Power cable upgrades?
 

I've been auditioning Transparent Premium and Reference AC power cables on my Reference 5SE and Reference 150. Quite frankly, I have a slight preference for the stock Audio Research power cords.

Has anyone else tried upgrading the power cables on their Audio Research gear? If so, what has been your experience?

I use shunyata alpha HC on both pre and power amps. I think there's an improvement over stock.

I use Shunyata Alpha NR on my Ref10 and REF160M amps. I am a big fan of Shunyata power cords and what they bring to my system. I also use Shunyata power conditioners.

I also use Shunyata Alpha HC on all my Audio Research gear. I think they are a big improvement over stock. For Ref gear I like the HC version the best. I use a Shunyata Triton power conditioner for all my front end gear.

Bobbin, what model(s) Shunyata power conditioners? And do you use for amps as well as source components?

First, its bobvin, not bobbin!

WRT your question, I use a Triton v3 on my source components, a Denali 2000t on my amps. Both are plugged into dedicated 20 amp circuits of identical length from the breaker box.

I have full Shunyata loom for power. Ztron Anaconda feeds the Triton v3, Sigma Analog feeds the Denali 2000, Ztron Pythons from Triton to Einstein phono, Alpha NR from Triton to REF10 and to Rossini. And a pair of Alpha NR from the Denali to the REF160M's. There is even a Ztron cobra to my turntable power supply. I'm thinking my phono-pre power cables are candidates for upgrades, then possibly the Anaconda.

Thanks, Bobvin. Apologize for the misspelling. I think I was victimized by spell check.

Yes, spell check is your worst enema!

The Shunyata are really nice, but I've found a couple of others that must be in that same audition:

The Audioquest Dragon or even Hurricane, the Elrod and the Enklein are top notch. I've heard the Enklein on a couple of uber high end systems and was blown away. I know they are very popular in the uber high end crowd (not saying that gear is any better than AR ;) ). they are around 12k for a couple of meters I believe. I'm loving my new Hurricane on my Ayre integrated and DAC/streamer and AQ power filter deal. Honestly, Garth Powell has surpassed what I expected.

The more Hurricanes I get in my system, the more I seem to like them and the more the loom seems to benefit sound quality. I just replaced a WEL Signature NRG with a Hurricane on my REF 6. Gorgeous sound the one night I've listened so far. They are very reasonably priced for the boost they give.

I last ran the stock REF 6 cord last year, and back then the overall system wasn't performing at the level it is now (did a couple big upgrades later on, including the cords). Still I felt the WEL NRG itself was a nice improvement over stock, and went with that for a while - I got a huge discount off the NRGs' retail by buying from a guy upgrading to Dragons.