[discoman]

...I may spend $1000 later.

I was shopping at a surplus store and saw a hospital grade power cord. It got the magical green dot and only $10. It is 16 AWG and quite long, good for my Corda. I replaced the old 18 AWG stock cord (from my old fax machine). Put a CD into 9000es and AKG 501 on my head and pressed play. Wow, bass is deeper and cleaner, then the vocal is sweeter. I immediately removed the AKG and ask my girlfriend to listen her favorite CD, to make sure not the 'new toy effect'. She noticed the same thing herself and refuse to remove the phones

.

I still can't understand why this happened? 16AWG vs 18 AWG is nothing on a 1 watt amp, right? This $10 makes me power cord believer.

 

[cajunchrist]

It feels great to have a cheap mod work like a charm. Maybe we could start Team Cheap Mod? Our motto: The best tweaks in life are free.

 

[cajunchrist]

P.S. at what time of day did you listen? If you listened at night, remember that power coming from your wall outlet is cleaner at night due to reduced load requirements on your city's power grid, so sound quality improvement could be partially due the better quality power.

That being said, it's a commonly accepted opinion that those inexpensive hospital grade cords out perform many cords costing hundreds of dollars, and are light years ahead of standard manufacturer cords. I'm glad you heard a difference.

 

[discoman]

Hehe, Are you saying I am a cheap man?

The effect on the power cord is much more than 'day-vs-night' power, it only takes me 3 seconds to notice the bass, 15 seconds to notice the vocal. My girlfriend also noticed it under a minute.

The cord sounds a bit more harsh, and more 'busy', maybe it brings up more details I have not yet use to or wait for burn-in. (btw, I still can't understand burn-in for a wire....)

 

[cajunchrist]

Calling an audio enthusiast cheap is one of the highest compliments you can give...there are lots of joes out there who can plunk down a ton of money to get esoteric cables and high current amps, power conditioners etc. who don't have to really know what makes something sound good. A cheap person, like most of the people on this forum, needs to do research and really understand what makes one piece of equipment sound different from another, because we can't throw money around high end audio.

Having a wide body of knowledge to work from makes you a much more effective person. For a tenth of the investment, you can have an audio system that is the equal or better of some clown who reads Stereophile and gets whatever is recommended by the writers.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I'd rather be that joe who has so much money to throw around and waste

 

[cajunchrist]

"Rich people aren't happy. From the minute their born to the minute they die, they think they're happy, but believe me, they ain't." -- Moe Syzlack

 

[frankclone]

speaking of cheap mods...
Jon B. put me on to a really interesting site: www.tnt-audio.com --
there are some creative, unconventional --& yes,cheap-- mods/tweaks there & their emphasis seems to be on quality sound rather than sound taking a backseat to the gadgetry.

 

[Trawlerman]

Quote:

Originally posted by cajunchrist "Rich people aren't happy. From the minute their born to the minute they die, they think they're happy, but believe me, they ain't." -- Moe Syzlack

A quote from the Simpsons perchance?



One of the best mods you can do is fit an extra spur from your switchpanel to your listening room. A nice clean power supply is half the battle. Add to that some decent isolation for you kit (ie rack) and things just keep on getting better.




Sound As Ever - Currently enjoying John Prine's "In Spite Of Ourselves" on Beyerdynamic DT531's

 

[frankclone]

Re: power clean-up. Wouldn't the best (only?) thing you need is
some type of filter or circuit to reconstitute power signal just befor it enters power supply?

I too find night listening better sounding. Can other facotrs be discounted, such as lower ambient noise, circadian rhythms, etc.?