[John Casler]

I know a recent review of the Ref 9's said they are sensitive to Power Cords.

I actually kind of doubted that to be a big deal.

Why, because I was running my stock cords to mine, and the sonics were as pure and exciting as I have ever heard (overall) in my system.

I had great interconnects (AudioQuest Cheetah XLR) and speaker cable (AudioQuest Volcano), so I thought I was hearing the Ref 9's at close to their best.

Well, let me assure you they can be "even better", and the improvement is definately worth the money.

Let me set the stage; I did the following:

1) Placed the Ref 9s on top of my speakers (RM30s)
2) replaced the stock Power Cord, with the AudioQuest NRG 2 (plugged straight inot the wall)
3) replaced the 1m AQ Cheetah interconnects, with 3m AQ King Cobra XLR's
4) replaced the AQ Volcano (8 foot), with AQ Rockefellers, but only 5 foot.

I plugged it in, and fired up the amps.

Played some unfamiliar Holly Cole cuts off a CD sent to me by a client, (Thanks Corbin) and thought it sounded VERY GOOD, but I wasn't familiar with this CD, so couldn't judge.

So I threw in my Reference Disc and my ears lit up.

Between the Power Cords, the Shorter Speaker Cable and the longer XLR interconnects, some kind of magic happened.

Now, I am not championing a particualr brand, (although I am going to make all my clients an incredible offer using this combo) but I would suggest all NuFORCE users try to "explore" this area.  

Even though you are hearing the best sound todate, from your system right now, I feel it can be better, or at least mine is.

If you have a NuFORCE amp right now, contact your dealer and find out what Cables he is using, and what kind of deal they are offering.

If you are a NuFORCE dealer and haven't tried this, please do so.

I have to tell you, good cords "DO" take these to an even higher level.

Now excuse me, I have to go back and listen some more.

[beachbum]

hello john, this sounds interesting, i am using 6 foot jps sc2s for speakers and audioquest jaguars, 1 meter for interconnects, with great success, but i have to ask what is a audioquest rockerfeller, mike

[John Casler]

hello john, this sounds interesting, i am using 6 foot jps sc2s for speakers and audioquest jaguars, 1 meter for interconnects, with great success, but i have to ask what is a audioquest rockerfeller, mike

Hi Mike,

It is a "speaker cable".

I am beginning to think that there are several advantages to this set up:

1) I moved the NuFORCE Ref9's closer to the speaker.  This makes for a longer line level (interconnect) run.  In my case I can use XLR cables which makes this a great thing to do if you have the NuFORCE preamp also.  And the longer run is fine, especially with XLR.

2) This then allows a "SHORTER" run of speaker cable.  This too is a good thing, and many beleive it releives the load on the amp, if certain types of cable are used.  My Rockefellers are 5' and actually could be shorter by at least a foot.  Shorter speaker wire will also reduce the overall damping seen by the amp, which "could" have a smidgen of positive effect on bass (as if the NuFORCE needs any more)

3) Then the better PowerCords (the NRG2 also has a counter spiral hyperlitz, which some beleive is self sheilding, as well as a movable graphite choke to further reduce RFI)

While I said I'm not pushing AQ, I would look for a similar EMI/RFI resisitant or sheilded type cord and you may have noticed that even the NuFORCE stock cord has a graphite choke on it too, so I would look for that, or add it.  Chokes can be found at Parts Express.

[WerTicus]

i have my nuforce amps terminals as my speaker terminals with the internal speaker wire coming out of the speaker and going directly to the amps sitting at the base of the speakers, and the amps floating on some isolation.

the interconnect run is long, but these are the 8b's so its XLR.

the power cable i have is diy from magnet wire.

apparently its best to have a shielded earth.  but i havnt done that one yet.

[John Casler]

i have my nuforce amps terminals as my speaker terminals with the internal speaker wire coming out of the speaker and going directly to the amps sitting at the base of the speakers, and the amps floating on some isolation.

the interconnect run is long, but these are the 8b's so its XLR.

the power cable i have is diy from magnet wire.

apparently its best to have a shielded earth.  but i havnt done that one yet.

Hard to beat that

Bet it sounds great.

Looks like we have had threads about what speaker to use with NuFORCE, and what PreAmp.

This might be one where we hear about what Power Cords, Speaker Cables, and IC's people are getting good results with.

I do have to make one thing clear however.

I didn't find or feel that the stock cord was "lacking" in any particular area, in fact it sounded great.

And I can't say the change was "Night and Day", but it certainly was "better" and a nice move to another slightly higher level.

[rustydoglim]

Please, whatever you do, make sure you have AC ground to the amp. Without the ground, all the noise, especially RF noise can't escape.

[WerTicus]

yes they sound great, and yes i have AN earth, just not a well shielded one


with the war audio reference ones i think i have a 'half decent' speaker too

[paul canady]

LAT International ac-2 sound better than the stock cords. Plug them right into the wall! More air, less forward sound. Although, some people like the sound to be a little forward.