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This preview is about a product that Mad Scientist Audio (“MSA”) is just about to offer, which I have not had an opportunity to hear in my own system, but only in the MSA reference system. When I do get an MSA “Power Purifier Power Cord” to review, a more detailed and in-depth analysis will follow (which will be posted to the “Cable Asylum”, btw.)
Simply put, MSA decided that making a power cord integrated with an MSA “Power Purifier” was a no-brainer, as the power cord with a PP built in would eliminate the need for a pair of extra IEC adapter connectors. The only issue was making a truly great power cable for a very sweet price.
My understanding is that over the last few months, MSA has been experimenting with different geometries and types of wire, and has finally come to the point where a product has been developed that is truly remarkable both as a power cord in its own right, and as a device to purify the AC that flows through it. The power cord’s design is incredibly simple, proving once again that fancy and expensive are not always better.
I was privileged very recently to get to hear some of the final A-Bs that MSA was doing with various types of wire. I even brought up my own “giant killer” power cord design I had worked out using DIY approaches posted by Alan Maher many years ago (when Alan was designing cables through his company, “Perfect Cable”) for comparison.
My DIY power cord design has been very effective in besting all comers in the head-to-head comparisons that were offered by fellow audiophiles, who would bring their best and ‘do their worst’ to try to knock off the “champ” (i.e., my simple DIY design AC cord.) Every time, my silly little Carol Cable-based design would emerge triumphant, sometimes by a wide margin, sometimes a slim margin, but always better. Designs it bested came from the top power cord producers at the time: Audience, Marigo, Clarity, Kimber, Cardas, NBS and others.
On one occasion, an old audiophile buddy (who is friends with Ray Kimber) brought up his set of $1200+ Kimber top-of-the-line AC cords (the vaunted Palladians), which he put up against my el cheapo DIY Carol Cable-based cords (always fitted with Furutech FI-11 Cu male and female terminations, btw.)
By the end of the listening session, my friend was ecstatic that I had agreed to make him a couple of sets of my DIY AC cables, as he then sold his Palladians and pocketed literally nearly two thousand dollars and got better sound to boot! (Although I do admit it was a close contest, and the Palladians were a truly great sounding AC cord, no doubt about that!)
So, when I brought my Carol Cable power cord with Furutech terminations up to MSA labs for the shoot-out, I expected another sound trouncing to occur. And it did.
Unfortunately, my Carol Cables LOST!
I was shocked. I was pissed. I was speechless. I was stunned.
But mostly, I was damned impressed!
Apparently, Bob Prangnell at MSA has been working day and night on this project for weeks, researching dielectrics and spending countless hours trying literally dozens of wires and configurations, until theory and practice met and produced a very simple cable that literally blew my (and my Carol Cable power cord’s) doors off!
MSA’s power cord produced the cleanest, clearest and most three dimensional image I have heard from a power cord. Bass was superb, both in weight and in texture. This was truly deep, tuneful bass, with a more realistic punch and drive. The mids were equally impressive, with a natural tone and beauty that was lovely and beguiling, but above all, relaxing and very involving. Highs were extended, airy, open and sweet.
By comparison, my DIY Carol Cable giant-killer AC cord was shown to be just a little hooty/honky in the mids, a wee touch slower and thicker in the bass, and not quite as airy and as open sounding in the highs.
SHIT!
For the first time in over 13 years, I had to admit defeat in a power cord shoot out.
In short, my DIY Carol cable AC cords are still very, very good, but MSA’s design is simply better. I was very impressed, indeed.
(Actually, what concerned me most of all was the realization that I would now be required to replace ALL my Carol Cable DIY AC cords with new MSA designs, which I was not expecting at all. But such is life in the audiophile fast lane.)
At the time I heard the MSA cables, MSA was experimenting with a pricier teflon insulated wire and a very reasonably-priced generic brand of wire, to offer customers a choice of snazzy versus plain wrap. Both wires beat my Carol Cable DIY cords.
Bob Prangnell explained that the actual conducting wire, while very important, is not as critical as many believe. Bob feels that the geometry is just as critical, along with the type of dielectrics used. When all three parameters are optimized, the result is a simply stunning cable that (best of all) will not break the bank.
I must now completely agree, as I was shocked at how much of a comeuppance my DIY Carol Cable cord got at the hands of the MSA cables, both pricey and generic.
