Cable Asylum: REVIEW: DIY by Robert Crump AC Cord Cable by darkmoebius

I just finished a 10 ft power cord (single cable) for my Audio Refinement Complete Integrated using a 15A Hubbel Industrial grade wallplug, Schurter IEC (4782.0100, 14 AWG) and a Marinco 8251T (15A) Hospital Grade 3-prong Plug.

I opted out of the Marinco 3201 IEC because once it got here, it just wasn't worth $25 (including $8 shipping) and they are nowhere near 3x better than the $7 Schurters (although, if I were rich..). I also couldn't use the Hubbel Hospital Grade wallplug because Home Depot only has them in violent orange and my girlfriend already has fits over all the heavy-duty cables in our living room. As Kurt Vonnegut said in Catch 22 "So it goes.."

Anyway, I dropped the new wallplug and cable in yesterday and chose Cassandra Wilson's cd "Blue Light `Til Dawn" for it's deep, rich vocals, refined instrumentation, and spacious recording. I took a deep breath, settled into my favorite listening chair 8.5 ft. from my Jean Marie Reynaud Twins mkII, exhaled, and hit the power button on my remote, and... Buzzing! That's right, a not-so-low-level background buzzing! Like something needing to be grounded. But everything was!

I turned the amp off, then on again.

Still there.

I switched cords.

Still there.

Unplugged everything else from the wall.

Still there.

Got a heavy-duty extension and switched outlets...

Gone!

So, the new outlet is the problem. There sure as hell wasn't any buzzing with the cheap residential outlet. Is it because the outlet is more sensitive and now revealing noise in my power supply? I doubt it, but...

Then, I remembered that the old outlet was not grounded at all and I had grounded the new plug to the Romex wallbox. Seemed like a good idea at the time. At least I thought it couldn't hurt. So I removed the outlet, pulled the ground wire, and plugged the amp back in. Silence!

Now I can get on with listening.

Once the outlet was back in w/ faceplate on, I settled back into my chair, turned on the amp and... Buzzing again! Damn it! Out comes the outlet again, I check to see if anything conductive is errantly touching the plug. Nope. And then I realized that the screws that hold the outlet in are providing the connection. Now what? Try teflon tape like a pipe fitting? Or, do they make plastic screws?

Forget it! I'll leave the outlet sticking out of the wall until tomorrow, I've got listening to do!

Back to my trusty old chair and the remote. Power On! This time nothing, just glorious silence! Now for the music. Oh my, from the very first seconds of the cd something felt...Different. Not the knock-your-socks-off kind of change, but something very subtle. So subtle that you can't put your finger on it.

Wider soundstage?

Airy highs?

More mid-range?

Cassandra's voice did sound more...Present. But tonally, the same.

Could it be more bass? No, nothing like that.

Nothing individually stood out, although the sum total felt - well - hauntingly real and different! And then I realized what it was...

The background.

Something had changed.

Dead Silence?

No, more...

Darkness. Black.

The kind of absolute black only found in outer space. (sorry, exaggerating) Like walking into a soundproof room and closing the door. Whoompff!! Then stillness that presses in on your ears.

That was it! Highs, mids, lows, vocals, bass. Everything was standing out in stark contrast against the silence. And this contrast creates terrific space between vocals and individual instruments resulting in a deeper, or more accurately, a more rich musical landscape.

Mid-range seems so much more Real and Present it is haunting. Cassandra's voice actually has...TEXTURE.

And the fine details of bass sound tighter and more clear. During the standup bass solo on "Tell Me You'll Wait For Me", there are sections where Kenny Davis slowly draws his bow(?) across the strings, and before, the resulting vibrations always felt right, but slightly out of focus or blurred like a fine cashmere sweater. (How's that for a poor analogy?) Now the string resonance is crystal clear.

Beautiful music made even more so.

This tweak is so cheap and easy to do, I highly suggest it to everyone. It only cost $30 and took one hour to make.

************** Schurter IEC Modification*************************
For some strange reason Schurter has cursed a really terrific IEC with incredibly bad wire connectors. Each wire has it's own nice all copper dock, but the connection is made by tightening down a thin copper screw. This works well with solid core wires, but when using multi-stranded wires (especially > 18 GA), half of the strands push out to the sides of the screw never really making contact. Most people have suggested removing the screw altogether, and soldering the wires in. But, the copper wire housing is fairly small and tight, and I wanted to be able to easily switch IEC's in the future for experimentation.

So I found a piece of copper plate at The Depot and cut tiny strips the width of the wire housing to fit under the screw. Now when I tighten down the screw, all of the wire's strands are firmly held in place. No room for stray strands and an extremely tight connection!
**********************************************************************

REVIEW: DIY by Robert Crump AC Cord Cable Review by darkmoebius at Audio Asylum