I bought a $12 Beldin power cord that drastically improved my system. (Beldfoil shielded, 14x3 gauge, 1800W capacity, SJT cord.) I immediately also heard greater detail in the soundstage with the most apparent improvement exhibited in the midrange.

If you don't believe me, please check out my post of August 08, 2003 01:20 AM in this thread:

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000908-2.html

A tweak I have used before and found to greatly enhance the musicality of my system is to paint the door of my electrical circuit breaker box on the outside of my house with green spray paint. The results are absolutely unbelieveable!!

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited August 11, 2003).]

What shade of Green and how many coats?

Peace, LTK

Outlaw power button green, of course. And it's best to apply at least nine coats, alternating between horizontal spray pattern on odd numbered coats and vertical on even numbered coats. You start seeing diminishing returns after nine coats...

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited August 11, 2003).]

I tried the green marker thing on the CD edge, the magic dots stuck on various things and other gimmiks. I even tried the green spray paint on the electrical breaker panel. Nope!

Then, I tried sniffing the wet paint while listening to Beatles' Lucy in the Sky with ... I was transported to a realm of utter musical mystery tour ... oops ... no ... an alternate reality of sonic delights ... no ... someting happened.

Paul

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the 1derful1

Joke all you want, but a recent experience with poor power in my house has made me a believer of conditioners: When I first installed my 950/7100, I noticed the lights would dim on every power-up. Obviously a temporary power dip on an overloaded circuit. This was acceptable until I hooked up my $5000 Infocus projector into a different outlet (but on the same circuit). Long story short, the first system use and the projector no longer worked. A trip to Infocus to replace a power circuit board and lamp controller and then back home, now hooked up to a power conditioner with many uses and no problems. No dips in the lights anymore either. Now I wouldn't hook up a single component without the insurance. There is no substitute for good clean power.

Of course it's very important to have some circuit protection, especially if you live in an area where lightning strikes are common. Some people go way overboard however seeking to cure imaginiary problems. Green paint (actually it was "Teal" colored) is the only cure for these problems.

In what was one of life's little chance moments, I happened to be reading this thread earlier today when our neighbourhood experienced a brief brown-out / power failure. Other than the twin beeping sounds telling me that my two UPS units had kicked in to protect / keep my home theatre and home network powered up, there were no other effects. Likewise the nearby lightning strike last month. In fact in the case of the latter occurence, a tape dub and a DVD burn kept humming along undeterred. Protection from damage and inconvenience: that's what it's all about. Improved sound and picture during normal operation: gimme a break!

Regards.

Jeff Mackwood

We did not have a storm, but on Sunday some major power interrupts, 3 times in a row over about 30 seconds.
My UPS on the pc screamed but the PC just glided through, no problem. Screen did not even flicker.
In the HT room, the FM on and the entire electronics shut down, which is what the Panamax will do for major power excursions.
I powered everything back up and nothing was amiss. No better test than the real world.

We jest, but there *can* be value to power conditioners. I have an Equitech balanced power unit that uses the same principal for noise suppression as balanced interconnects: common mode noise rejection. And it also has surge protection, unfortunately with MOVs. But fortunately, there is an indicator light on the front that always shows the status of the MOVs. But it is still black. Maybe I can get even more improvement if I painted it green!

BTW, I *was* joking about any improvement with the power cords. Just that having shielded interconnects *and* power cords does make sure I have the quietest system possible.

Here's how I view it: no fancy schmancy power cord, power conditioner, cable, speaker wire, etc, can make a system perform better. But what each of those can do (to various degrees), if a person is strategic about getting value for their money, is to allow a system to perform to its maximum potential. Kind of like a crappy (anything) can make things worse, but IMO you don't have to spend much to get to a level a quality in an accessory component that *won't* degrade things and let's the source shine through unimpeded.


[This message has been edited by Kevin C Brown (edited August 13, 2003).]