, and there was an overall smoother, fuzzier sheen. However, the midrange sounded incredibly cheap -- thin, nasal, and just wrong. Soundstage was massively collapsed, and there wasn't the spacing between notes that I'm normally accustomed to.
Putting the Quail green-dot power cord back in changed all this. The soundstage opened back up again, the highs regained their glory, and the transparency of my system was restored. The bass is definitely much tighter, and overall the sound is vastly more three-dimensional. I suppose you could say that it's like turning the "clarity" dial up to 11
Needless to say, I'm very happy with the $6 or $12 that I spent on this power cord!
However, it's another "Eric discovering something he didn't know about his system" post.
My KGSS has two power supplies. I've discussed the changes that the +/-15V supply has made in the sound, but I haven't mentioned the +/-350V supply. In my KGSS, this supply is entirely unregulated, due to my own laziness (hey, it sounds so good that I haven't yet persuaded myself to upgrade it!). Normally, I use a Quail power cord feeding the +/- 350V supply, simply because that's the power cord that I had around when I built the KGSS.
Recently I packed up the most important bits of my system in anticipation of taking it to hear the Meitner DAC. Unfortunately, that appointment fell through, so I unpacked the KGSS and set it back up until the weekend. When I did so, I used a cheap black computer power cord instead that I normally use. I set my system up in anticipation of auditioning some new cable (interconnect) prototypes, so I started off with a recording I know very well -- people who have heard my system at meets will have noticed Liza Minnelli at Carnegie Hall close by. Yet, it sounded much different than usual. I reached my hands up to my ears, to make sure I hadn't somehow accidentally put on the Omega 2s -- the HE90s had that much of a different tonality! In retrospect, it would be grossly inaccurate to say that what I heard was anywhere near the Omega 2 sound, but some elements of Omeganess were definitely there. The highs were reduced, and there was an overall smoother, fuzzier sheen. However, the midrange sounded incredibly cheap -- thin, nasal, and just wrong. Soundstage was massively collapsed, and there wasn't the spacing between notes that I'm normally accustomed to.
Putting the Quail green-dot power cord back in changed all this. The soundstage opened back up again, the highs regained their glory, and the transparency of my system was restored. The bass is definitely much tighter, and overall the sound is vastly more three-dimensional. I suppose you could say that it's like turning the "clarity" dial up to 11
Needless to say, I'm very happy with the $6 or $12 that I spent on this power cord!
