Zebra Cables - ZC-PR12 Power Cord Review/Info

[RuSsMaN]

Zebra Cables ZC-PR12 Power Cord

www.zebracables.com

*PLEASE POST ONLY REVIEWS FOR THIS PARTICULAR CABLE IN THIS THREAD*

Starting Price: $64.00 for 3 Feet with Marinco terminantions, $5.25 each additional foot.

The Zebra Cables ZC-PWR12 Power Cord is a 12 AWG, 100% Teflon insulated, three conductor, twisted design with double foil/braid shield to keep out any EMI/RFI, terminated with Marinco's 8215 Male Plug and Marinco's 320 IEC. Also available are different sleeve colors and terminations from Furutech!

Connector & Cord Specifications:
12 AWG stranded (7x20) tinned copper conductors
100% Teflon Insulation
100% Beldfoil® shield with 85% tinned copper braid shield
Temperature range: -70°C To +200°C
Marinco hospital grade AC plug meets or exceeds hospital grade (green dot) UL tests
Furutech: 24K gold-plated non-magnetic and Deep Thick Layer Silver plated conductor
Both connectors have a 125V / 15 Amp rating

[Kegger]

That's a good looking and well priced cable there Russ!
(not quite a review of the cable but I hope It's allowed to comment)

[luvvinvinyl]

Thanks, Russman, for the opportunity to demo this power cable. I apologize for the delay, but the AKFest landed right after I shipped off the cable to the next person in line. My notes lingered on my desk, awaiting my attention.

Preface

This is my first review, so I am somewhat trepidatious, given the high standards of those who have gone before me. Nonetheless, this is the price of entry into the demo program. This is also my first experience with different power cables.

Review system is Arcam Alpha One CDP, Almarro A205 integrated, Mirage 450 speakers, Chord Carnival Silver Plus speaker cables, Chord Silver Siren ICs. Test CDs were Holly Cole Trio – Don’t Smoke In Bed; Johnny Cash – Unchained; Leo Kotke – Peculiaroso; Chuck Brown & Eva Cassidy – The Other Side; Doc Severinsen and His Big Band – Swingin’ The Blues.

I was struck by the appearance of the Zebra Cables ZC-PR12 Power Cord. Fit and finish are excellent. Heavy heatshrink tubing protects hospital-grade connectors at both ends. The exterior of the cable is wrapped in a woven jacket, and looks very durable. It is somewhat rough in texture. The cable is quite stiff, so much so, that I had to make room, behind the Arcam, for a more gentle downward turn. Connectors, at both ends, fasten with moderate effort, and seat with a very satisfying feel.

Sonics

Given that the power cord in previous use was a ‘disposable’ cord from some PC, I confess that I expected some improvement. I was not ready for the magnitude of that initial improvement. The imaging was more precise, sound more detailed. The change was noticeable.

Over the next several days, listening confirmed the initial impressions. I noticed that stops in the music now seemed to be more ‘black’, dead quiet. Live venue performances, like Brown/Cassidy, seemed to put me there. Soundstage was wider, like I was in the audience. Doc’s band seemed sharper; horns now attacked notes on the louder dynamic passages. Kotke’s music was more engaging, more detailed.

I reverted to the supplied power cord, for about one hour. The loss in sound, dynamics and imaging was almost palpable.

Conclusion

Had I not heard the difference, I would have scoffed at the magnitude of improvements, on my modest system. I would just go ahead and buy this cable, but I have the Black Max up next, and another cable, to try. I will be curious to hear my system with others. I think the Zebra ZC-PR12 is affordable, a good ‘bang for the buck’.

The big lesson for me is not just that the power cable can make a big difference, but that these improvements can be had on a modest system.

[240sx4u]

Take a look at the title... that was my thought before actually demoing the zebra cable power cord. I mean, power is power right?

Let me back up...

My reference system is a pair or Mordaunt-Short Performance 860's, Oracle TT, Grado sonata cart (highly reccomended btw), wellborne labs phono preamp, PSE studio SL preamp, PSE studio V monoblocks, monster biwire speaker wire and audioquest quartz interconnects. Tonearm is wired with cardas cryo tonearm wire. Everything is plugged into a panamax conditioner/supressor.

I used vinyl exclusively with this test. The wellborne labs phono stage is what I had the cable plugged into. This is a tube unit with very high quality components inside and an outboard power supply.

Initial Thoughts

Pretty heavy, nice quality ends, very attractive cable. Also as stiff as a coil spring from a car. This is my absolute least favorite feature of this cable. The cable was very hard for me to route because the power supply of my phono stage sits ontop of the line conditioner. It about threw the power supply on the floor once.

Demo Music

No, I did not break out some super special vinyl to really give this cable a hard run. I used what I like to listen too everyday. I used mostly rock, but some funk too. George duke, perfect circle etc... a pretty wide variety.

Actual impressions

First thought was that this cable would be no improvement over what I was using. I was using an el cheeso IEC cable I had lying around. I actually used the zebra first, then my cheeso cable second. I was trying to listen to the zebra cable first to see what sounds would be missing the second pass around. I have listened seriously back and fourth for a couple hours over the weeks. All I can say is, wow, the sound stage is much larger and better defined. The overall sound is more detailed and less cluttered sounding. I hate to use these cliche' phrases but they describe it well.

Final thoughts

Well, I demoed it for a couple hours and have not unplugged it since. I have more cords on the way but I have a feeling my rack is going to be packed with zebra power cords if the next cord does not impress me. I would highly reccomend anyone give this cable a shot.

For the cost, $65, I cannot think of another tweak that could possibly make this big of a difference.


I used to be anti-powercord! Thank you audiokarma and russman for the opportunity to try this badboy out. I never would have without you guys!

Thanks again - Evan

[RichPA]

Not part of the demo program, but I bought two of these power cables after reading these reviews and hearing from others about the demo at the Fest. I have to agree with the reviews here - an impressive difference, relative to standard but heavy-duty power cables. I put these cables on my main amp (Bryston 3B-SST) and preamp (PS Audio PCA-2 with HDCS power supply). The rest of the system is Theta Miles/Monarchy DIP Classic/Monarchy DIP upsampler/Behringer DEQ2496/Benchmark DAC1 on the front end, Paradigm Signature S2s with two ACI Titan subs and one ACI Force sub.

What I heard was a quieter background, more easily heard 3-D depth to the sound, and greater bass/lower midrange articulation. I wish I understood how this could be true, but I no longer doubt that it is. My wife, more skeptical than I am, agrees with this description.

The cables are stiff, making them unsuitable for small, light components like the DAC1 without serious efforts to stabilize them. The difference was greater with the amp than with the preamp, though putting them on both was a definite improvement over either alone.

Never thought I'd be reviewing power cables, but there it is.

[GaryP]

I've known about power cable differences for a while and I'm looking for something "interesting" that suits my system.

My system is McIntosh tubes, Grover wires, a Sony ES CD player and Unity Audio speakers.

In preparation for the test, I unplugged the power cord that I was using and replaced it with a stock power cord for a few days. I got used to that sound and then I switched it with the Zebra.

I heard an immediate change! The instruments snapped into focus (i.e.: you can place them accurately), better soundstage, the guitars had more "bite" and there wasmore depth to the music.

'Phew!

Impressive!

Who said that electons is electrons? They are but the road they travel (bumpy? potholes? paved? gravel?) must affect the ride somehow!

I'll be taking this PC to the Toronto meet tomorrow! :thmbsp: