[dhwilkin]

Hey jude, did you ever make a post saying how the C7 power cord improved your system, and did using the Brick Wall vs a regular surge protector make a sonic difference w/ the BPT?

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by dhwilkin Hey jude, did you ever make a post saying how the C7 power cord improved your system, and did using the Brick Wall vs a regular surge protector make a sonic difference w/ the BPT?

dhwilkin,

I have swapped out the C-7 and Quail cord several times, keeping both plugged into the BP-3, and simply unplugging the IEC end from the Max to swap them. I tried to keep the routing as similar as I could (which was a bit difficult to get exactly right since the C-7 is much stiffer than the Quail). The sonic differences surprised even me, as, truth be told, I didn't really expect much of anything. I didn't expect much because the Quail didn't present any significant sonic upgrade over the Max's stock cord, but there were times in comparing the Quail and the Max's stock cord that I thought I might be hearing improvements.

The C-7 was a more significant improvement over the Quail than the Quail was over the Max's stock power cord. Though I've been a believer of sorts in power conditioning (thanks to the Brick Wall, and now more than ever with the BP-3), I never really understood how a power cord could result in sonic improvements, since it's not a signal-carrying component. But I've found now that a good one can indeed make a difference.

The C-7, compared to the Quail cord, sounds more like an interconnect improvement than I expected. Whereas the BP-3 provided my rig with an overall improvement, with a noticeable improvement even in the bass, the C-7's impact is almost entirely in the treble region, providing enhanced treble detail. I'm not sure how or why powercords can do this, and I'm wondering if it's maybe the shielding lowering the power noise floor (the Quail is unshielded). I have no idea, really. But it makes me wonder what other higher-end powercords might do.

NOTE: The ferrites were not on the Quail cord during any comparisons.

Regarding the BP-3, Brick Wall, and Isotel...

The Brick Wall on its own lowers the noise floor much more effectively in my rig than the Isotel. The Isotel doesn't seem to offer any advantage to me sonically over being plugged into the wall (but at least provides surge protection). So, taken alone, the Brick Wall is definitely the way to go. And by almost all accounts, the Brick Wall is also a far better surge supressor (and maybe one of the best around). But...

The peculiar thing is that the sound of my rig with the BP-3 in place doesn't seem to be affected at all by what it's plugged into -- directly into the wall, into the Isotel or into the Brick Wall. I'm at a big time loss to explain this, particularly given the differences between the wall/Isotel and the Brick Wall without the BP-3 in place.

So my recommendation based on this information at this time would be:

1. If surge suppression is your main concern, and/or you'd like to get some lowering of the noise floor, go with the Brick Wall.
2. If you're going to get a BPT or something like it, the Brick Wall becomes optional, as (to my ears) any sonic benefits from the Brick Wall all but disappear when a balanced power isolator is placed after it in the chain. I'll likely keep the Brick Wall for its excellent surge filtering capabilities even though it no longer sounds any better than my wall or Isotel (now that the BP-3's in place).
3. NOTE: It's important to note that my notes above were made using a dedicated headphone rig. If I had a speaker-driving amp that drew much more wattage then my HeadRoom Max, my opinions might be different. As it stands now, current-choking and the tamed dynamics that can result from that with speaker-driving amps, haven't been at all a problem with any of these components in place for me, nor have I tested these components with such equipment.

I think I may be approaching the limits of my current source/amp setup, but still have a way to go before I actually get there; so I want to see how much more clarity, detail and musicality I can carve out of both of these components by making these "tweak" adjustments.

 

[dhwilkin]

Ah, thank you very much, jude! Having the power cord improve the highs is very interesting. Usually, people say a new power cord improves the bass and overall noise floor. Is the C-7 made from silver, by any chance? That could explain the improved highs. And just out of curiosity, have you tried the C-7 on your Sony 333, to see which component it makes more of a difference for?

I'm quite happy about your findings regarding the Brick Wall. I was hoping the BPT would do a good-enough job to make the Brick Wall redundant, as far as sonics go. Good news for me, since I can skip the Brick Wall for now and use that money on other tweaks which will have a sonic impact on my system. I will eventually get a Brick Wall for peace of mind, but my Surgemaster II will be adequate for now.

