Power first not source!!
Posted by: Claus-Thoegersen on 18 August 2018
My latest unwanted upgrades has been all about power, and I am more and more leaning to a view of that source first is dead unless the source is the first powwer cable and your mains block. After a demo at Ansuz acoustics over a year ago, I changed mains block from Isotek to Mainz8D from Ansuz, and that was an improvement. Last year my dealer had a Ansuz Mainz Ceramic power cable, at a very good price. So the powerline used from the wall socket was changed with the Ceramic cable, proving that the first power cable is the most important one. 2 months back I was at Ansuz again with a group of my Friends, all of them have Naim gear and Audiovector speakers. At that time I heard the new Mainz models, and decided I would try a home demo of the mainz8 c2, even though the idea of spending so much on a power block is hard to justify rationally. When we changed the mainz8 to the c2 model, something strange happened. We had to turn down the volume to listen to the music at the same volume as before. How a passive block can make your system play louder at the same volume setting is really strange. Of course it was not only louder also better, like a box upgrade, and one of the serious upgrades.
Well this should be it I thought, but a few of mhy friends that was at the Ansuz demo, also wanted to see what Darkz could do under speakers and racks, and play around with power cables.
My dealer is sometimes able to get a good deal on the Ansuz products but it is still really expensive! Well I had the power cables I needed so no financial problems with a demo, where you spend other people's money, d listen to music and drink beer. That was until my dealer started to change the standard power cables from the Mainz block to the supercap for the 282 in the system, and afterwards also the Hicap used for the Snaxo used with Audiovector sr6. It was clear that this also was a huge improvement.
Ok so I suddenly needed 2 new power cables for my 2 supercaps since the powerlines now surely sounded terribly broken! Unfortunately it did not stop there! My dealer suggested we should try a Mainz d2 cable from the wall instead of the c2 modelled that was used. Everybody agreed that we could try this but nobody would ever even think about buying this cable, not even at a good price. 30 minutes later my friend decided that it would be impossible to remove the cable and go back to the old c2 instead.
All of us at this demo yesterday agree that had somebody suggested that we would spend more money on power cables and mains blocks than on our pre and source, we would have dismissed it as madness.
The only problem is that all 3 of us are going to do that anyway if we can find the money for it.
I was able to get another c2 cable yesterday, so this afternoonI spend time playing music and then changing the powerline on my 252 with the c2 cable. The improvement was bigger than on my friends 282, I would say much bigger. This is probably because of the Mainz8 c2, compared to one of the smaller Mainz models my friend is using, or it could be because the supercap just makes the 252 even better than the 282?
If you look at the Danish ansuz prices, a c2 power cable and the c2 Mainz8 block cost close to what the nd555 cost, without power supplies!!! However everybody with bigger systems really should try to demo these Ansuz products! it may very well change your upgrade path plans!
Claus
Posted on: 21 August 2018 by Peder
???? Please,...do not use the function "Quote" as many times as you like...it will be so incredibly much to "scroll" from a phone.
Cut rather out what you want to refer to,... only one wish....
/Peder ????
Posted on: 21 August 2018 by Mike-B
Posted on: 21 August 2018 by spurrier sucks
???? Please,...do not use the function "Quote" as many times as you like...it will be so incredibly much to "scroll" from a phone.
Cut rather out what you want to refer to,... only one wish....
/Peder ????
Lol. Does it make your thumb hurt after a few scrolls? Hit the gym and get in better shape. Toughen up. I thought only the US was getting soft. Just goes to show people will bitch about anything. Lol
Posted on: 21 August 2018 by TOBYJUG
???? Please,...do not use the function "Quote" as many times as you like...it will be so incredibly much to "scroll" from a phone.
Cut rather out what you want to refer to,... only one wish....
/Peder ????
Lol. Does it make your thumb hurt after a few scrolls? Hit the gym and get in better shape. Toughen up. I thought only the US was getting soft. Just goes to show people will bitch about anything. Lol
Will also make those others around you watching you furiously thumbing that smart phone in public think that your actually engaged in something important.
Posted on: 21 August 2018 by rjstaines
Gosh, you lucky chap, I wish I owned a smart phone. All my phone does is make & take calls and send / receive texts.
...and it never gets warm enough for the cat to become interested in it.
On reflection this is one of the benefits of getting old... technology (smart phones) is just too complicated, so you don't have one and you don't have the problems associated with them (like scrolling).
Posted on: 21 August 2018 by Claus-Thoegersen
I think all that cat talk degrades all components in the hifi system, and it may shorten my guidedogs life, she has to listen to all this cat talk and it cannot be good for her health!
Claus
Posted on: 21 August 2018 by French Rooster
if someone doesn’t want his cat to sit on his components, better buy tube amps, placed on the top of the rack. He will burn himself 
Posted on: 26 August 2018 by Claus-Thoegersen
Time to wake this up again. Tomorrow we will have 2 more demos. C cables on all my power supplies, and a Diamond cable from wall to distribution block. It is going to be an interesting day!
Claus
Posted on: 26 August 2018 by wenger2015
Time to wake this up again. Tomorrow we will have 2 more demos. C cables on all my power supplies, and a Diamond cable from wall to distribution block. It is going to be an interesting day!