But all this is just about MSA’s new power cords (which, I understand, will not be sold separately, for now at least.). We haven’t even touched upon how the integration of a Power Purifier into such a power cord would turn out.
In short: spectacular!
When we listened to the generic wire MSA power cord with a PP added on using the standard MSA adapters versus an identical MSA power cord except with the PP built in, the result was (as Bob put it) a true ‘no-brainer’. The cord with the PP integrated into the design was better in all regards: cleaner, clearer, more detailed, more natural, more open, more dynamic and unrestrained, just more of everything that makes for a good sounding cable.
There was (as one would expect) absolutely no sonic downside to integrating a PP into the MSA power cord. And why should there be? You are, after all, eliminating two IEC adapters. Getting rid of those IEC adapters is plainly audible, even with the standard MSA “blind testing” requirement. The improvements simply jump out at you. No comparison: less is more.
Once again, well-researched, sound engineering and careful attention to details has resulted in yet another MSA product that really sets a new standard for price-performance. While the MSA power cords standing alone are simply superb, the incorporation of a Power Purifier takes their performance to a stunning level of achievement, both on its own terms and for price-performance.
For more details and pricing, check out MSA’s website.
If you are looking for a new power cord, or are interested in improving your current cabling, I would say these new AC power products from MSA are well worth an audition.
Even better, if you have some pricey power cords that you are not wedded to, you may wish to check out the MSA offerings for a direct comparison using MSA’s 30 day money back guarantee. Who knows? You just might end up selling your pricey cords and pocketing a nice chunk of change while getting significantly improved performance, which is ALWAYS a very good thing, indeed!
Happy Listening!
WS
Follow Ups:
Made a DIY Power Purifier from the freebie discs and it cleaned up the upper frequency sonics quite nicely. This Mad Scientist guy is quite the audiophile. I would guessed the cable I was listening to was a very expensive boutique pc. I encourage others to try.
No doubt, the MSA stuff works well, indeed. Glad to see you are getting great results.
And yes, Beautox is quite an audiophile (and electrical engineer.) He knows his stuff and, more importantly, is willing to share and to help. It's all good.
Cheers,
WS
Winston Smith,
Do you live part time in New Zealand? Down the line does beautox have plans for an interconnect?
Full time, with my family. Have for years. Born in the States, I lived in Los Angeles nearly 52 years before dragging my wife and kid here.
ICs? No idea. Ping beautox and ask. He very responsive, from what I've seen and experienced.
I have the Power Purifier ++ and it works great on my LCD but with my Pass Labs Amp the bass was sucked out.
So, with that experience, I have reason to believe that his power cords (if still using 14 gauge)would perform the same.
I hope he is not using 14 gauge on his power cord like his power purifier.
Wish old Al was around to give you his view on wire gauge and sonics. (Hell, I just wish our beloved Al was still around, period. I really miss that wonderful guy......)
Anyway, Al was of the decided opinion that 14 gauge was the BEST wire for over-all sonics and natural balance. He based this on extensive testing by a friend who owned a well-respected wire and accessory company, "Highwire Audio". You can find this in the archives here in the Tweaker's Asylum. Of course, YMMV!
I, too, found 14 gauge wires to sound very, very good (that was what my old Carol Cable DIY AC cord design was based around.) That doesn't mean they are the "best', but I never found any inherent fault with that gauge wire.
I have no idea what gauge wire MSA will ultimately use in their cords. It may be metric based (i.e., 1.5mm2 or 2.5mm2, etc.)
However, I suspect MSA will try and accommodate you, should you not desire a 14 gauge wire.
What did you do to a generic Carol cable to transform its sound?
Hey UB-
Actually, very simple.
The Carol dual conductor 14 gauge AC wire allows for two unbelievably easy approaches to cable making. Both involve simply cutting a set of two identical lengths of Carol Cable wire and fashioning them as follows. (The first approach is for digital and especially noisy gear; the second for everything else.)
The first approach employs separated runs with each length of Carol Cable having one of the conductors for ground and the other for either line or neutral. Just attach the male and female terminations, using black for ground and white for line/neutral, and you're DONE! (Yes, it really is that simple.) Once constructed and employed, merely separate the wires as far as possible from one another, observing good cable management relative to all your other cables and gear, of course.
