Congratulations! Where do you plan on using it?
Thank you …
For my new powersupply,.for my DAC in my headphone-system.
Burson’s new Fusion Core,.in the picture below just temporarily placed on an inferior regular shelf…
BUT,.standing on four Stack Audio’s AUVA EQ’s…recommended.
May I ask for some guidance here please? Which Furutech combos for a power chord for each of NDX2 and SN3 is recommended? I’m thinking gold or copper connects which, as I understand it, should provide a smoother (as opposed to clearer, harder) sound? I appreciate there is a significant price range, so perhaps some options at the under GBP300 range then under the GBP700-800 range? Would be US type connections for Asia use. Thanks in advance.
Furutech FI-C15 Gold - £63
Furutech FI-11M Gold - £97
Furutech FP-Alpha 3 Mains Cable - £168
Total = £328
Or you could just buy one of their pre-made leads such as the Roxy for c.£390.
Personally I would not spend any more than that and forget about the £7-800 option.
I don’t have direct experience with this but my concern would be that combo would end up being significantly coloured/warm sounding & lacking transparency (bass more bloated & less linear), which probably isn’t ideal unless you have a very cold/harsh sounding system. From what I’ve read the Alpha 3 is warmer sounding then the S series, so wouldn’t typically be paired with gold connectors.
I would probably look more towards the Alpha 3 cable, which is on the warm side & balance it out with Rhodium plated ends to still have some transparency/less coloured sound. I know some posters on here have more experience with these ranges & will hopefully chime in.
Rhodium the way to go. Furutech not easy to run in though … took mine 300 over hours to have them kind of settle down in my system … the 300 over hours quite an ordeal . But all good now
I was basing this on his budget and desire to use gold. Ultimately, I would use silver or copper and save even more money than going with Rhodium connectors which are much more expensive.
Having said that…I did just notice there is now a FI-C15 Slimline, which is Rhodium and NCF plated for £86, which feels like a lot better value. You could get the Furutech FI-11M Rhodium for £110 and so with the Alpha 3 that would be £364 in total, which would be a good a cable for the money
That looks like it could be a good combo, depending on what you’re trying to achieve (but should be fairly well balanced).
Looks like the FI-C15 uses pure copper for the base metal, which is a good thing. If you go Rhodium, make sure the base metal is pure copper & not a mix like phosphor bronze. Rhodium is more revealing & phosphor bronze is not a good sounding base metal, so it’s more critical to have a good base metal when rhodium plated. The IEC end is more difficult to manufacture with pure copper, so some of the older gen IEC ends will still use phosphor bronze vs some of the lower model ranges that were designed more recently. One of the reasons people wrongly say “rhodium sounds harsh”, is due to poor base metal, like phosphor bronze.
Thanks all this is really helpful. Part of the reason for selecting gold is because I currently have gold connectors and didn’t want to change the sound too much.
Thant’s completely understandable, but just remember its the complete combo of both the wire & the connector that dictates what the cable will sound like. Like different metal plating & different base metals, different wire also sounds different as well. Its all relative to what you currently have but when you pair a warm sounding wire with Rhodium ends you could still potentially end up with a warmer sounding cable then you currently have that’s also more transparent.
At one point I was a combo of all gold & unplated metals with all power cords & outlets. I have since basically swapped to all Rhodium & on top of the transparency being significantly better, its also smoother & far more refined then before (& at the same time being more musical & better for listening to poor recordings). Granted this is with a lot of Furutechs top of the line pieces but it shows that outcomes are not always what one would expect.
I’m no longer a fan of gold connectors, they colour the sound too much. If I want a warm sounding cable, I’d much rather pair Rhodium ends with warm sounding wire. This way you don’t loose as much transparency vs with the gold ends. Everyone has different goals & there is no one size fits all but my thought is if you need a cable that has both gold ends & a rather warm sounding wire, there are probably other things in your system you should be correcting.
Thanks Daren, this has made me look at the specs of the current power cable in more detail. I’m trying to make sense of this:
-Phosphor Bronze ( 92% Copper 8% Zinc and Phosphorus )
-24K Gold Plated 3μ Conductor Power Cable
- Maximum Voltage rating: 15A
- 3 X 6 mm² OFC 99.99% Power Cable
- Braided tinned copper wires, minimising distortion and preventing the ingress of EMI/RFI (with drain wire)
- Consisting of a braided copper braid preventing any EMI / RFI interference.
- High Quality 3% Solder Silver ( Cardas Audio : Quad Eutectic Silver : USA )
For US connectors I’d want a Powerline with Furutech FI-11 rhodium for the AC plug. The Powerline is too good for Naim to discard IMO
I may first try Furutech connectors on my existing cable. I like what the higher gauge is doing on the SN3.
Oh wow!! I’m so tempted to try this. Million $ question, how does it sound? Was it easy? It doesn’t look too difficult.
@marcusman the run in was quite an ordeal . Irritating to be exact because it keeps changing its character. Takes quite some time to let them settle down and synched with the systems… At first 20-30 hours it sounds good but thereafter , my god, it’s quite torturing untill I reached about 300 hours .
There’s a time I kept questioning ,which I did post , on why suddenly my system sound lean , and I kept tweaking and interchanging my cables. But after that 300 hours or so , the sound came back , no longer lean . Quite a ride I would say. I almost want to give it up and get 2 more tyr 2 but all are good now . It sings !!!
You need patient when comes to furutech .
Until I replace them with Valhalla 2, these 2 cables are gonna stay in my system .
I just looked up the price for Valhalla2. Yikes… Guess your hybrid Powerlines will be with you for awhile.