A Surprise Result

[prepress]

I ordered a WW Stratus power cord (from Masterlu) to install on my Pioneer 111FD plasma. A simple replacing of the stock cord, nothing special.

But yesterday, I noticed a change in the sound. Suddenly I'm more aware of transients, and sound is a bit cleaner (especially with well-recorded programming, even commercials). I admit I wasn't expecting this, and will pay attention over time to see if this trend continues. But it's a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. Has anyone else had a similar result doing the same thing? I'm beginning to believe the hype.

[Masterlu]

Charles... I'm glad to hear you are happily surprised.

[bradleyc]

Originally Posted by prepress

I ordered a WW Stratus power cord (from Masterlu) to install on my Pioneer 111FD plasma. A simple replacing of the stock cord, nothing special.

But yesterday, I noticed a change in the sound. Suddenly I'm more aware of transients, and sound is a bit cleaner (especially with well-recorded programming, even commericals). I admit I wasn't expecting this, and will pay attention over time to see if this trend continues. But it's a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. Has anyone else had a similar result doing the same thing? I'm beginning to believe the hype.

It's always good to hear about a pleasant surprise, have you noticed any changes in picture quality?

[cougit25]

I experienced the same thing when I switched to WireWorld Silver Electra Power Cords for my two MC402 amps. I now believe the hype thanks to Ivan and WW.

[prepress]

Originally Posted by bradleyc

It's always good to hear about a pleasant surprise, have you noticed any changes in picture quality?

Not particularly, not yet. But I didn't see anything wrong with the picture last night, for sure.

There are some frequently-played commercials that I'm familiar with, such as one for Acura of Manhattan, which made it easier to notice a difference. The woman in the commercial had a more detailed sound to her voice, and I heard what could have been decay as syllables here and there trailed off. And this is regular listening, as opposed to "background" or "critical" listening. If anyone's familiar with the Kuro plasmas, they have good sound for flat panels (TAD engineers were involved with the sound systems on the Elites, as I recall).

I will keep eyes and ears tuned in the coming days to see if anything changes. Another thought I had was whether the Stratus will affect the hum I get through the TV's speakers, which is due to a grounding issue with the cable system. I'll try that, too. It's not distracting, but is just audible from the viewing position 10 ft. away. And audible only whenever the cable box input is selected on my Duo VP.

[chessman]

prepress, I am not surprised at all. I found my WW Silver Eclipse 6's made a noticeable improvement. While I only play an engineer on TV, I think that the PC design is filtering out RF and/or EMI. Tell us more when they break in a bit (like whether a small, but perceptible improvement in dynamics occurs).

[howiebrou]

If only we could replace the auditory nerves in our ears with Wireworld!

[prepress]

Originally Posted by cougit25

I experienced the same thing when I switched to WireWorld Silver Electra Power Cords for my two MC402 amps. I now believe the hype thanks to Ivan and WW.

What did you switch from?

[prepress]

Second night of TV watching, and I again am aware of the change in sound. It is cleaner and clearer. I'm noticing this mostly with voices. The next step would be to try a familiar video and see what happens. I have both a BD and an LD player connected to the TV directly (well, through my Duo VP, as are all my video connections).

It occurs to me that the improvement on the TV is more dramatic than that when I replaced the stock cords on my 501s with WW Auroras. That was much more subtle.

[prepress]

While time will tell, there appears to be another benefit to the Stratus.

Because there's a cable box in the mix I've had the infamous 60Hz-hum issue, which through some ground-lifting I'd confined to the TV speakers and only when the cable box input on my VP was chosen; this was a noticeable but not disruptive hum. Because the Viewsonic and ISO-Max filters I tried removed channels along with the hum, I put things back the way they were this AM. Then, I noticed I didn't hear the 60Hz hum, not even with my ear up to the TV speakers. In the back of my mind I had wondered if the Stratus' construction would be a help on this issue and, for the moment at least, it is. We'll see if this continues.

Meantime, my 111FD's sound seems to be smoothing out a bit. The transients, details and such are still there but not as pronounced, more subtle.