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Does anyone use aftermarket power cables for your CLX speakers? I have a set of Pangea AC14’s on mine. Let me know if you are and if you hear a difference.
CLX: power cables
- Thread starter Paul172
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Using M-L cables but they are supplied by a PSAudio P300 that I repurposed after buying a P3.
I am of the opinion that small changes, if made judiciously, may not make noticeable differences in sound quality on their own but cumulatively improve the sound.
I use Shunyata Tiapan Alpha PC on my CLX. I purchased those after acquiring my first pair of CLS's that came with no PC's.
I never noticed any change with different PC's on my ML speakers. I continued to use the Shunyata's as they made me feel good when I looked at them
Clearly not much real logic, just visual enjoyment.
Try another cable to see if it matters to you. If it doesn't, you can always sell them.
I never noticed any change with different PC's on my ML speakers. I continued to use the Shunyata's as they made me feel good when I looked at them
Clearly not much real logic, just visual enjoyment.
Try another cable to see if it matters to you. If it doesn't, you can always sell them.
roberto
Well-known member
Hola,
I have bad news and good news. The bad news is the CLXs consumption is only 5 watts. Yes, only 5 Watts!!! The cable from the house electrical box, might drain more wattage than what the CLXs! or any ML electrostatic speaker could drain. This is not the case for the self powered woofers models. So, if you could explain to me the benefits for a less than 5 Watts consumption, where you could use a door bell cable, gauge 28, to power them with no problem. The good news are that any cable powering the CLXs always will sing beautiful, the cables provided by ML are a beauty too...and are heavy gauge to drive a tube preamplifier with excellent results.
The electrostatic speakers what they need is voltage for operation, not current. Voltage is quantity, Amperes is the force of that current. There are no drain current, is like a swimming pool, the water is the Voltage, and the water is static.
Happy listening!
I have bad news and good news. The bad news is the CLXs consumption is only 5 watts. Yes, only 5 Watts!!! The cable from the house electrical box, might drain more wattage than what the CLXs! or any ML electrostatic speaker could drain. This is not the case for the self powered woofers models. So, if you could explain to me the benefits for a less than 5 Watts consumption, where you could use a door bell cable, gauge 28, to power them with no problem. The good news are that any cable powering the CLXs always will sing beautiful, the cables provided by ML are a beauty too...and are heavy gauge to drive a tube preamplifier with excellent results.
The electrostatic speakers what they need is voltage for operation, not current. Voltage is quantity, Amperes is the force of that current. There are no drain current, is like a swimming pool, the water is the Voltage, and the water is static.
Happy listening!
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Hola Roberto,
Thanks for the reply I didn’t think the power cable made much of a difference on the CLX my pre owned CLX came with the throw away variety so I bought a pet of the entry level Pangea’s just for my piece of mind. The speaker cable does tho make a huge difference as I have learned recently!
amey01
Well-known member
Seriously - just do a search. There is no point re-prosecuting the same gaff.
Just remember - after you've paid mega-$$$ for your mega-GAUGE cables, the current goes through a fuse. What is the gauge of that?
Just remember - after you've paid mega-$$$ for your mega-GAUGE cables, the current goes through a fuse. What is the gauge of that?
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I guess that opens up the argument for the $160 fuse. Yikes
roberto
Well-known member
Hola Paul,
I do believe it if there is continuously draining current, but there is not. Only .5 seconds to charge the panels. A 100watts/channel drains over 400 watts once you turn it on (tube amp) and there you are draining current! All your system drains constantly current, but 5 Watts? Not even a Chinese Doctor could tell a difference (With much respect for the Chinese Drs, this is a Costa Rican saying when the job to do is very complicated).
Do this, while playing the music, disconnect the power from your CLXs, they will go on for over 30 minutes or more, and they are unplugged. It takes time to discharge the stators. The AC Mains is not involved with the quality sound from your CLXs. What is doing is to make the diaphragm to act like a magnet. The Voltage applied to the diaphragm is DC and this voltage circa 2KV.
Power cords do a difference for good. I have most of all of my power cords made by Transparent. I got a big deal, and they do a good job. My CLXs are using the ones that came with them. Here, it does not matters if you use a heavy good cable or a cheap one. To Charge the panel takes less than 1 second!!! that's all. The new cable can produce a huge difference if it is connected to devices that needs current.
Enjoy your CLXs, I just love mines.
Happy listening!
LOL, I hear there are some out there costing even more ....
it's amazing what audio fools will spend their money on !Kinda like putting expensive racing fuel into your Honda mini van.LOL, I hear there are some out there costing even more ....
Speedskater
Well-known member
Well no.
Racing fuel does have a purpose in a race car. Audiophile fuses have no special abilities.
That might just work. for a few seconds.
I once had an electrician wire a shop outlet for 220V rather than 110V.
I plugged in a router and WOW. That thing ran really fast and cut really smooth for about 5 seconds. Then I let the magic smoke out and that was that.
Fortunately, it wasn't my shop and wasn't my router.
Turns out his ASSistant had put 110 receptacles in place of all the 220 receptacles.
OOPS
Why i said kinda.
