I’ve trying a few PCs feeding my P15. Various changes over the factory cord. The last cord I tried had great sound but it also did something that didn’t occur with the other cords.
I’m running a full BHK stack and with the dac set to 100, we would set the pre to 40 when listening to “concert level” for us. With this new cord, 32 on the pre was the old 40. The only change is the PC from the wall to P15 , streaming the same music. P15 shows the same amps drawn; but the volume level of the system is way higher.
I’m trying to understand what is going on that consistently causes such a change in volume in the system.
Is it more fatiguing to listen at 32 with the new vs. 40 with the old? If so, I would say that new cord is passing more junk into the P15 than the old cord.
Not fatiguing at all. Very smooth and full, soundstage a bit wider and deeper, more detail, bass is nicer as well. I’ve been doing 6-8 hour listening sessions everyday now that we have snow on the ground. I’m liking the new cord so much better I’m planning to sell the other off.
The P15 gives some nice measurements. Loud cord (pre-32) shows incoming THD as 2.0 vs 2.2 for my other upgraded cord that ran needing pre-40 on the pre-amp. Factory cord had around 3 THD and was at the pre-40 volume level.
These are the upgraded cables, yielding different volume settings
Having a full BHK stack means you have a great system. Any PC, IC, or speaker cable will have an effect on the sound. Even a PC’s from the same manufacturer.
I replaced a Wireworld Electra 7 from the wall to my PS Audio PPP (now P15) with a Wireworld Silver Electra PC with the upgraded connectors and there was a very noticeable improvement.
Hi doitwithlife,
What power cord did you use? I am curious. I still have the stock power cord on my new PP12 and was thinking about upgrading but I’m not sure about which cable will yield the best result on the PP12. Honestly I was kind of thinking the Power Plants don’t need the cable upgrades …but I do see a lot of people saying I am mistaken about that fact.
It does seem strange given the Power Plants are designed to take in dirty power and provide clean power. I would think changing the power cord wouldn’t make such a huge difference but clearly it does.
I’ve asked that question more than once and I’ve gotten answers that didn’t really light the light in my head. Your point is valid. Considering how the process is of regeneration is described, how can the pc make much if any difference? It should be corrected in the generation of perfect, clean power. But I went from a very good pc to a great pc and the improvement was easy to hear; I might say, startling! The most noticeable improvement was in the depth and quality of the bass.
One is that when we get to the level of transparency and clarity that most of our systems here excel at. . . subtlety is our meat. We learn to identify and enjoy subtle changes.
The other is that the regenerators are not “perfect.” They do create a very clean power for our systems, but in this real world they have their limits, and so if a PC lowers the noise coming in, it helps them to remove the noise they can and have a lower amount of noise overall.
Those are the two reasons that I think we (I do too) hear significant differences with power cords.
I wonder if anyone has tried feeding a regenerator with a very effective power cord . . . fed by a regenerator with a very effective power cord. . . .
I’ve stripped quite few stock cables, that come with various equipment. Few things noted that most of them, if not all had very thin multistrand wires, that sometimes measure ohms! per usual 1.5m. Wiring in houses, at least here where I live, is usually a solid core copper wires, that have very low resistance and can be meters long before any significant resistance is measured. Obviously solid core power cables are impractical to use, but a great alternative to try is speaker cables. One can buy a 100 bucks cable and another can make the same, if not better, by just buying a meter of speaker cables and appropriate plugs. Some plugs, say, UK style one of them, have an incorporated fuses. They also add nothing good to the overall sound. Fuses are good to have, but does one need to have 3 fuses for a single equipment…
Thanks for sharing this, Ron. Any other specific improvements you can share? I am considering upgrading the stock cord on my Stellar PP and am curious what I can expect to gain from upgrading its power cord.
There are a lot of cable / P series shootouts on this forum that you can dig into. And despite logic, the cord in front of the regenerator makes a lot of difference. You can take some product cues from the good ears that frequent this forum and it has been my experience that many of the recommendations have been good ones. But, I would make the final choice your own by auditioning them for yourself, and the rental library from places like the Cable Co. can put you in the drivers seat.
Ok, a personal recommendation with the Stellar PP
would be the Blue Jeans BAV power cable. Solid, great bang for the buck. Contact Bob Howard to try out one.
For me in my lil ole .02…the better quality of pc design and
materials enable a better ebb and flow of power…as audio
power demands are not static but fluctuate wildly according
to the music demands…a better quality cable will allow this
highly dynamic ebb and flow with greater ease along with
current flow…