This is a design that Alan Maher felt (at least back in around 2001) was the best for digital and other RF noisy gear (perhaps D class amps?) Very simple, very easy, very nice!
For anything else, I employ the second method, based on the concept of "twisted pairs of twisted pairs". Here's how that works.
The Carol Cable is manufactured employing a left-hand twist to the conductors inside (i.e., spiraling counter-clockwise.) So you simply take the two lengths of raw Carol Cable and install them into the male AC plug with each cable's black conductor for neutral and the white conductors for line. Then plug that into a heavy (and unused!) isolation transformer, or anything that will hold the plug very, very securely. Then twist the two lengths of Carol Cable together as tightly as you possibly can (and I mean TIGHT!) utilizing Uncle Stu's "Rule of the Right Hand" approach, spiraling them clock-wise. Secure the tight twists with clear polypropylene tape (or whatever you like) every foot or so. Then add the ground wire (should you need one) into the male plug, add wrap the ground wire counter-spiraled (i.e., counter-clockwise) along the length of the twisted pairs of Carol Cable, and then attach the IEC female at the end. Voila! Done.
Easy as hell and sounds great, especially for the time, efforts and money involved.
With both of these two approaches, you leave the Carol Cable entirely intact.
The materials used in Carol AC wire are all very good, natural stuff: cotton, paper and rubber. In fact, I suspect the sound of the dielectrics was what I found so attractive at the time. My system back then was incredibly fast and open and airy and detailed, but lacked impact and warmth. These Carol-based designs add a great deal of warmth and weight while still allowing exceptional HF extension, which is just what I was looking for at that time. I believe many systems could benefit from these cable designs. I know mine did.
But other folks maintain that there is simply no dielectric like NO DIELECTRIC! That is what Bob at MSA feels sounds best, and I have to admit, it sure sounded that way in the MSA reference system, at least to my ears. So, I will now very likely be replacing all my Carol-based AC cables. But I got 13 great years out of them, and they were cheap as hell and VERY easy to make!
Of course, I don't know how MSA's AC cables will sound in my current system. But I know how they performed versus my Carol designs in the MSA reference system. That was spelled out clearly in my preview. But you never know until you put them into YOUR system and listen.
(Which is why I basically NEVER buy things that do not allow for a minimum of 30 days trial period.)
And thus why my post is merely a 'preview'. Once MSA finishes auditioning and tweaking its AC cord, I will order a set to try out, and then I will report back with a review. If I hear exactly the same things that I heard at the MSA reference system, my review will be nothing more than a re-hashing of what the preview said. We'll see.
Of course, I am hoping my Carol Cables will win out (because my wife really likes it when I do NOT spend money on audio gear!)
And you know the old saying: "Happy wife, happy life". ;-)
Cheers,
WS
Thanks, I think I'll try it. I'll probably use 16-3 Carol, which is what I have now. The ground is already in the cable. It will be used for a 17W tube amp. Black is used here for hot and white is neutral. If I can find the cable sans ground, I will try that too.
Edits: 03/29/14
Parts Connexion is where I got my Carol Cable. I bought a 250' roll eons ago. Still have a crap load of the stuff, truth be told.
PC has oodles of the two conductor variety relatively cheap.
I cannot vouch for how the three conductor Carol Cable will work for you, but it will definitely sound a bit different having that third wire (i.e., earth safety ground) in the mix, for sure.
Of course, you could always carefully razor open the outer rubber cable jacket and strip out the the three conductors and use the white and black only. Just be VERY careful not to nick those conductors, to avoid any possible shorting.
Let me know what you do, and what you think when you're done.
And best of luck, UB!
Cheers,
WS
Major brain fart action this morning on my previous post.
Toot-toot!
Yeah, it was Parts Express.
Parts Connexion doesn't carry Carol Cable, as far as I know.
Sorry about that
The ground wire in the Carol is sheathed, like the others; it would be difficult to fish it out. It's part of the left-hand twist arrangement. I'll see if I can find some two wire type at Lowe's or Home Depot, or at an electrical supply shop.
The power cord is soldered inside the amp - no IEC connection; and the other end hard-wired in a pony panel, making comparisons almost impossible. Anyhow, I'll check it out. Thanks
Perhaps you could do a follow-up? It might be fun to share what you hear when you build it. cheers, lloyd (bluenose)..
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