Better Electronics or New Cables???

Trel, thanks for the well-wishing. It was a dealer that said those words, not the manufacturer, that I know of. I don't necessarily think my opinions about this cord will carry much weight. One thing I will say right now, is that this cord is likely the most STIFF cord you'll ever come across. I think it must use 3 solid core 8 gauge copper conductors...I'm casually listening to it quietly right now (before I turn the computer off), and it doesn't seem to be doing anything overtly wrong. It might be a tad bright, but of course it isn't burned in yet. I need to plug something powerful into it for a while, perhaps...like my Stihl leaf blower, maybe. The cord would probably suspend that thing in the air, and hold against the Mach 3 nozzle velocity.....happy listening!!!

I always thought that NBS cords and cables were the stiffest. My Z-zystems A/D converter cannot stand properly on its four feet with the NBS digital cable plugged into it--it "does a wheely" without some type of weight on top of it And an NBS power cable once knocked my Stax earspeaker driver unit out of my rack. With every power cord I have ever tried, I have always noticed an improvement in three areas: 1.) dynamics, 2.) instrument localization, 3.) sound stage width--with or without changes in equalization and S/N ratio (depending on the cable). With regard to the the FIM, Carl, I would like to know if it improves anything more than the first three listed. Regarding this thread topic: better electronic or new cables? one needs to be careful: wanting too much to tweek ones system, one easily embalms it. The effect of many substandard power line conditioners, and bad cable choices is to "mummify" the sound.

Hi Slawney, I really dig your undertaker/mummy analogy. Maybe that explains why some of these cats are so deadpan serious, haha. Thanks man!

Rockvirgo, take the analogy one step further: I have known certain "monster" cables to make a system sound so "dead" that it would take an audiophile Dr. Frankenstein to reawaken the system to life again. To get back to the forum theme, I think it has been said that $1,000 cannot buy you very much these days: maybe a power cord like the FIM gold or a Shunyata--otherwise all that you can buy is a bunch of Black Diamond accessories. I would not think that even a $1,000 RCA or XLR cable would be much of an improvement in a seriously high end system. But certain "giant killer" cables like the Coincident IC cable have proven me wrong at US $299. Bottom line: Rockvirgo, if your existing cables are just the strip wire that you got with the products, then buy three sets of Coincident IC cables: put one between your turntable and your phono stage, the second between your phono stage and preamp and the third between your preamp and your power amps. That will be the best upgrade possible, I think, for $1,000. You will even have $103 left over for a few MFSL records.

Slawney is right. Coincident PCs IMO is the best value I have heard. It is not in the FIM or king cobra league. But for under $300 it holds its own against PCs costing much more. I liked it better than black mamba. Good luck Rockvirgo.