Mister Pig
03-29-2006, 09:47 AM
Several years ago I was involved in a single blind listening test of power cords. My second favorite cord was an Extreme from Audio Magic. I was suprised that a $99 power cord could sound so good. It was the winner of a bang for buck comparison...but not the best sounding cord of the night. But I remembered this comparison.
Well this year I needed some power cords for a re vamped system since the Belden cords were not cutting it on my power amps. So I called Audio Magic since the price of the Extreme PC has gone up to $150. But I found out they made some significant improvements. First of all the guage oif wiring has been stepped up from 16 to 10. Which bodes well for my amps. Second of all the new cords are double dipped silver over copper. The old ones were also, but I think Jerry upped the amount of silver being used. Finally, they are triple shielded. So I bought three of them.
It took about 96 hours to get through the initial burn in. But these things sound great in my system, and are getting better as time passes. You get very nice detail and focus. Highs have lots of resolution without being grainy. Bass is quick too. There does seem to be a bit of forwardness in the upper midrange, but in my system this is not a problem. And hey this is a 150 buck power cord. Overall I am very pleased with the new version. It still offers great bang for the buck. And my current system really is about bang for the buck...not perfect sound....since my pockets arent deep enough for that at this time. But I find that the strengths of these power cords fit my system very well.
There are two downsides to the Extreme cords. First of all, they come only in 2 meter lengths, nothing else. Secondly the ends are not super fancy Marcino's or Watt Gates. You get an average looking end, but they appear to do the job. So there is no audio "Bling" factor with these.
Ok, so there are cheaper power cords out there, can't argue that. But from my experiences, I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a better cord at this price range.
Regards
Mister Pig
Well this year I needed some power cords for a re vamped system since the Belden cords were not cutting it on my power amps. So I called Audio Magic since the price of the Extreme PC has gone up to $150. But I found out they made some significant improvements. First of all the guage oif wiring has been stepped up from 16 to 10. Which bodes well for my amps. Second of all the new cords are double dipped silver over copper. The old ones were also, but I think Jerry upped the amount of silver being used. Finally, they are triple shielded. So I bought three of them.
It took about 96 hours to get through the initial burn in. But these things sound great in my system, and are getting better as time passes. You get very nice detail and focus. Highs have lots of resolution without being grainy. Bass is quick too. There does seem to be a bit of forwardness in the upper midrange, but in my system this is not a problem. And hey this is a 150 buck power cord. Overall I am very pleased with the new version. It still offers great bang for the buck. And my current system really is about bang for the buck...not perfect sound....since my pockets arent deep enough for that at this time. But I find that the strengths of these power cords fit my system very well.
There are two downsides to the Extreme cords. First of all, they come only in 2 meter lengths, nothing else. Secondly the ends are not super fancy Marcino's or Watt Gates. You get an average looking end, but they appear to do the job. So there is no audio "Bling" factor with these.
Ok, so there are cheaper power cords out there, can't argue that. But from my experiences, I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a better cord at this price range.
Regards
Mister Pig