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A few weeks I asked for some advice here on a hard-wired power cord for my ST-70 and didn't really get a response, so I asked Chris Ven Haus for his recommendation as I'd built his silver RCAs and was very impressed with those. I bought a 5' length of his cryo'ed shielded 12ga twisted pair and a Furutech FI-11M gold plug and some tech-flex to cover it.
When I opened my ST-70 the surprise (not that I'd never opened it before, in fact I've modded the hell out of it) was that the power cord goes in right behind the power transformer, leaving little room to get anything in there. Also, it was wired with one leg to the switch and the other to the fuse, and used 18ga lamp cord. Getting the 12 gauge wire in there, and through the solder posts was a challenge but I managed to do it. The plug end was easy, with the shielding on the grounding prong. I left it open at the amp end. Adding an IEC to the chassis it turns out was not an option given the lack of space. I followed the same wiring even though I know that is not really the best way to do it, one leg to switch the other to fuse. I put the hot to the switch and used a gland for strain relief. Everything is nice and tight.
My impressions? Wow. I was a total skeptic that this would make a difference, but the entire soundstage opened up. It was truly a revelation. I can't say anything about bass response as my system never lacked bass, but the treble definitely opened up, hence the soundstage. I am truly impressed by the results. Lady Madonna just came on from the playlist I'm on and I jumped. My first cut was "Willow" by Taylor Swift (don't knock it, she's actually enjoyable now that she's grown up) and switched back to my usual classic rock with "Candle in the wind", "Benny and the Jets", "Sympathy for the Devil", some Diana Krall and Airelle Besson for jazz. I'll put some classical on at some point. Oh, "Give a Little Bit" from Supertramp was just released in hi-res last week and it was a totally different sound with this setup. The guitars resonated in space.
I'm just totally blown away by this. Now I'll want to put one on my pre-amp, a DIY Aikido. My source today was Qobuz on my iMac to my RPi running Volumio to my Topping E30. The RPi and E30 are battery powered so no chance there for a power cord upgrade. The amp itself was modified to use 6B4G DHT output tubes and the Curcio board with 4x6DJ8 driver.
And the best part is this wasn't all that expensive.
Follow Ups:
I wanna do the same with my preamp.
Duster, if you read this... can you recommend a two-conductors mains cable that could be hard-wired in my fully tweaked Yamaha CX-1 preamp? Sometimes I look at the stock cable and think, "after all the modding, that cable must now be the weak link"....
I guess the difference is that my ST70 started out as a DIY project back 60 years ago and has easily accessible parts, power transformer notwithstanding. Your Yamaha may be more difficult. There's only one way to find out though and that is to open it up.As for cable I was pretty impressed with the VH audio cable and the Furutech plug. But I'm assuming by your need for a European plug that's not as easy. This was my first PC so I'm no expert.
I took a look at some photos of the inside and it looks like it could be difficult. There is a small PCB over the hole that blocks access to the power cord internally. That PCB probably has something to do with power, and I couldn't see where the cord is soldered in.
Edits: 02/14/21
Found a good image of the Yamaha CX-1 captive power cord that's hardwired to the circuit board a few inches away from the entry point.KanedaK will need to ream a larger hole with a step bit and get a proper-sized cable gland to secure a thick power cord to the back chassis.
Edits: 02/14/21
Yep, that's what I did with my Dynaco. I'd still be curious about the circuit board that covers that spot and whether it is easy to remove in order to solder the power cord to the board, and whether the board itself has solder pads big enough to accept anything larger than what is already there. In my case, the on/off switch had two solder tabs on a DPDT switch and the two sides were bridged, so that the power was to both center tabs with the 18ga in a line through both, and the transformer wire went to both "on" tabs. I split the 12ga wire so that half went to each tab, with a few strands on each side just wrapped around because they didn't all fit. Sometimes the physical restraints are more onerous than the electrical ones.This is a reason I'm always skeptical about external cables. You just never know how the wiring looks internally. Speakers are another place where the internal wires are sometime barely a hair on the windings. That said I'm still impressed by the sound of my VH cables
Edits: 02/14/21
Best approach is to cut the wires of the stock power cord about an inch from the circuit board and solder the replacement power cord onto the wires as if they were solder tabs. Not ideal, but it's a method that's also used for replacing capacitors and other components when access to the other side of a circuit board is difficult.
I'd recommend a wire nut and electrical tape in that case.
Wire nut is not what I would choose for the stranded wire of a power cord; better suited for solid core wire such as Romex.
This unshielded 13 AWG Sommercable bulk power cable looks like it has good potential for the price:
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/cable-metre-cables-secteur/sommercable-rubberflex-har-power-cable-3x25mm-o-125mm-p-9860.html
I suggest that you terminate it with a mid-priced Viborg VE501 Schuko plug:
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/fiches-secteur-connecteurs-schucko/viborg-ve501-pure-copper-connector-schuko-o19mm-p-12780.html
Thanks Duster.
I certainly see plenty of options for good power cable but, they are all 3 conductors... should I just leave the earth wire disconnected?...
Or, maybe I could use a thick, twisted pair inside a tube - like they sell as speaker cable (see link here under) or are there safety issues? I'm thinking a preamp doesn't draw much current but... honestly regarding power cables I know nothing...
Check out the VH Audio cable that I used. It is more expensive than what you linked to but it isn't break the bank expensive and is 2 conductor, 12ga, cryo treated and shielded or unshielded. Ask Chris what he recommends, he's pretty responsive.
You'll need to scroll through the page for the AC cable.
Well thanks a lot guys! precious information on this forum, as always ;)
I'll look into the unshielded cry twisted pair from VH Audio, with a Viborg plug.
There are few 2-conductor power cables other than small gauge designs, so the ground conductor of a 3-conductor cable can simply be grounded at the AC plug end, and left unconnected at the audio component end.
Unless a cable is has a suitable voltage rating, it's not advisable to use it for an AC application.
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