it’s not
I once tried DNM solid core speaker cable but ultimately I couldn’t get on with it. It sounded very fast and immediate but somehow it produced a sort of threadbare and mechanical sound. Changing back to a normal stranded cable was a relief, producing a far more organic and natural type of presentation.
I used 1.5 sqmm solid core for years between a Sansui AU217 and mission 700s, the latter had modified crossovers and musical coherence wasn’t lacking for this entry level kit. I only replaced it with NACA5 when I bought a Nait5, the Nait disappointed and didn’t last long but the A5 stayed with my subsequent Rega and later Naim separates.
I started the solid core route with the original DNM cables and never went back to stranded cables. The DNM was too thin in most systems I heard them, but others from AudioQuest or Vovox weren’t. There is a certain solidity and coherence with the solid cores that I miss with stranded ones.
The main thing is that both of us found out what works for each and what doesn’t.
Yes, I agree, and this is one of the things that made me persevere with it for so long, along with the speed, immediacy and lack of glare and treble fizz or grain.
For all it’s positive attributes though I was never able to come to terms with the overall presentation. It just sounded somehow wrong. As I said, a certain mechanical and ‘threadbare’ quality - a lack of ‘organic-ness’. No doubt this is system and listener dependent.
Many years ago most cable brands offered a solid core cable but these days it seems to be largely out of favour.
I always thought there was an issue, apparently, with solid core cables that HF travels faster on the outside of the cables than LF. This I guess would be more noticable on longer cables but don’t know if the magnitude of the effect is noticable over a room’s length. Don’t know if anyone can verify this?
There is something called the ‘skin effect’ meaning that current density is higher nearer the surface of a conductor. Whatever the reason there’s no doubt that solid core cables seem to have a fundamentally different sonic signature to ‘normal’ stranded cables. They now seem to be largely a thing of the past and major companies like Chord and Atlas no longer offer them. Perhaps this indicates something?
Has anyone demoed the new Chord power strips?
Yes. Heard both at my dealers. Both were a substantial musical improvement compared to the system being plugged directly into wall sockets. Not surprisingly the M6 (£2000) was better than the S6 (£1000).
1 Like
Wall sockets isn`t a fair comparing,Chord strip need to be compared to other expensive power strip.
2 Likes
After @Richard.Dane hinted at endorsing this order I decided to give it a try. With the two turntables staying in the first two sockets I put the superline’s supercap in the next, then the ND555ps, 552ps and finally the 500. It gave a very up front presentation with a sort of raw quality to it. Swapping the supercap and NDps plugs pulled thing back a bit but it was also less engaging so I swapped back and kept this arrangement for a few days but something was nagging me. Last night I went back to my original configuration of TTps, TTps, ND555ps, 552, supercap and 500. This brought back the swing that the raw quality had replaced and a considerable increase in depth and scale but it also muddled thing a bit, I was playing side two of Electric Ladyland at this point. In trying to fathom the why I hit on the idea that maybe distance from the signal earth connection was a factor. I reckon that the superline and 500 are at about the same remove so I tried swapping them but the result lasted less than a minute so it’s not the whole story, I do think t’s a factor though. Moving the the plug for the ps of my mono turntable, (Townshend’s original Merlin supply and the only one that’s not a Powerline) to the last socket but keeping the order of the rest added substance, enhanced the swing and kept, or maybe even improved the sense of scale so that’s where I am now. I’ll be splitting the Townshend off into a second system soon and possibly replacing it with my DVD5 to feed the ND via DPDif so I’m not finished but I think I’ve never had the system sounding so good.
This shows the arrangement of my block and as you can see it’s as linear as can be. Sockets are single MK unswitched.
I’ve eased the clearance a bit since taking this pic as there’s some pressure marks on a few of the wires but no cuts.
2 Likes
On the contrary it is fundamentally important. Why would you want to purchase an expensive power block if it didn’t sound better than the wall sockets? I have no idea how the Chord block compares to similarly priced blocks from other manufacturers, but that wasn’t the object of the exercise.
I am guessing that you plug the power strip into a wall socket at some point?
Mine strip is very cheap I wanted to know how it is compared to more expensive power blocks
Not necessarily. My dedicated spur runs straight into the power strip. No wall sockets or in-wall wiring.
1 Like
How does that work?
Can you show a photo of it please?
1 Like
That would take quite a # of photos. 
Seriously, it’s fairly simple. The spur-cable starts after the meter & main switch of the house. Connected to the power-rail at the incoming side of the CU that also connects to the diff switches and MCBs for the rest of the house.
I use an audio grade Siemens Sitor cylindrical fuse holder instead of a regular MCB. Has the same function but sounds a lot(!) better. From there, the 14 meter cable runs through the walls up to our living room & system on the first floor. There it connects directly to the power strip behind the Fraim with a C20/21 connection. That’s all. I couldn’t make it any ‘cleaner’ than this.
The photo shows the CU and start of the spur. This was during installation. The fuse holder obviously has a closed cover too but it’s not yet in place on this pic. The fat yellow cable is the dedicated earth.
I have two separate pipes for this route, one for the spur, the other one for the ethernet cable to the streamer.
8 Likes
Meni,
Fair enough - if you’re using something very cheap then it’s worth making the comparison for sure. I don’t know how much your block cost but if it’s one of the mass-market general use types then it will almost certainly be degrading the sound. Having said this most audiophile blocks are very substantially more expensive so only you can decide if they are worth the extra.
Who has classified the Siemens Sitor cylindrical fuse holder as “audio grade”?
Hi Pete
Saw your message but the Chord thread has been removed for some reason so I’ll reply here.
I’m trying out an M6 and I’m really surprised by how good it’s been so far. I’ve got a few weeks before I have to hand it back but will report back before I do.
1 Like