Last month I purchased four Audioquest Hurricane power cords for my
system. I put two Hurricanes on my Aesthetix Io Eclipse phono pre-amp
which has two power supplies and is a stand alone phono preamp and
two more Hurricanes on my Aesthetix Atlas Eclipse monobloc amps.
The rest of my system consists of Vandersteen Model 7 speakers, Basis
Debut Signature TT with the Super Arm 9 and Lyra Atlas cart. Other cables are AQ Everest bi-wired speaker cables and AQ Wild Blue Yonder
interconnects.
I was told by an AQ representative that break-in would probably be anywhere from 250 to 350 (or more) hours. Right now I'm at 260 hrs.
I cannot fully describe the impact that these cables have had on my
system. Every aspect of sound that one can think of has improved dramatically. I'll just use the old descriptive phase and say that a large
curtain has been lifted from the soundstage to reveal sense of reality
that I have never experienced. In some ways it is shocking.
I recently was looking at some old TAS magazines from the early 90s.
There were 10 reviews of equipment with a list of components for each
system used in one of the magazines. Out of the ten reviewers, only
one made any mention of power cords. The other nine only mentioned interconnects and speaker cables. The year was 1992.
Garth Powell has taken us to a new level reproductive sound that most
have not really experienced. I have attended one of his presentations
and would suggest that, if possible, all of you do the same. |
ctsooner's reaction to his new Hurricanes was exactly the same as mine
when I started the burn-in process of these power cords. But you should hang on ctsooner because you have a bunch of those magic moments ahead of you. I just had a major improvement in over all sound quality at
roughly 280 or so hours (I'm serious) and I suspect that is not the end of it. stsooner has 80 hours on his Hurricanes and is only just getting started. Expect more posts from him.
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Bob, When Garth Powell attended our audiophile society meeting last month he used the Thunder and Dragon-Source cables on a CD player
only as part of his demo. The Dragon was compared to a 17K power
cord and was easily judged superior. He did the same thing with the
Thunder, but I don't remember what cable it was compared to for the demo. What I do know is that The Dragon and the Thunder, which are
far apart in price, shared some basic characteristics. The soundstage
was big and images were in stark relief. Dynamics were really powerful
and yet realistic within the soundstage. There are differences between
the cables in the Storm Series, but they still share the same fundamental
qualities that make them special. That is what I took away from Garth's
demo. I had always thought that the addition of the Basis Super Arm 9
was the biggest single improvement in my system that I had ever experienced. Now, I can add to that the AQ Hurricanes. When some of my society friends came over to hear my system with the Hurricanes,
they were amazed at the improvement. They said that everything sounded so right to them. One said it was the best he had ever heard the Model 7s sound in a normal home environment. I must give the Hurricanes much of the credit.
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I have two Hurricanes on the Atlas Eclipse amps and two Hurricanes
on my Aesthetix Io Eclipse stand alone preamp. I'm pretty sure that the amp was broken in at about 290 hours. I knew the preamp would take longer because these are HC cables and the Io does not draw as mush
current as the amps. At 330 hours the preamp was starting to change and come in finally in ways that I could not believe. Everything became
more dynamic, soundstage became amazing and so forth. I cannot imagine anything else on the market being superior. Also, R. Vandersteen recommended putting Thunders on the Model 7 speakers.
Audioquest will change out the termination to fit the 7s. All this is beyond my wildest expectations.
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bultaco, The Thunder will allow the Model 7 subwoofer to become
more dynamic with more slam. Prior to talking with RV, I noticed a
bit of a roll off between the mid-range and low base. The Thunder
should remedy that. Randy Cooley (Optimal Enchantment) also
verified this. Don't forget the Storm series cables are as of now, all
high current cables which the subs will like.
Also, I had a major improvement in sound at 320 hours of break-in.
I'm positive that this was the Io preamp Hurricanes breaking in. When
I talked to Audioquest they said break-in on these cables is anywhere
from 250-350 hrs. It takes time to break these babies in, but it is totally worth it.
Changing out the terminations, as already noted, is no problem for
Audioquest. Also, the word is that Garth is working on speaker cables.
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Everyone knew about Garth and the speaker cable at our meeting.
Although he didn't exactly admit it, more like a no comment.
OK, here is the latest on my adventures with the Storm series. I have 330
hours on all four cables (two on the amps, two on both preamp power supplies. Plus, I now have the Thunders on the speakers. I believe the
Hurricanes on the Atlas amps are broken in. And the sound is much better than it has ever been. I was happy, I was is hog heaven. And then
guess what happened? Two days ago the sound started to improve. This
was affecting all aspects of my sound. I thought, what is going on here.