Oh, and speaking of improving your system, give some serious thought to getting your Sony 333 modded by Dan Wright.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by dhwilkin Ah, thank you very much, jude! Having the power cord improve the highs is very interesting. Usually, people say a new power cord improves the bass and overall noise floor. Is the C-7 made from silver, by any chance? That could explain the improved highs. And just out of curiosity, have you tried the C-7 on your Sony 333, to see which component it makes more of a difference for? I'm quite happy about your findings regarding the Brick Wall. I was hoping the BPT would do a good-enough job to make the Brick Wall redundant, as far as sonics go. Good news for me, since I can skip the Brick Wall for now and use that money on other tweaks which will have a sonic impact on my system. I will eventually get a Brick Wall for peace of mind, but my Surgemaster II will be adequate for now. Oh, and speaking of improving your system, give some serious thought to getting your Sony 333 modded by Dan Wright.

dhwilkin,

The C-7 has silver-plated copper conductors. Sometimes I wonder if better bass is normally attributed to better power cords because they're used with more wattage-hungry speaker-driving-amplifier-equipped hi-fi systems. No idea.

Regarding trying it with my 333 -- great idea, but the 333 has a captive power cord. The ModWright mods will add an IEC connector among the many other improvements, but I'm very hesitant to send it in, mostly because I hate the thought of losing my 5-year Sony ES warranty. Believe me, it's certainly tempting.

The Brick Wall is a very good conditioner on its own, which is gravy on top of its primary function as a rockin' surge suppressor. But for sonics, the BPT is far more effective -- in my system, it very clearly improved the sound in every way. If you're going for something like a BPT, you can probably skip the Brick Wall as far as sonics go, unless, as it seems like you do, you want a "brick wall" in front of your equipment for surges.

 

[TerriblySorry]

Quote:

Originally posted by raymondlin Jude, I whole heartly recommend Van Den Hul "The First Ultimate". At $500-ish for 1 metre pair, they come within your budget nicely.

You're impressed then?

 

[dngl]

Jude- Dan Wright will repair your unit at cost after he mods it. I guess the fact that there are some things he can't fix and that he might not be servicing electronics five years from now might scare you away...

 

[crk]

Folks
I find these latest posts very hard to understand. The power cord is not part of the audio signal chain. The power supply in a piece of audio equipment effectively disconnects the stuff coming out of the wall socket from the audio signal.
I would expect cords/conditioners to have an effect on the audio noise generated by other loads (refridgerators are particularly bad) turning on and off. But this would only be a transient phenomenon.

(but listening to battery powered equipment)
crk

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by crk Folks I find these latest posts very hard to understand. The power cord is not part of the audio signal chain. The power supply in a piece of audio equipment effectively disconnects the stuff coming out of the wall socket from the audio signal. I would expect cords/conditioners to have an effect on the audio noise generated by other loads (refridgerators are particularly bad) turning on and off. But this would only be a transient phenomenon. (but listening to battery powered equipment) crk

crk,

Regarding the power cables, I can very much understand your skepticism, as I was -- not too long ago -- thinking the very same things. There is an effect on the sound with different power cables, and, as I said in one of my posts above, I'm totally at a loss to explain it. But the significance of it with my $99 BPT C-7 makes me realize that I now have to try some of the fancier ones to see how much more sonic improvement I can wring out of the powercord component of my rig.

Regarding power conditioning: I strongly urge you to go to this page and read every article you can there. On power conditioning, let me say again that my balanced power unit is the most effective single tweak (by a large margin) that I've made to my rig. Whereas some tweaks are only clear when listening to stellar recordings of jazz and classical (and some tweaks not clearly audible at all), the move to balanced power has changed the sound of my rig considerably, independent of music type and almost completely independent of recording quality. NOTE: For all I know, the great results I've had with balanced power are due in large part to the possibility that my home AC just generally stinks, but I have not found one even slightly negative review of a balanced power unit by Equi=Tech, Cinepro, Furman or BPT yet (I'm not saying none exist, only that I haven't seen any).

 

[crk]

Thanks, I'll do some surfing!
crk

 

[crk]

Well this is what I think I have found out....

Balanced power is a variation on an isolation transformer with a center tap on the secondary. I can see how this can reduce switching noise and provide surge protection.

I find the 'reactive current' argument difficult to understand. All the isolation transformer does is move the reactive current problem to the primary of the isolation transformer. The primary is conveniently not illustrated in all the figures I found on the various web pages. This would cause the same ground current problem unless there is some cunning as to how the ground is connected across the isolation transformer.

Still

crk