I use the power cable that came with them...or in some cases...attached to them.
What Power Cords for McIntosh Equipment
- Thread starter jayvis
- Start date
jayvis
Super Member
Thanks for chiming in Ron.
jayvis
Super Member
Ron, I'm assuming you meant that the gage should be AT LEAST AS LARGE as the one imprinted on your original stock cord?
Yes, I'm sure that is what Ron meant. This is not rocket science despite what some will try and make you believe. Power cords for 120VAC are basically rated by how many amps that they can safely carry. You would be shocked at what they can do on instantaneous overloads before they go up in smoke. Mac engineers are pretty smart, do you really believe that they would have left something on the table by using cheaper power cords? It's probably the least expensive component in the amp.
The cords on my MC40's look like lamp cord, they are still in good shape so I choose to leave them when they were rebuilt.
There are a lot of companies trying very hard to get you to part with your money, don't fall victim to there slick advertising.
BillWojo
The cords on my MC40's look like lamp cord, they are still in good shape so I choose to leave them when they were rebuilt.
There are a lot of companies trying very hard to get you to part with your money, don't fall victim to there slick advertising.
BillWojo
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SoCal Sam
Lunatic Member
Power cord is not in the signal path. Wall current is as noisy as it gets so the chances of RF ingress (if that is even a problem) getting past the rectifier and the main filter caps is next to zero. I trust what Mac provides with the belief that they leave nothing on the table. If you are susceptible to the psycho-acoustic aspects of audio gear and truly believe a pretty power cord makes a difference, spend yer money.
I am used to people becoming argumentative when it comes to a cable's ability to allow for performance increase in audio equipment. That's fine if you want to believe that it does not, but you will never know what MA7000 is truly capable of if you're dead set on using the stock power cable IMHO. I've said it once and I'll say it a thousand times. The performance increase that I and others experienced when using the Purist Audio Design Dominus power cable with the MA7000 was undeniable. The cable made a significant improvement over the stock power cable. Whether or not the performance increase is worth the price of admission is a whole other story. I've also gotta say that if you have one if these awesome integrated amplifiers and the means to try the Dominus power cable, I highly recommend it.
Velocityboat
Super Member
So what do you all do with the stock power cords switch them to a DVD player? And how many of you pay to have the wiring to your breaker box replaced or to the step down transformer of your grid? I bet not. You would do yourself a favor to look what they use internal to the amp then ask yourself a few common sense questions. The power company pays X dollars per foot to my house for cable. My builder paid 1/10th X dollars per foot to wire my house. Then bought the cheapest outlets and breakers he found. Then I paid 100X dollars for the 4 foot after market cable to my amp. Then the amp manufacturer spent 1/30th X dollars per foot internal to route the power internal and 1/10th x dollars per foot for the power cord. Where is the weakest link in imeasurable performance differential? But I had control over that power cable purchase so dollars equals electron magic so it must have better sound.
I can bet there is more insulation thickness than conductor gage or low conductivity metallurgy science in all these super hero power cables.
Come on man your making the Mac form look like general audio.
Velocityboat
Super Member
Just saying unless you do the whole circuit or you have long run from wall why bother.Come on man your making the Mac form look like general audio.
Let's keep it civil. For or against makes no difference to me. What does matter is that this remains civil with no personal attacks. So far, so good. Let's keep it that way. Just state your reasons why you think they are worth changing or not. Lets leave the other remarks unsaid. If you have noticed this thread has lasted much longer than most in this vein. How about we keep it that way.
Thanks.
Mike
Thanks.
Mike
McIntosh gear imo generally appeals to folks who just want to have it set up to enjoy the the musical result, minus hands-on tweaking.
Tweaks generally appeal to minamalist oriented gear switching enthusiasts outside the set-and-forget Mac demographic, there has never been that much "minimalist" about Mac design.
Tweaks generally appeal to minamalist oriented gear switching enthusiasts outside the set-and-forget Mac demographic, there has never been that much "minimalist" about Mac design.
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Ok Mike, will do sir.
