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  #171  
Old 02-28-2019, 07:38 PM
Charles Charles is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johndoe21ro View Post
What do you mean? The new Hurricanes are a little cheaper while the new Dragon is definitely more expensive.
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The Dragon price I very recently paid for the 1 meter cord is the same as what I paid in 2018. Perhaps I got a 2019 cord since it was late in 2018 as I remember. Not sure about new Hurricane price either since it was a 9' cord so my bad but the new Hurricane is definitely blue. They all were brand new right out of the box from AQ. Also I have carefully looked at all my Dragons. Some of the connectors (source cords only) are difficult to see. But the newest HC 1 meter Dragon definitely has black connectors as do all my HC Dragons (6 in all) have black connectors. The newest Dragon is dated 2/6/2019 on box. I really appreciate the information as this is all new to me.

Last edited by Charles; 02-28-2019 at 08:42 PM.
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  #172  
Old 03-03-2019, 12:52 AM
New guy New guy is offline
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I just looked at the Dragon and firebird on AQ’s web site and it states 11AWG and 12 AWG for safety ground. The line and neutral conductors are the important wires carrying the current. The safety ground would only see only high current when there is a drastic short circuit to ground. In normal situation there is only a couple of mill amps flowing.
It’s unlikely that reducing ground wire size will have any effect on sound quality. Maybe it was done to improve flexibility.

I recently bought a few Firebird and hurricane cords and I am pretty happy with sound quality.
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  #173  
Old 03-04-2019, 10:07 AM
Charles Charles is online now
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Originally Posted by New guy View Post
I just looked at the Dragon and firebird on AQ’s web site and it states 11AWG and 12 AWG for safety ground. The line and neutral conductors are the important wires carrying the current. The safety ground would only see only high current when there is a drastic short circuit to ground. In normal situation there is only a couple of mill amps flowing.
It’s unlikely that reducing ground wire size will have any effect on sound quality. Maybe it was done to improve flexibility.

I recently bought a few Firebird and hurricane cords and I am pretty happy with sound quality.
I keep waiting for the Firebird power cord to appear on the AQ website under AC power. Under the Storm Series on the website there is no Firebird power cord described. Anyway, I don't see these minor variations/tweaks/changes as much of an issue. Thanks for the information.
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  #174  
Old 03-04-2019, 10:53 PM
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If you download the latest AQ price list from their website there a bit of information on the firebird cord.
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  #175  
Old 03-05-2019, 05:15 AM
Charles Charles is online now
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Originally Posted by New guy View Post
If you download the latest AQ price list from their website there a bit of information on the firebird cord.
Yes, I see it. I don't understand why AQ doesn't update their website. Also, I have looked up "characteristic impedance". It seems that it is a property of any transmitting cable, because there is an equation defining it. For it to be 0, the inductance of the cable would have to be 0, IMO. Inductance is an electrical property of any cable that opposes a change in the current flowing through the cable so I suppose this is what is meant by "strangulation" or "compression" of current flow through a power cord or speaker cable. AQ has found a geometry that eliminates or minimizes cable and cord inductance and claims that this improves dynamics. A couple of points: regarding speaker cables, the gauge of their new cables has definitely increased across the board because I suppose there is no longer a need for thick low gauge (e.g. 9 AWG) cables because of the improved geometry of the new cables. A lower gauge cable with lower overall impedance would probably effectively compete with a higher gauge AQ Zero cable. Second, the Zero concept may not be applicable to IC's because of negligible current flow compared to the flow through a cord or speaker cable.

This Zero impedance is a very interesting concept. AQ seems to have leap frogged other cable manufactures.

Last edited by Charles; 03-05-2019 at 05:24 AM.
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  #176  
Old 03-05-2019, 08:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by New guy View Post
I just looked at the Dragon and firebird on AQ’s web site and it states 11AWG and 12 AWG for safety ground. The line and neutral conductors are the important wires carrying the current. The safety ground would only see only high current when there is a drastic short circuit to ground. In normal situation there is only a couple of mill amps flowing.

