Where did you install the cable?
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Hey Joe,
I looked into the Audioharma cable cooker, but from what I could find it wasnât doing what I wanted for a power cable specifically. The cooker can handle a large range of types of cables, and I believe generally uses them as speaker wire in an amplified circuit which plays their proprietary wave program. From what I can see, all three legs of the power cable are treated in the same direction.
It occurred to me that the current direction I wanted to encourage for RF is against the flow of current on the live leg. So the rig that I developed puts about 100 watts of high frequency noise through the 3 ground elements of my cable, but in the direction toward the male plug. I use a mix of Tara Labsâ Cascade program and Isotekâs system rejuvination program, and generally run the rig for at least 3 days. I use an old âkick aroundâ a/b amp and a range of adapters to fit any cable Iâm âcooking.â
The concept was inspired by Garth Powellâs work in this arena. As an example, a friend of mine ordered an AQ Dragon, and Garth only burned in the ground, for about a week. Got my brain going when I heard that one.
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The one thing I should add. The whispers especially the Elite the base Whidper, tthe AQ Dragon on HC and the Stealth VR18 LE. All are great power cables best I have been fortunate to try or buy. They all add ease a nd tonality and can all bring articulation to bass and dig deep. They all have a bit different flavor.but to my ears are in the same zipcode. The whispers are the most tunable. If youâre really into PRAT or want balance or want sizzle. Just add and move absorber tuning rings.Duncan did a great job without them. The Dragon the sound is the sound after broke in. The Stealth with the built in tuning ring makes the excellent cable phenomenal. I have not taken time to see if tuning rings on Dragon can do anything. If I were to add anymore power cords whispers are still the most budget friendly. Not the most polished look if yours are visually exposed. But damn they sure are fun to tweak and I liked them without the mods too. Still I am a listener more than anything else and still have some foil wrapped cables that I like in certain places. I am sure if I had more Whispers, Dragons or Stealths I could make my system sound better.
But I still donât doubt i have yet to settle on the final configuration of power cables. You donât know better until you hear it.
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I spent more time with Whispers and the 3M AB7050 HF homemade tuning Rings.
I started out with the AQ Dragon HC powering P20. I then adjusted the base whisper powering the digital router. Settled to this double tuning ring position. First ring one 
index finger from male plug backshell. The Second tuning ring 16 inches back.
I then retuned the Stealth V18 to 1,5 inches from backshell on male connector was about an inch
Everything was sublime. Okay next the Whisper Elite powering P20. Okay but a close cigar narrower soundstage but better tone . Then I realized I did not check the absorber tuning ring on the elite whisper at the wall duplex . . It had slid back. Moved it to One index finger from backshell. Oh my with move it totally blows away the Dragon. Removed tuning ring from elite it is a narrower sound stage again . This is even comparing the Whisper elite without C19 iec.
I was not wanting this result. But the openness and ease and balance. Maybe the Dragon will work in place of the stealth I need to return to Al? Duncan has a Chamleon cable. It works everywhere. Tweak it slightly and it hits overdrive.
Next up Stealth V18 vs Whisper Elite on P20? Be patient as I find a worthy substitute for the Stealth on the preamp.
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No hurry my friend. You are doing Godâs work.
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Thank you for the explanation, Duncan, it is appreciated. From what I gather in this thread, your designs are highly regarded in this community.
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I listened to a bunch of Audiophile fodder last night Mostly because I know it well and have compared cables to these standards many times. Some real surprises totally took me aback with how well the Whisper Elite was doing running the P20 instead of the AQ Dragon on my whole system after doing the last tuning Ring tweaks. Everything fleshed out at any volume level. Only thing volume did was open up 3D space on images everything, everywhere natural, balanced across frequencies, and relaxed ease.
Some of what I played.
Flight of the Cosmic Hippo Bella Fleck and Flecktones, Mining for Gold Cowboy Junkies , Stimela Hugh, Feels So Good Chuck Magione, Gaia JT
I am hoping it was just not clean power early in the AM caused the magic.
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Did you look at your P20âs graphs to understand what your input looked like during your sessions?
Unfortunately I never thought to look, but decided I had to shut it off to be functional today for other life responsibilities. I will listen early tonight and see if it was not just a clean power grid experience. Weather has been cooler so less HVAC.
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Hopefully you were blindfolded.
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My system sounds different in morning, mid-day, and night, and I noticed when THD is over 2.2% the best solution is alcohol.
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Where on the P20 do you apply the alcohol?
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rub it on the tuning ring of the cable connecting to it, but drinking it is more effective I found.
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Does anyone know the specs, pricing, availability of the Whisper Elite? I donât see it on the Common Ground site.
Duncan has been considering upgraded connectorâs. I bought his first prototype with shared connectors to the base whisper differed in conductors and other treatments. Duncan was on vacation last week. I would recommend either PM here or his hifi podcast email. email.
I do know the elite with tuning ring is still slaying my Dragon HC.
Thanks for the update. Seems you are master beta tester on this one (please excuse the intended pun). Seriously, you are our Tweek Jedi and l always look forward to your findings.
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I wish I had thought of that play on words. Iâll keep pushing and pulling and hopefully bigger and better tweaks keep coming.
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Itâs not easy to find one that can slay the Dragon. Iâll definitely keep my eye on the Whisper Elite. Thanks!
Itâs been a bit. But I got back to music and cable tweaks taking a break from ranch duties . I placed the whisper elite back to router power placement. It really seems to shine there. Especially after loosening tuning ring wrap to about 3/8 inch from harness outer jacket. And went back to Dragon HC on P20.
I decided it was time to try some 3M AB7050 HF tuning rings on Dragon. Like you said not much on male end. However I found some real serious magic with a 1.75 inch wide strip double wrap at a thumb length from the backshell at the female iec end wrapped around cable trio Seems very well balanced with perfect highs and solid bass. I will come back to it tomorrow. But i may prefer the tuned dragon to whisper elite on P20. I was getting a touch too much recording noise with whisper and wanted to see if absorber worked on Dragon. I had exhausted tuning ring changes on the Whisper Elite. Crazy hobby the possibilities with power cords.
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Thank you for your effort.
I noticed that since a few months the new PC Dragons have the 72v DBS box on the Schuko side. Before it was positioned on the IEC connector side.
Also the HDMI 48 Dragon I recently bought has the DBS box on the opposite side compared to my previous Dragon I bought just 10 months ago.
It seems AQ found improvements from different positioning of this little box. Vmax, your ring tuning tweakings maybe are going in the same direction. Time will tell.
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