Anyone used AC-12 and Kimber Palladian PK10 power cords?

Well, I used to have the Palladian on the P20. For a bit I used it on the DS- DAC. But I realized that as everything goes through the BHK…

I’m very interested in what you find in your experiment.
Excluding my P20, I found one component most in need of a great power cable (among BHK pre, DSD, DMP)
I’m looking forward to your thoughts. As usual, no “right or wrong” answer.

In posting this thread, I had been thinking about using a couple of 6’ or 2m ones for ATC active floorstanders from a P15, i.e., into the amps. My system basically is a modified Oppo 203, a Lampi Atlantic TRP dac and very soon a Supratek Chardonnay preamp. Costwise, the Kimber puts the cost up front, with only a small amount more for greater lengths, so there’s little savings going for 1 meter/3’ (Kimber recently changed from feet to metric as their standard, but since everything is custom made, they get orders for both).

good point…

heyya RonP. Yep! I’ll post my observations but it might be awhile. Come Monday, I will be packing up my existing power amp - selling to fund a new pair of BHK300’s! So…priorities dictate the new amps will need some runtime and even more time for my ears to adjust to the new sound in my listening room before messing around with cable observations :slight_smile: can’t wait to see for myself what these BHK300s can bring to the party!
best, tj-sully.

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Congrats!!! They’re fantastic amps.

thanks RonP! I’ll post a pic once the 300 bad boys are up and running. probably 2-3 weeks away.

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I finally was able to pick up a used Palladian PK-10 with the older Wattgate Gold connectors at a good price. My whole system uses AC-12’s, so I’ve tried the PK-10 in two locations so far, a Supratek preamp and a Lampi Atlantic TRP dac, both tube based. Each has provided similar results: substantially greater clarity and improved instrumental tonal accuracy, while at the same time losing the sense of being “alive” that the AC-12 it replaced provided. That is, the PK-10 has turned me from a participant drawn into the music, into a spectator struggling to get or stay involved, reminding me that I’m listening to a hi-fi system. It seems to be partly a matter of perspective, a kind of sedateness, and perhaps a bit of dryness. Where I haven’t tried it yet are with the P15 or Oppo. And then there’s yet more tube rolling to try to compensate, to re-find that synergy I’m looking for, to make it worth keeping.

I will say that this experience makes me wonder why it took so long for PS Audio to try other power cords in its listening rooms or shows, since from at least the standpoint of clarity and other “audiophile effects,” it suggests that the AC-12, as good as it is, hasn’t been competitive for quite some time.

This resembles my experience with the BAV power cords from Iconoclast. They were really nice with a natural sound. . .but the AC-12 had an “aliveness” that no tube-rolling or other tweaking could restore. Try as I might I fidgeted and wondered rather than relaxed into listening. I finally moved them to a headphone only system which has less resolution over all and they are just fine there. My main system is back to all AC-12, lesson learned! Even one or two other cords in the system wherever placed diminished my full enjoyment–I’ll keep it all AC-12.

My experiences with PK10s - better than the AC12s, and better than most/all of the AC cables I have personally demoed or heard in other systems. They make a demonstrable difference, and I’ve worked to have a loom of them connect my entire system.

Sounds like you’ve had exactly the opposite experience of lonson and I.

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