Furutech Discussion

Ja, these are the main reasons why I decided to get it.

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Just to an asside - I follow a you tube channel (clue GR) and they have experimented with all their power chords … and have tried cryo treating them … they recon the results are very very good. This is a non bullshit … channel, I have great repect for Danny - has anyone here tried it?

Mainly AV options in the US.

They do cables and entire amps AFAIU.

It appears to be the rhodium coating that takes ages to burn in (Furutech uses thick coatings of its plating materials), anything gold plated should be much quicker. Think most members here leave their kit powered on 24/7, so these burn in hours don’t have to be actual listening hours. With rhodium, 2-3 weeks of being powered on should give you a very good idea of what they’ll sound like. With gold I would think less then a week. If the cable in question is only feeding a piece that’s very low current draw, I would guess more time would be required. As mentioned, if you don’t want to live with the ups & downs, plug it into a high current draw device for 2-3 weeks first.

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I have 4 AV Options TibiaPlus - PowerCon* AC cable with AVO Deep-Cryo, I think they are good, solidly built with deep cryo treatment, but I have found something else, which I think is better.

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A few years ago, I ordered a posh Furutech cable, UK wall plug, and IEC for my 150X.

It sounded rough from the outset, and I could never imagine it sounding okay, so I sent it back.

I just don’t think Furutech cables work at all with Naim gear.

They could never be better than a Naim power-line on Naim kit.

I think the Furutech socket and plug I have works well with the Grahams Hydra because that’s an aftermarket cable anyway.

Same here sean86! Their offerings are really good. I’m just in the “what can be better” phase. I’m lucky to have such a strong base to start with.

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I’m only considering Furutech because it’s what Naim chose for their EU Powerline but that introduces rhodium pins and that leads rhodium sockets and more Furutech. Might as well start with the wall socket and the plug for my block’s captive lead. There are two Furutech Schuko wall sockets available, an NCF one and a cooking version for half the price, the NCF plug is about twice the price of the NCF socket so that can wait but one might appear if all goes well.
As a first stab I’ve bought the E38R plug that Naim chose but the NCF socket. Fitted them today. I should have bought a new and deeper boite d’encastrement (backing box) too in retrospect as taming the solid core wires would have been a lot easier with a bit more room.
First disc (Countdown to Ecstasy) sounds a bit thin but timing’s OK, by the the end of the second (Friedrich Gulda - Beethoven) the piano sound is already filling out, bring on the rollercoaster.

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Keep us posted, sounds like a sensible way to start out. If the signatures carry across from the NA style plugs to the other versions, the non NCF is likely to sound brighter & thinner then the NCF, while the NCF should also have a darker background/less noise. If there was no burn in done on the pieces, I wouldn’t put any thought into how it sounds as it will likely swing massively up to ~400hrs.

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The second cord I built uses S022N with a FI-15+ G IEC (to see if I like gold on one end) & the FI-50 NCF R male end. I thought I would install it on my streamer to help run it in with the plan of adding it to my DAC. I ran on the streamer for 2 weeks, then plugged it into the DAC with high hopes. First evening unfortunately was not at all impressed with what I was hearing, had lots of warmth but a strange harshness at the same time, less bass but at the same time more bloated. If things were previously in focus, now things seemed out of focus. Second & third night still not great but possibly improving. Not sure if because the streamer doesn’t draw much that the cord actually still needs more break in. It’s enough of a downgrade that I want to swap back to the old cord but will give it time to see. Do plan to swap the old cord in at some point just to confirm the findings/confirm not just getting use to the sound, etc. The new combo does seem to add some nice warmth to the vocals & things do seem a bit more in focus, with each night.

