Can someone please explain

[fisher X 100 A]

I have been reading Michael Wong's review on the Krell S-300i and S-350a.

In the review he says "Something was wrong as the amp sounded lazy and boring. The culprit turned out to be the stock IEC power cable. More evidence of cost cutting as the old KAV-300i came with a fat, no-name cable that remains the best sounding stock power cable I’ve ever used.

It was only after replacing the stock cable with the AS/NZS compliant ARC cable that the amp revealed its musical prowess." (sic).

Now - why do companies spend millions(?) on R&D only to cut cost's and harm the sound? I see also more and more extra's or add on's can be brought to enhance the sound - why do the manufacture do this?

To me it sounds like this - all the research into a Ferrari to make it go fast, only then to sell it to the public with retreads on the tire's. So now I buy the Ferrari only to give it a bad review. So you hunt down some F1 tires, re-test and wow!

Is this madness or a cleaver ploy?:confused:

[Ernie]

That Krell ever put a high performance IEC cable into their old packages is an exception to the norm. Most decent components will benefit from a power cable upgrade anyway.

[kaka]

Most unusual to include power cables that are anything but basic.

If you already had some power cables that you liked, why would you want to pay for a mid-level cable bundled with a new amp? No cable would be better

[Owen Young]

IMO an amp should perform well out of the box, as bundled.

fisher's Q is a good one.

[fisher X 100 A]

I am coming from the view of not only audiophiles buy equipment that would not know about changing this or that to improve the sound. Why would the company release a bit of kit that will be shot down by reviewers saying "I replaced this" and then it livened up?

[Ernie]

We never stop learning. ;)

[too_tall]

IMO an amp should perform well out of the box, as bundled.

fisher's Q is a good one.

I agree. My Onkyo processor had an IEC cable which was rated to 1 amp. Not 10 amps, 1 amp. And the conductor sizing would tend to indicate that even this was optimistic. Now I know that its only a processor and wont draw huge currents, but I would have thought that as it was supposed to be a $5K RRP ( I think?? ) that it should have something a little more than an ubercheap power cable which would be lucky to run a computer.

However, as far as sound quality goes, the thing really sound like the results of uncooked chicken vrs a human digestive system when it comes to music, so I guess that the cable was going to struggle to take anything away from that anyway. For movies its ok, but my old Rotel sounded better for movies and actually good for 2 channel audio. Excellent considering it was a HT receiver.

[TonyD]

In the Stereophile review of the Quicksilver Silver 88s (April 2010) Mike Sanders is quoted as saying 'I used to pooh-pooh power cords, but the difference between the made-in-USA power cords we supply and the cheap ones I have tried from China and Korea is unbelievable. I don't know why but the power cord makes a huge difference. We furnish a high-quality US-made power cord with each Quicksilver product and we sell these cords to customers who have older equipment for $19 each. And I think $19 is all you need to spend'.

[too_tall]

$19 USD on an item which has a USD RRP of around $3K? the double boxing and pretty wrapping probably costs far more than that....

At least they didnt skimp on the remote quality.

[DodgyConnection]

When I bought the Shindo Aurieges it came with a very humble looking grey power cord - but I was reliable informed that Ken Shindo voices the equipment for this cord and there was no point in changing it. "Thank the Audio Gods!" I thought - one less thing to feel neurotic about :)

I'm not going to change it - even out of curiosity!

[King Size]

Interesting review Michael.

On the subject of power cables, I am following a couple of threads on pinkfishmedia about the effects of powercables (or more specifically the scientific impossibility of them making a difference). There is a particularly vociferous group, who I call the 'scientific fundamentalists', that shout down anyone who suggests they can make a difference and bays for scientific proof if anyone dares suggest they can hear anything.

I wish I was a bit more technically-minded and could challenge them but also know it will be of little use as they are so dogmatic in their beliefs I actually think they will never hear a difference (even if it is obvious) unless someone could scientifically prove it exists.

[Luis]

Fisher makes an excellent point. Why do many 'audiophile' electronics come with crappy power cables? It seems illogical that so much thought and design goes into all the internal circuitry, to then skimp on something which is also integral to the component's performance. I know that many of us like to play and upgrade, but there's still all the other cables and connections to do this with. The car analogy is a good one; you wouldn't find cheap and nasty tires on a supercar.

As for scientific proof of anything; well that can just be a source of endless argument. There's still no concrete scientific proof that the mind, or consciousness exists. So we could all be just figments of our own imaginations... as could be the 'audible' differences between power cables.

[got tinnitus]

MW doesn't mention if the amp was BNIB or had been through the hands of countless other reviewers?

A SS amp (and CDP for that matter) can take months for it to start to sing.
So in the event the amp was brand new then perhaps in several weeks time the stock IEC could very well be what the amp requires.

In my experience, some aftermarket mains cables can sound impressive on first listen but in the long run they don't gel properly.

My mantra for mains cables it to keep it bloody simple.
You're better off spending $300 or so on decent outlet sockets and switch (i.e. PDL 56's).

[too_tall]

My mantra for mains cables it to keep it bloody simple.
You're better off spending $300 or so on decent outlet sockets and switch (i.e. PDL 56's).

And if you care about mains cables, make some of your own using some screened VSD power cable or similar. Cheap and work very well. ( yes, they do actually offer something that normal power cables don't, and its easily proven scientifically - audibly in some systems, specially ones with digital devices in them )