In my experience, a lot of audio satisfaction derives from an almost unconscious acceptance that the players sitting in front of you are really there. Of course, a lot of that illusion is based on expectations. If you expect that power cords make a positive difference, then they often do.
I have had positive experiences with Shunyata power cords. Yes even on my old CLS speakers. I am using a much cheaper set of Audience cords on my CLXs, mostly because I couldn’t afford anything more exotic
I have had positive experiences with Shunyata power cords. Yes even on my old CLS speakers. I am using a much cheaper set of Audience cords on my CLXs, mostly because I couldn’t afford anything more exotic
Id say its hard to control for the placebo effect. Need to have someone else come over and switch the cords on you, do a blind test.
spkrdctr
Well-known member
The illusion effect wins every time. High end audio is not really about high end audio most of the time. It is about how much money you paid for products that have voodoo unverifiable science. My biggest one is as you all know the speakers dominate your entire system. so you get a cord, any cord, power cord, interconnects HDMI whatever it is and pay big mega bucks for it. The manufacturer says in their ad that it does XYZ. If you take an oscilloscope and crank up the sensitivity high you can see a little bit of a difference. So it could be high frequency, skin effect, magnetic effect etc. but you can see it when magnified thousands of times. So you put it in your system. Then test the speaker output for any difference and you will find that the speaker is incapable of reproducing the gain of that thousandth of change. So it is impossible to hear any difference as nothing has changed with what the speaker is putting out. In effect, you are taking extremely small changes and then throwing a big wet blanket on your system with your speakers. The speaker technology is not there to do what most people think the speaker can do. Paul at PS Audio has had some discussion on this and even though he says this is true, he still sells to the high end because that is high end audio, they give you the best signal even if your speaker is not able to do it justice. But in the end, the illusion of a product being better, in REALITY makes it better for you as your brain perceives it as better. If you think it is better for you then it is. Amazing how it goes full circle to what you hear as better IS BETTER for you especially if it's super high dollar stuff. Audio is very cool and it is NOT by any means topped out with technology yet.
This is a very tricky subject.
I think that I do hear differences when I plug a good power cord into my preamp, amp, and sources. In particular, Shunyata cords give a deeper black background so that instruments and images are produced with greater clarity. I feel like the bass is more powerful and clean.
The owner of Shunyata has demonstrated some of these effects scientifically on a scope. In fact, he sells some of his power conditioners to the medical community for their imaging devices (different images than we have!).
Can the differences that I hear on my system be verified in a similar manner? I don't know. Does it matter? I find the system more enjoyable when the Shunyata cords are used. When they are removed, I sense that something is missing.
Is that just wishful thinking? The placebo effect? Really, who cares? I sense the difference and so the listening experience is more enjoyable.
There was an article a couple of years ago in The New Yorker about the placebo effect. Even if the "medicine" has no active ingredients, the patient's perception that it is real medicine makes it real medicine. People get better. There is even a scientific institute devoted to understanding how the placebo effect works.
Since so much of this hobby is in our heads, I think it is foolish to discount what actually goes on in there.
I think that I do hear differences when I plug a good power cord into my preamp, amp, and sources. In particular, Shunyata cords give a deeper black background so that instruments and images are produced with greater clarity. I feel like the bass is more powerful and clean.
The owner of Shunyata has demonstrated some of these effects scientifically on a scope. In fact, he sells some of his power conditioners to the medical community for their imaging devices (different images than we have!).
Can the differences that I hear on my system be verified in a similar manner? I don't know. Does it matter? I find the system more enjoyable when the Shunyata cords are used. When they are removed, I sense that something is missing.
Is that just wishful thinking? The placebo effect? Really, who cares? I sense the difference and so the listening experience is more enjoyable.
There was an article a couple of years ago in The New Yorker about the placebo effect. Even if the "medicine" has no active ingredients, the patient's perception that it is real medicine makes it real medicine. People get better. There is even a scientific institute devoted to understanding how the placebo effect works.
Since so much of this hobby is in our heads, I think it is foolish to discount what actually goes on in there.
Whether it's "real" or just your "perception", if it makes you happy and doesn't bankrupt you (or result in your family being deprived), go for it. I played with various interconnect cables for years and eventually discovered that a cable I had not liked at one time I liked at another. Maybe my hearing changes day to day ? Of course I have NOT gone overboard with this. The most expensive were the highest priced Monsters sold locally at $99/pair (back then). However, I also found that between some devices, the cheapest cables sounded best ($1.99/pair). I never got into power cables, as half my devices have fixed connectors. Same for filtered power supplies. Now that I'm 78, and have relatively good hearing (up to 10kHz anyway) I find that I can accustom myself to enjoying a half-decent desktop stereo just as easily as listening to my M-Ls. I'm STILL on the fence as far as MP3s go: yes they sound pretty good (I record at 192Kbps), but I feel I may be missing something that might have had more detail in a WAV file ;-)
Attachments
While I believe that any format is acceptable if it makes you happy, with regard to MP3 myself and others agree that MP320 is pretty much comparable in sound quality to Red Book 16-44.
amey01
Well-known member
Some of my most profound listening experiences (closest connection with the music) have been on *NOT* decent systems.
If I'm in the mood, I can connect with anything. That is important to remember.
But yes - it is certainly easier to connect with a decent system.