And then the obvious hit me. The PRE-AMP dummy. The preamp is coming in. Both cables, one for each power supply is opening up
the preamp. Suddenly the usual brightness and aggressive sound of the Mercury recordings I have basically disappeared, the soundstage was
getting bigger and deeper, transparency improved and images were
rock solid. Perhaps more important the sound was simply more musical
and easier to enjoy. Especially the Mercs. I have been trying for 40 years
to get those records to sound the way I thought they could and should sound. And now they are. The preamp, drawing much less current than
the amps took longer to realize it's potential. Now I am hearing my Atlas cart, Basis table with the Super arm and even AJ Conte's arm wire as
never before. The whole package is being delivered to the mono-bloc
Atlas amps. Now I will focus on the Thunders which I expect will deliver
the goods as well. No question, the Storm series is a separate component equal to the components in a system and part of the chain that can make or break sound quality?
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No question mark on the last sentence of my previous post. Maybe an exclamation mark!
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With the Vandy 7s the Thunder will be drawing current above and below
180 hz which is the crossover point between the mid-range driver
and the subwoofer. The sub-woofer amp boosts the frequencies below
the crossover point back to flat and rolls off the subwoofer above the
crossover point. So, as you can see, the current will be limited unless
called upon. Right now I have about 20 hrs on the Thunders. It does
seem to me that the there is greater clarity in the bass region, Above the
the crossover point the midrange will slope up while the subwoofer
slopes down. Below the crossover point the opposite takes place. Break-in will take awhile.
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Also, regarding the rumor out there about speaker cables, the prototype
of the Storm series cables was being demonstrated at a few select
dealerships two years ago. One of those I believe was Audio Connection
in New Jersey. |
The new connection that fits the Model 7 is Furutech. These should be
fine on the Quatro speaker. After all, the Model 7 enclosure design was
really the Quatro with a wider base for the subwoofer/amp used in the 7.
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ctsooner, That must have been a real ear opener. RV really enjoyed it.
It's a valuable learning experience to be around people like those you mentioned. A few years ago when I was traveling to NYC every so
often, through super record collector Carol Kessler, I was able to hook
up with Sid Marks and spent time with his listening group when ever I was in town. Those were fun times. Of course, no problem at all on the post.
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ctsooner, I used to live in SD. Bruce was my dealer for many years
at Stereo Unlimited. He is truly a fine person to work with. I now
live in Huntington Beach up the coast. My dealer is Randy Cooley
at Optimal Enchantment. Jim White used to work for Randy in Santa
Monica. Through them I have become friends with Richard. Like you,
I have learned so much from them. Seems like it is a small world.
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I don't know if you guys are awake out there, but there is news on the Audioquest new line of speaker cables called the Mythical Creatures
speaker cables. Our Audio Society meeting on the 29th of this month
will feature Richard Vandersteen and Garth Powell. Garth is scheduled
to introduce the new line of speaker cables that up to now has only been rumor. I don't know the specific agenda, but I'm hoping for a demo like
the one Garth did for us on the Storm Series power cables. Just imagine, if these speaker cables make an impact like the Storm Series the result could be really special. Stay tuned>
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I attended the Audio Society meeting at Sonny's. Garth introduced
the new line of speaker cable called Mythical Creatures. He said
that a bi-wired 6ft. run of the top of the line Dragon would cost
about 44K. The Firebird, which we heard was less (I can't remember
the price, but I think about half as much. The next one down (Which
is probably of more interest to most of us) will be 9K. That is a
bi-wired 6ft cable. The demo was impressive, but inconclusive
because of the number of people and noise etc.
Richard Vandersteen introduced his new platform base designed
for the Model 7 speaker which, made of various kinds of granite,
raises the the speaker a few inches higher off the floor. Richard
discovered that this would dramatically improve soundstage both
in width and height. Again, very hard to judge because of the conditions,
but my experience with Richard tells me that what he says is accurate.
The granite base will cost 10K.
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One thing that I failed to mention in that last post is that the granite
base for the Model 7 improves base response and is much more than just a base to raise the speaker higher. Richard told me that using
the various materials that make up the base has a very positive
effect on base performance. He explained the technical aspects of
this which were pretty much beyond my comprehension. If any of
you are interested you should call him and ask about this.
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One of my friends who has the Quatro speaker system asked Richard
about a base for those speakers. Richard was not sure if that would happen, but sort of left the door open that it could.
Another interesting thing I learned was from the Audioquest people
who were there. The regional salesman told me that the DBS system
on the Storm series requires at least 400 hours of break-in. I have the Hurricanes in my system and I can verify somewhere between 400 and 500 hrs is probably needed.
I can also report that the Storm series is everything audiophiles have said about it. The improvement in my system is amazing. I imagine
the same is true concerning the new speaker cables. The demo at
the meeting was impressive even with the distractions.
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