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Average Rating: 5 out of 5
No. of Reviews: 1
RRP: £25
Year: 2006 Description: Budget power cord £25 for 1.5m
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 | | Posted: 27/07/06
Updated: 25/09/06 |
| 'Power cords DO make a difference - even on a £300 system!' | | Strengths:
So cheap
Huge improvement in clarity and presentation
Hifi and video both improved
Made my superbudget system sound twice the price
| | Weaknesses:
You must be joking! | | Overall:
I recently tested two Halo cables from Krystal Kables on my budget system. As Krystal suggested, I wired one to the amp and one to the
supply to all the components.
Astonishing!
Changing the amp cable made an immediate palpable difference, adding 10% to the sound quality. The most obvious gain is in clarity: where a timpani roll was a blur, now one can hear the individual drum taps.
There are other gains. Percussion is particularly improved, kick drums and cymbals coming through clearly. If two instruments are playing the same notes, now one hears two separate sounds instead of a blurred one; in choral singing individual voices show through. Tonal nuances that were masked before now appear; bass is livelier and more agile. Presence is enhanced: suddenly the players
sound as if they were in the room with us.
The dynamic range on some CDs was previously extreme to the point of being irritating; now it is moderated: loud is loud but not oppressive. Old recordings come up fresh; new ones are transformed.
The Halo to the general supply made another 5% improvement. While I was wiring it in my wife came in from shopping, and said ‘that’s a much
better sound’. So, leaving the amp Halo in place, I made her do a blind listen to the general cable: within 15 seconds of switching from the Halo cable back to the original she said ‘that’s the old one’.
The general power cord also supplies DVD player and digibox. DVDs now have better colour balance as well as improved sound, while off-air
Freeview pictures are clearer and brighter, with sharper edges: even old black & white movies have greater contrast and more immediacy. Blurring is ironed out, and everything is more involving. Even subtitles are
easier to read!
Radio through Freeview is clearer, with music showing the same improvements as CDs. There is a special improvement to speech, with huge
gains in clarity: sports commentary comes out clearly from the miasma of crowd noise, and speech stands out from background music.
I reckon that making these improvements by upgrading hifi components would have cost me at least £300, so fifty quid for two Halo cables is a bargain.
I’ve proved the case for myself: replacement power cords really can transform a budget system: I paid £100 each for CD player, amp and
speakers, but the setup now sounds like twice that.
Kit list:
Pioneer CDR-509 CD recorder
Marantz PM4200 amplifier
Eltax Liberty 5 floorstanders (biwired)
Philips DVDR-70 DVD recorder
Philips 24PW6407 TV
Digifusion FVRT200 PVR (wired through the hifi)
Profigold 5m Scart lead
Cambridge Pacific interconnects
QED Original MkII Biwire speaker cable
Krystal Kables Halo power cords
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| | | Performance | | 100% | | Build | | 100% | | Value | | 100% |
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