I do know the S022N is a warmer bulk cable then the Neotech 3200 I was using (which before the DPS 4.1 was considered some of the best bulk cable around). This was paired with 15+ & 11 G ends. Currently I’m thinking having the gold IEC end on the S022N might be part of the issue, so I do plan on trying it with the FI-50 NCF end. I have also just built up a S55N cable with FI-50 NCF on both ends. I figured the S55N should be a better match for me vs the S022N but thought I would give both a try. I can say with the S022N cord plugged into my streamer (FI-50 NCF male, plugged into free GTX-D NCF wall outlet), I was having some of the best performance I’ve had to date, so I might have found a good match to my streamer but would need to go back & find out.

As an FIY here, DPS-4.1 ~$650M, Neotech 3200 ~$365M, S55N ~$250M, S022N ~$80M

Question on the e-TP609. Looking at the specs it says:

Outlets: GTX-D NCF(R) x3
So are the other 3 outlets non-rhodium-plated? Just curious.
My assumption is to plug my source(s) in the 3 best outlets.

Interesting that the S022N gave different results on the streamer and the dac. Maybe it is the G IEC (gold) is the problem and the FI-50 NCF brings an improvement. I have heard that gold and rhodium do not always go well together and that it is better to choose one or the other. In itself, the S022N should be sufficient for sources/dac, the S55N would then be more of a solution for amplifiers/power amplifiers. Audionirvana.cz (Furutech dealer) also has a list of recommended combinations on their website - perhaps you already know them.

3x NCF outlets, with 2 plugs ea, giving you 6 outlets total.

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lol
I’ve only had 2 beers I swear

Hard to say, it may have just been a fluke the kit was sounding so good with the cord on the streamer, for all I know changing cords on just the streamer may not have much audible difference. Still have to do a bunch of different comparisons to see exactly what’s going on as there are numerous variables. For eg when I had the S022N cord on the streamer I had it plugged into the spare outlet on my GTX-D NCF wall plug instead of the cryo Hubbell its normally plugged into on my power bar (didn’t want the Hubbell to scratch the FI-50 NCF male plug). When I swapped the S022N cord to the DAC I then put in my previous Neotech 3001 (15+ IEC & 11 gold ends) back on the streamer & plugged it back into the cyro Hubbell. Maybe this had an impact on performance?

Can’t really make too many comparisons until I know for sure all cords are run in. I do know what previously sounded excellent, so have a reference to go back to. I’m aware about mixing metals but thats more so in regards to mating connectors. So male end plating should match outlet plating, but you can have a different plating on the other IEC end of the cord (which again, ideally would match the IEC on the kit but for most this isn’t typically feasible).

I have heard a number of people say there is sonic differences between the different gauges of the AN series. Otherwise yes, I’d typically think the S55N would be overkill for a source component, but numerous have said it works very well on sources, so thought it was worth a try. My Neotech 3200 is actually 9awg & it works outstanding on the DAC. The Neotech 3001 that is on my streamer & phono is also 10awg I believe.

Edit: I guess people might wonder why I would swap cords on my DAC if I think my previous 3200 is outstanding…well, curiosity. With the 3200 I had cheaper ends, with excellent wire. Ends have a big impact on sounds & with what I’ve heard with the other NCF items, I wanted to try these plugs on my DAC & phono. Problem is the 3200 is said to be more analytical, so I don’t think the FI-50’s NCF’s would be a good match. And wasn’t sure if the gold ends were holding the cable back, so that’s where the curiosity came from.

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It is a little confusing at first sight. The TP 609E has 6 Schuko outlets (FI-E30 NCF(R) with one slot each, the TP 609 3 Nema GTX-D NCF(R) with 2 slots each…

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Thanks Wilfried. It is a little confusing as Furutech has a vast catalog and the website isn’t designed for an end-user consumer IMHO

Are you planning to replace Naim Powerlines with Furutech power cords?

Graham’s Hydra uses standard Naim cables.

Nah!! It took me well over a year to find 2nd hand powerlines and I like them. I want to try the wall outlet and Power Distribution (e-TP609) before I do anything else. If Chord would have had their power dist product available in North America I probably would have tried their offerings.

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