Claus
Looking forward to hear your observations.... enjoy
Posted on: 27 August 2018 by Octa_dyn
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Claus-Thoegersen
The short update is as expected very very good! All tracks sound better. Better base, more seperations among instruments, easier to follow instruments in complex passages of the music. You end up hearing things that you were not able to here before. More dynamics in the music! And I have not used as much time listening to my own system as I would like to. As we expected my other friend had his system tweaked, again with a D cable, one of the smaller new power blocks, C cables on his supercap for 282, and a C cable on his hicap on the Snaxo. All of us is going to buy this Ansuz update, even though we would never had considered spedning this much money on power compared to what our Naim/audiovector systems cost. At the same time these expensive upgrades were not at all planned, but the deals are only available now!
Some of my standard test upgrade music has really gotten so much better. I will post some of my current favorit tracks later.
Claus
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by spurrier sucks
What cables did Tyler have on his 272 setup that was used during the Kudos demo?
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Octa_dyn
John - Tyler used a full D2 cable loom with a D2 power distribution. I hate to say it but IMO the V2 cables D2's are the sweet spot but expensive. With the V2's there is quite an improvement between the A2 C2 and D2.
Before the Version 2 the Ceramic was in the sweet spot IMO. With the originals the D was the best but at 15K (2M) the C was extremely close at 5.4K
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by alanbass1
Utter madness. If I already had a 500 series system (or greater - Statement ????), my room optimised with acoustic treatment- hell, a totally new optimised room - and another £30k to spend on nothing else more important than my hi-fi, then I’m all in. Otherwise, nah - I will leave this to the few that find themselves in that fortunate position.
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by yeti42
“the deals are only available now”
This does rather ring a few alarm bells, it smacks of pressure sales tactics.
Your description of the effect makes no mention of enhancing the musical communication, just the hifi aspects. Can you better hear a chamber ensemble interacting or just the individual lines, is there emotion being triggered by the music, can it swing?
Is there a 500 series system available for comparison to the 282 etc with magic cables? Preferably not one set up by the cable merchant.
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Octa_dyn
Yeti42 The deal is they are discontinued products. Again IMO the new V2 is a lot better than the originals (as good as the originals were). I had a C pc and later had a D for about 45 days. Yes the D was better but not by a whole lot. Took out the D and I didn't miss it. That's when Lars came to my home with the prototype A2 (3.2K for 2M) and C2 (5.8K for 2M). I still prefer the A2 by a wide margin over the D (15K for 2M). Those prices are retail and in USD. The C2 was a lot better than the A2 and once the cables were in production the D2 is a lot better than the C2. That said the D-TC (20K for 2M) is a lot better than the D2.
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Dave J
But Alan, you’ve already spent tons on SL, you’re already playing the game...
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by French Rooster
This thread is specially focusing on anzus products. The title should be “ anzus first, not source”. It would be interesting to have some other brands to compare or share the experience, like synergetic research, kharma, chord music or sarum t power cords, audioquest...
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Loki
I understand the importance of a dedicated spur with good MK sockets
but the power going into that spur very little can be done to improve that as that is the real source or am I missing the point.
Yes and no. One can clean up the mains, optimise the route from the fuse board, play with earthing and shield form RFI.
Russ Andrews and Kimber provide a number of effective solutions and offer a long trial/return period. Rega, NAim and Chord have all nodded in the direction of directional mains cables, which lends support to the idea that the mains can have an effect. I was sceptical but have proven it to myself and others countless times.
I would very much like to try balanced mains, which I believe is the sine qua non for domestic mains supply.
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Octa_dyn
[quote]This thread is specially focusing on anzus products. The title should be “ anzus first, not source”. It would be interesting to have some other brands to compare or share the experience, like synergetic research, kharma, chord music or sarum t power cords, audioquest...[/quote]
Mr Rooster I agree and would love to see other brands being compared. I heard a story regarding I think 1 or 2 RMAF shows ago. Lars got a ton of flack from Nordost. He brought an A2 pc into the Nordost demo with the Odin2. They let him put it in and everyone loved it. When he took it out most in the demo couldn't believe what happened to the sound stage - separation between the instruments and vocals when they put the Odin2 back in. I heard most left the room and they were Nordost fans. That said I wasn't there and only heard of the story. Remember Mike Borresen designed the Odin2. I know of 1 person who traded in 6 Odin2's for Ansuz D-TC's. That was before the V2's were released.
My local audio dealer is also a Nordost dealer. He has given me Nordost demo cases of cables for up to 60 days. As you go up the chain they do sound better than the latter. Tonality wise both the Ansuz and Nordost is equal. Where Ansuz accelerates is in the openness - depth - sound stage and better dynamics. Years past all I listened for was a change in tonality. Both Ansuz and Nordost were in home demo's.
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Octa_dyn
BTW how do you quote someone?
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by seakayaker
BTW how do you quote someone?
Mouse click on 'Take Action' and select 'Reply with quote'
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by No quarter
BTW how do you quote someone?
Mouse click on 'Take Action' and select 'Reply with quote'
Hi George,just click the little “take action” arrow,then hit reply with quote.
I was beat to the punch,but this shows you that you can also edit within 15 minutes...same action window.
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Octa_dyn
BTW how do you quote someone?
Mouse click on 'Take Action' and select 'Reply with quote'
Hi George,just click the little “take action” arrow,then hit reply with quote.
I was beat to the punch,but this shows you that you can also edit within 15 minutes...same action window.
Thanks guys It works
Posted on: 28 August 2018 by Octa_dyn
All forums are different. I thought take action to to report someone. DUH Now if I could figure out AGon I would be set. 
