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The Power 1SE: The cable has a hefty feel. Internally it sports OFC copper wiring, two 12 gauge cable conductors and a 12 gauge ground. It is also shielded with spiral-wrapped Aluminum Mylar tape and a tinned copper drain wire. Outwardly, the Techflex braided jacket is a noticeable cosmetic upgrade. The most important change is the upgrading of the terminations with high-quality Furutech FI-28R connectors. The Power 1SE cable replaced the stock cable on my Bel Canto amplifier. I reasoned that if there was going to be any improvement, it would be where power requirements were highest. Again, the manufacturer recommends a minimum of 100 to 150 hours to break in the cable. The break in was relatively painless and although improvements occurred over time, the basic character was evident immediately. Many readers may be skeptical about the advantages of after-market power cables. For those people especially, the next few lines may prove of interest.

My engineering staff might tolerate the concept of audio cables making a difference. However, the notion of a power cable making an audible change would certainly raise eyebrows and the notion of a Special Edition power cable would appear to them electrical heresy. They make a detailed case about the limits of fuses (or breakers), house wiring etc. as a very convincing litany of reasons why a power cable couldn’t possibly have any effect whatsoever.

 

Many would agree. As open-minded skeptic, let me offer a counter argument. If it really were possible for a power cable to audibly improve things, how could I rationally explain it? I present this as a simplistic viable argument, not absolute fact. The sound quality of your hifi electronics is dependant on the quality and reaction capability of the power supply. That power supply needs to be replenished as instantaneously as possible.

That energy is delivered to the component by way of a power cable. Whether power or audio, all signals are electrical. Any cable must act as a transparent conduit. Poor quality wiring will constitute a poor conductor. The better the conductor, the less loss of signal there is. Power chords also require connectors and the quality of materials and design of that connector will determine the level of success you have in rejoining what is essentially a break in the signal path. Any connection will have resistance and that resistance will increase over time. Materials with better conductivity and connectors with less mechanical loss will minimize that.


To borrow from computer terminology, if you aren’t using a good power chord, you are creating a bottleneck. The power supply will be starved or on a more subtle level, slower to react to the demands of the audio signal it is trying to reproduce. How might this manifest in audible terms? As dynamic constriction, an increase in noise floor, a slurring of transients and detail, timing errors and a loss of amplitude at whatever frequency taxes the power supply the most.

All of the above made for a reasonable theory. But at the end of the day it begged the question - did the Audio Art Power 1-SE cable actually make a difference? I would prefer to tell you that it did not or that the effects were minimal. Alas the theory proved far too accurate in practice and the audible effects indicated power supply starvation on a level I had not imagined. The midrange exploded with authority and detail. Leading-edge textures were made clear. Dynamics gained in both power and ease. There was a richness of information blossoming as the system discovered new-found detail and a more accurate presentation on spatial information, ambience recovery and hall acoustic cues. There was not one parameter left untouched. The system became less overt, more incidental and cohesive without losing any of its previous strengths. Consider me a convert here. These results indicate the need for a radical rethink of finance allotment for cable purchases. Consider the power cable a major power supply upgrade or modification. The benefits are that great.