@Velocityboat, I pulled three dedicated circuits to power my audio equipment. One for the McIntosh integrated amp, one for the Lampizator DAC, and the last one is shared by my pc running JRiver Media Center, VPI turntable motor, and the tv monitor. They run from the good quality breakers in the panel, to 50 ft runs of Diamond brand outdoor insulated 10/2, to the PS Audio Soloist Ci on each end. All three are isolated from any other line and from each other in schedule 80 PVC. I also use AudioPrism QuietLine devices on any other circuits that are in the listening room, as well as the receptacles that power my refrigerators above and adjacent to the listening room. Not really that elaborate compared to many high end audio systems on this planet, but nevertheless a very noticeable improvement over what was there to begin with because the power to my equipment is cleaner than before. Hey, I did what I could afford to do to supply cleaner power to my equipment in order to improve my music listening experience. Not only can I hear the improvement in my audio system's performance, I can feel it too lol. Believe it or not, the two Dominus power cables on McIntosh and Lampizator play big roles in all this. When they are not there, I can certainly tell you.
What we hear coming out of the speakers is effected in one way or another by every piece in the chain IMHO. If you're interested in good sound, why not do what you can to facilitate it? I started by doing what I could to get cleaner power, next I used what I consider to be good sounding quality audio equipment(like McIntosh, VPI, PAD cable, etc), then I addressed the listening space with properly placed acoustic treatment. Efforts rewarded with really good sound.
@Velocityboat, I pulled three dedicated circuits to power my audio equipment. One for the McIntosh integrated amp, one for the Lampizator DAC, and the last one is shared by my pc running JRiver Media Center, VPI turntable motor, and the tv monitor. They run from the good quality breakers in the panel, to 50 ft runs of Diamond brand outdoor insulated 10/2, to the PS Audio Soloist Ci on each end. All three are isolated from any other line and from each other in schedule 80 PVC. I also use AudioPrism QuietLine devices on any other circuits that are in the listening room, as well as the receptacles that power my refrigerators above and adjacent to the listening room. Not really that elaborate compared to many high end audio systems on this planet, but nevertheless a very noticeable improvement over what was there to begin with because the power to my equipment is cleaner than before. Hey, I did what I could afford to do to supply cleaner power to my equipment in order to improve my music listening experience. Not only can I hear the improvement in my audio system's performance, I can feel it too lol. Believe it or not, the two Dominus power cables on McIntosh and Lampizator play big roles in all this. When they are not there, I can certainly tell you.
What we hear coming out of the speakers is effected in one way or another by every piece in the chain IMHO. If you're interested in good sound, why not do what you can to facilitate it? I started by doing what I could to get cleaner power, next I used what I consider to be good sounding quality audio equipment(like McIntosh, VPI, PAD cable, etc), then I addressed the listening space with properly placed acoustic treatment. Efforts rewarded with really good sound.
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Velocityboat
Super Member
Yes it sounds like you have addressed all possible power circuit links minus trying to upgrade internal power paths of the equipment. Pursuit of powercord would be logical progression if you sensed differences with better dedicated long runs from breaker box. Upgrades the other way would probably be harder to judge affects the shorter the run power cables if longer runs were limiting current draw.
What type of revealing speakers do you use and do they have difficult to drive impedance loads?
The only way i have heard noticeable bass changes for me is strapping amps versus bridging. I do know power fluctuations on digital equipment can cause glitches seen first hand in stereo throwing faults when amps pulling max output andavionics issues on aircraft adressed by shortening power cable routings or improving ground power.
The aircraft power cable had real data backing it up and alternate lengths showing differences. But overall shorter cable and lower weight was best dicriminator for design change versus occasional performance glitches.
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quartersaw
Super Member
Not to mention, a lot of transformer windings to go through.....
SoCal Sam
Lunatic Member
Your experience is powerful evidence, pun intended. I can conclude power cords make no difference to sound. However, if blingy power cables to match after market interconnects and speaker wire are in the budget, I'm for that. For the record, I am for aftermarket speaker wires and interconnects as they are in the signal path AND carry signal.
damacman
Resident Psycho
Me, I'm still ISO a Jameson Current Bush . . .