It’s unlikely that reducing ground wire size will have any effect on sound quality. Maybe it was done to improve flexibility.



I recently bought a few Firebird and hurricane cords and I am pretty happy with sound quality.


New guy,

I’m looking to buy Niagara 7000 and 5000 along with 5 cords, 2 for the 7000/5000 and 3 for my L,C,R. I saw where you bought a combo of Firebird and Hurricane. I’m thinking same versus all Hurricane. Can you tell me where you are using your cords and why. Thanks.


Jason
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  #177  
Old 03-05-2019, 09:04 AM
kimurastanley kimurastanley is offline
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Home trial this cable now
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  #178  
Old 03-05-2019, 12:56 PM
mulveling mulveling is offline
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I think "zero characteristic impedance" simply means the + and - legs are shielded from each other. Probably nothing more fancy than that. When you do find the internal pics of their old cables vs. new (NRG power cords, Earth Feature or Tree-series speaker cables), this is the big differentiating factor. With old cables, red and black (+ and -) conductors are twisted or intertwined, with a shield around the whole structure. New cables: the red and black are segregated and individually shielded. I guess that means the current from one leg can't induce artifacts in the other, though I'm no expert.

They do use what looks to be very intricate multi-layer shielding (more layers as you move up the line for speaker/interconnect cables), which is likely a critical part of their "zero characteristic impedance" recipe.

Last edited by mulveling; 03-05-2019 at 01:00 PM.
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  #179  
Old 03-05-2019, 03:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kimurastanley View Post


Home trial this cable now


Serious looking cord!
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Preamp: McIntosh C1100T/C1100C, McIntosh MX180
Amp: McIntosh MC611 (2), MC601 (3), MI254
Digital: McIntosh D1100, McIntosh MCT450, Meridian 808v6, Aurender N20, Aurender ACS10, Oppo 203
Analog: McIntosh MT10, Hana Umami Red
Phono preamp: Simaudio Moon 610LP, 820S
Signal cables: WW Gold Eclipse 7 speaker cables; Shunyata Sigma v2 XLR (2); Sigma v1 XLR (2), Transparent Ref XL (MM2) XLR; WW Silver Eclipse 7 (4)
Digital cables: Shunyata Omega USB, Omega Ethernet, Sigma Ethernet; WW Platinum 7 Coax, AES/EBU
Switch: Innuos PhoenixNet
Power: Audioquest Niagara 7000, Audioquest 5000, Audioquest Dragon, Hurricane PC, Shunyata Alpha HC, AQ NRG Edison outlets, (8) 20 amp dedicated lines, 125 amp subpanel
Speakers: Wilson Sasha DAW, Dynaudio Contour 30, Dynaudio Contour 25C
Subs: REL s/812 (6), REL s/510 (3)
Accessories: HRS M3X2 shelf (MT10), Stillpoints Ultra II v2 w/ bases (21), Ultra SS (12), Mini (12), LPi v1
Sound treaments: Artnovion
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  #180  
Old 03-06-2019, 12:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by j3brow View Post
New guy,

I’m looking to buy Niagara 7000 and 5000 along with 5 cords, 2 for the 7000/5000 and 3 for my L,C,R. I saw where you bought a combo of Firebird and Hurricane. I’m thinking same versus all Hurricane. Can you tell me where you are using your cords and why. Thanks.


Jason
Jason,

I have a combined home theater and two channel.
Two channel:
Audio Research ref250,ref6 , cd9 and esoteric k03 - all have Firebird cords.
HT - Krell Evolution 403e monster amp and Krell S1200 processor - both have hurricane cords.

When I first installed the hurricane cord I heard a noticeable improvement over the Shunyata cords that were previously in place. When the firebird cords were installed, I didn’t notice as much improvement over the hurricane. I think hurricane is really good for the price. I thought about getting a Dragon, but I am not sure it’s worthwhile given the huge price difference.

Rich
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