Chord Music Power Cable
Posted by: Jonas Olofsson on 10 July 2018
Arrived the other day, will be installed when the feeling is right. Could be the mother of all power cables. Very impressive construction.
Crazy expensive? Yes. Boosting the system another notch? We will see. Chord Sarum have been my reference the last 7-8 years, I wouldn’t be surprised if Music eats Sarum for breakfast. Or not.
What did surprice me: Music speaker cables with the new plugs. Deeper, more powerful bass. No clue where that came from.
//Jonas
FangfossFlyer posted:I must admit I like Chord Music interconnects in my system but when I had a home loan of a Chord Music power-line for my Linn Radikal I thought it only made some slight inprovement over my standard Linn lead terminated with a 15 amp round pin plug (in a U.K. reg. compliant configuration) but not enough to warrant the price.
By the way, I preferred my Linn 15amp terminated lead over Chord’s Sarum T.
Richard
I use 15 amp round pins, too, but on Sarum T on a Klimax Radikal. I did do the comparison with a 13 amp plug and found it substantially inferior.
On all the Chord plugs signature plus the UK versions I have use the mains plug strain relief with is coupled or uncooked to the plug.
If you guys are DIY what I use for table lamps (round pin plugs) does that remove one of of the main design characteristics of the cable setup ?
I think we are all getting bored waiting for Jonas to spill the beans ???? on the Music.
It will be worth the wait, will report tomorrow. All I can say at this moment is that it’s THE cable for (us) with OCD syndrome...
More later (promise).
//Jonas
Obsydian posted:On all the Chord plugs signature plus the UK versions I have use the mains plug strain relief with is coupled or uncooked to the plug.
If you guys are DIY what I use for table lamps (round pin plugs) does that remove one of of the main design characteristics of the cable setup ?
I think we are all getting bored waiting for Jonas to spill the beans ???? on the Music.
I supplied the MK plugs and Chord kindly fitted them for me - there’s no strain relief bar, so any benefit is outweighed by the 15 amp plug itself.
15 amp round pin plugs have the advantage of greater contact area and are fuseless. I use them on my radial spurs on the end of industrial spec leads sourced from an old forum member with (I think) Wattgate IECs.
In a comparison with whatever Dave had before his Saum Ts (plain old Sarum?) I could hear no difference.
Does anyone else wonder how certain people can slap one of these extremely expensive cable types on say an LP12 radical power supply and then claim a night and day improvement in sound??
I know I do ...
Nick Lees posted:15 amp round pin plugs have the advantage of greater contact area and are fuseless. I use them on my radial spurs on the end of industrial spec leads sourced from an old forum member with (I think) Wattgate IECs.
In a comparison with whatever Dave had before his Saum Ts (plain old Sarum?) I could hear no difference.
Ahaa I recall now with my old olive active system all feeding into a Hydra which I changed to a round 15A socket.
On my signature and other Sarum T and Music on the Chord site if you look there is a kind of strain relief bar before the plug.
Ok, first, don’t kill the messenger, I’m just reporting what I’m hearing. Maybe nobody will find the same results as I did.
Second: no, I can’t explain why. Just as I can’t explain why 1 m IC between streamer and pre amp makes such a different. Or why 1 m Ethernet cable makes any difference. Or the links for the speaker.
Third: is it worth the money? I guess that’s impossible to answer for anybody else then for your self. Me, I’m building a “perfect system”, with few limits, but for sure, my pockets are far from endless. But I’m on a road, now 30 years later, aiming for perfection (to me). And fun it is!
So, with this in mind, framing my findings, Music PL is a clear YES! Music PL brings EXACT the same stuff to the table as the rest of the Music cables: presence! Again, and I know it’ starts to sound stupid saying it over and over, turning fantastic Hi-Fi into something else, way superior but not in dramatic way, it just becomes more ALIVE and THERE in the room.
If that’s not an important priority, the cable will look like a stupid high priced snake oil product. But if you think, as I do, that PRaT for an example, just is an outcome, aiming to be THERE, this Presence thing should be added to that list IMHO.
I also think there is a thing going on with Naim-Chord-Kudos-Sonority. Building on each brands strength, they make each part better then it “should” be. But that could be me speculating also.
After changing around for a while, but for a shorter period then I thought would be needed, PL 1 went to the 552PS (a very very successful marriage) and PL 2 for the analog 555PS. Do remember, I did use Sarum Super PL before and still does for the Melco, 555PS (digital) and 500PS. Music PL made them better also but less so then for 552 and analog 555.
One final note: if you haven’t tried any “expensive” pl (any brand) but still know what you’re talking about, please, do try first and report back. If you have tried and didn’t like it/couldn’t hear any difference, I totally respect that.
//Jonas