[Photon46]

I'm curious if any ACI owners (or Mike D. & co.) have done any experimentation with upgraded power cords or power conditioning with their powered subwoofers. My Talisman SE's powered sub sections have the standard wiring one finds on a host of consumer grade products and I've been wondering if replacing that with something better like Furutech or Cryo-Parts ACIII would reap any substantive benefits. (Also curious if this an easy thing to do. I've replaced my speaker connectors with Cardas posts in the past, but I  don't recall the particulars of wiring to the sub plate amp.) I've certainly been impressed with the improvements better power cords make on my other equipment FWIW. There have been a lot of negative remarks made about the use of power conditioning for power amps powering full range speaker applications. Anyone have any experience with power conditioning in this more limited application?

[timind]

I have used a couple of upgrade power cables with my James EMB-1000 sub. Kept hoping to hear a difference but just couldn't get it. Someone with better ears or a more hopeful disposition might hear it. aa

[jmc207]

I did hear differences with power cords when I had my Hsu Research VTF-2 a couple of years ago. Kind of wish it wasn't so, because it would make life so much easier. Anyway, in my situation, an Audioparts Audio One Ref. cord really added low-end grunt and clarity to the Hsu sub. Made it sound like a much better sub. The standard "Asylum Cord" (Belden 19634 14 ga.), was also a good bit better than the stock 18 ga. cord, but didn't dig as deep as the Audioparts. I expect the Cryo-Parts cable would do well though I haven't tried one yet.

 

[DR]

I haven't played around with replacing power cords, however I think the power coming into the house has a bigger effect. I live in Tennessee and there was a noticeable difference in sound clarity (for the better) with TVA power instead of what I had in Onalaska WI. One thing I did in WI was make sure the audio equipment was on a dedicated circuit.

[Occam]

I haven't played around with replacing power cords, however I think the power coming into the house has a bigger effect......

Empirical proof -

[NewBuyer]

Occam, that is hilarious! 

My Force XL has a captive power cord, so no experimentation possible with that - but with other subs, I have found no difference from using higher-end power cords.  Neither have I found any improvement with power conditioners upon subs - probably because the sub handles only the lower frequencies, and I would guess the onboard power transformer / caps / resistors / etc "should" easily handle any such issues.  Keep the power cords away from your speaker cables though, as a lot of junk can/does radiate from the power cords of gear.

[satfrat]

Even though I've never A/B'd this, I've always had my subwoofers plugged into my BPT balanced power conditioner and have used VenHaus power cords when able to. Even though I'm presently using an ACI Force XL with it's captive cord, I do have Z-Sleeve Ultras on both the power cord and the subwoofer cable along with a Bolder Bybee Slipstream RCA adapter at the Force's input. How can a cleaner signal and power not help a subwoofer's performance as it has with all my other loudspeakers which I do the same too.

Cheers,
Robin