JC 1 and Magnepan 20.1

[Jesse111]

Jesse,

First time poster here... About your stand on cables, I started building a sound system about 2 years ago and didn't expect very much of a difference between interconnect cables, speaker cables, or power cords. The differences between cables that I have found has been quite surprising. At the beginning,I was very skeptical and did a lot of swaps and dedicated listening sessions. I don't understand how they change the sound, but they do it. Power cords have turned out to make the most difference. A 'warm' cable turns out to be Audioquest NRG5 and a 'precise' cable turns out to be the Shunyata line. Recently, I finally got hold of a Shunyata Anaconda Helix Alpha on Audiogon and swaped it for my previous Taipan Helix Alpha between the wall and PLC. Good Lord! It opened things up from front to back quite well. The spaciousness makes you feel that 'you aren't there,' but 'they are here.' I'm running Maggie 3.6s, Bryston 10B, with an Anthem D2 and dual Anthem P2s. I believe I was extremely skeptical before this whole building process. If a salesman tried to convince me that a power cord would impove the sound, I would try to nod politely as I looked for the door. I now have bitten the bullet and have settled with Goertz AG3 speaker cables and a mix of various Shunyata and Audioquest power cords. It seems that you get what you pay for. Again, before this, I would have been the first to say this was all hogwash, but...

About this tread, it is indeed very interesting. Maggies do need extra help with the lower range and the coupling with a dynamic speaker sound like a good idea. Best of luck.

Hello Borg and welcome. I just saw your post today. I've been away for some time. Anyway, while you certainly do sound like a very reasonable person and have a convincing tone in your post, I sit stubbornly firm in the skeptic side of this issue. However, I will admit that I have never truly sat down for an extended period of time and investigating any differences that might be attained by cables and power cords. If I stretch my imagination far enough, I might concede that some very slight differences between speaker cables may be possible. But I must admit that power cords would be an impossible sell for me.

It just stands to reason (in my mind) that no matter the quality of materials used, without some sort of filter or electonics of some kind, a power cord of a few feet just can not effect the sound quality. Furthermore, do AC conditioners even help? I have 5 grand invested in Equitech balanced power gear and I can't really say it does anything. If I had some ground issues or ground loop issues the Equitech gear would resolve those problems completely. But does it truly improve the sound quality? I really can't say difinitively. But I like my system better just knowing it's there. Has there ever been a measured study on the quality of the anolog signal from the speakers being changed by the AC power going in to electronic gear? I've never seen anything. But that doesn't prove it doesn't but it's a good question anyway. And then when I think of the idea of a passive power cord actually changing the sound you hear from the speakers is just to far of a reach for me. But then again, I've never tried it so my opinion is not based on any first hand experience at all.

However, I will admit that it sounds like a lot of fun playing around with that stuff and I bet it looks really cool. Kinda like my biwire configuration. I can not hear any difference between biwire and non biwire. But it looks cool and I like it. Therefore I like my system better when i know it's biwired. I readily and proudly admit I can not hear any difference but I do it 'cause I want to. It's my hobby and I want my system biwired. And that's what it's all about. :T

Perhaps one day someone will offer me some high end cables and/or cords to try out. I wouldn't object to a "no obligation" audition. At least my mind is open enough to try. It's just not open enough to pursue actually doing anything unless it kinda just falls in my lap.

[Peter Nielsen]

I might concede that some very slight differences between speaker cables may be possible.

The two factors that matter is the LENGTH of the run, and the QUALITY of the contact points. (Wire/connector, and connector/terminal resistance).

For short runs, the speaker cable makes little or no difference. When doing longer runs speaker cable may make a difference. For this very reason, I suggest placing the amp as close to the speaker as possible. (Long runs of balanced XLR is not an issue).

But I must admit that power cords would be an impossible sell for me.

Agreed. As long as the cord is functional (good contact), and of proper gauge, it should make no difference. Upgrading the $0.99 standard wall outlets with a $6 hospital grade outlet from Lowe's is probably worth more than any expensive power cord upgrade...

Furthermore, do AC conditioners even help?

Yes, a power regenerator does good things that can't be done with transformers (Equitech, etc).

How much it helps, depends on what equipment you have. Most notably it reduces the noise level of the power amplifier. With high efficient horn speakers and JC-1, this may help. You may notice reduced hiss, etc. With Maggies, it won't make a difference because the Maggies are so inefficient that they won't reproduce the low level hiss that the JC-1s emit...

I have 5 grand invested in Equitech balanced power gear and I can't really say it does anything.

It protects you from many evil types of power surges.

If I had some ground issues or ground loop issues the Equitech gear would resolve those problems completely.

That's what balanced power is all about. No AC regenerator will do this.

But does it truly improve the sound quality?

Depending on what gear you have, it can improve things.

With highly efficient speakers you can actually HEAR when the weekend starts and the factories are shutting down. Back in the 80's I was using a Technics SE-A100 and a pair of very efficient Technics SB-M1. Every Friday night around 6pm I could hear the sound getting "cleaner" with less background noise.

Since the Maggies are so inefficient, they won't reproduce the low background noise of high-end amps. This makes a regenerator less useful. Why would you need to remove noise that the speakers can't reproduce?
Then again, switch to a pair of highly efficient Acappellas, and you probably could not live without an AC regenerator...

Peter

[Jesse111]

Great comments Peter. Clearly stated and appeals to my common sense.

This is off subject but I need the advice of some of you educated fellas like you and Rebelman.

Right now I'm using the Magnepan supplied 1 ohm non-inductive resister on my 20.1's which Mag says reduces the highs by 2 db. If I wanted to experiment a bit and reduce the highs by just 1 db, what ohm resistance should I use? And would radio shack have whatever it is I would need?

Thanks.

Hey Chris D. I promise not to carry this subject any further. I know its not a parasound focused subject but if you might just let me sneak this question in I'd appreciate it. I trust these guys when it comes to electronic advice.

Thanks in advance if that is ok.

[Peter Nielsen]

Right now I'm using the Magnepan supplied 1 ohm non-inductive resister on my 20.1's which Mag says reduces the highs by 2 db. If I wanted to experiment a bit and reduce the highs by just 1 db, what ohm resistance should I use?

0.5 ohms => Connect two 1 ohm in parallell. (Two 1 ohm in parallell gives 0.5 ohm. Two 1 ohm in series gives 2 ohms).

When the resistance is halved, you only need half the power, so a 0.5ohms/5W resistor is enough. (The ones Maggie ships are 1.2 ohms/10W).

It is very important that the resistors are non-inductive. You probably won't find them at Radio-Shack. What you could do, is connect ten 0.5W, 5.6 ohm resistors in parallell. This will give you 0.56ohms/5W. Half-watt resistors are almost always non-inductive film resistors, and Radio Shack should have these...

Of course you could use the two Maggie resistors and experiment on one speaker only...

Peter

[Jesse111]

Perfectly clear explanation. I may start calling you Peter the Great. :T

[Chris D]

No worries, Jesse--this thread is all about JC-1's and Maggie 20.1's, and we're still mentioning the JC1 periodically.