Out of interest, I looked up the Audioquest Thunder.
It does look a beast of a cable, but I too prefer the looks of the Naim PowerLine.
Interestingly though, it is only rated at 10 Amps, whereas, all the Naim leads are rated at 13Amps, which is one of Naim’s requirements.
In Sweden at least we normally have 10A in the central unit per phase so no need for more since it cannot deliver more anyway. What Naim refer to is UK plugs with inbuilt fuses. 10A is 2400W and I guess no Naim amp come anywhere close to that in peak delivery. I believe this might be a UK requirement and I don’t know how AQ cables for the UK market is specified but I’m sure they follow all regulations required for consumer products which Naim also must do. The standard naim cable for UK is also 0.75mm2 and for EU it’s 1mm2.
The Thunder I use is btw the C19 20A version.
In the UK the standard ring main is 32amps, which is why UK plugs are fused to the correct rating for the equipment being plugged in. The mains cable thickness is 4mm2.
The Naim PowerLine cable thickness is 4mm2.
UK stnd ring main cable is 2.5mm/2.
As it’s a ring system each socket is in effective supplied by 2x 2.5mm = 5mm
Thanks for the correction, meant to put 2.5mm2.
Fat fingers and small keyboard syndrome.
The PowerLine uses Naim’s own floating pinned plugs and unique clamping systems which I doubt the AudioQuests and the like having nothing of the sort, beastly looking or not. Anyone can put a fat cable on a ‘off the shelf” plug and IEC socket and tart it up to look more expensive than it really is.
There’s a lot of effort goes into marketing the result, that in itself is work worthy of many a modern artist.
Any (all) cables that exceed a 10 amp cable rating (***) that are fitted with an IEC320 C13 plug will be rated at 10 amps, the C13 plug is the limitation with its 10 amp rating.
(***) Cable rating examples.
0.75mm2 - 6 amps
1mm2 – 10 amps
1.5mm2 - 16 amps
2.5mm2 - 25 amps
4mm2 - 32 amps
Audioquest have a different philosophy on this. They claim in their white papers which are available on their www that vibrations in a power cable is negliable in the negative effect on performance and that RF and noise on the grid are of much much higher concern. All brands have their own philosophy and from my epxerience on noise and RF I align with AQ philosophy on this.
I have a lot of Kharma matrix power cords. I preferred them to powerlines , and were 20% cheaper at that time. Very well done too.
I have changed most of my Powerlines to ones hand assembled by Dr Sean Jacobs in his dedicated workshop…
They sound damn good…my original 6 Powerlines are now down to 2, and they are both now packed up ready to move on…
Powerlines are very good, however there are other options (that are quite safe to use)…
I love the effect of power lines, but they are a pain to use.
I find it difficult to seat them properly, their weight pulls them back from the equipment. I find this to be true even with naim olive kit.I’m
sure we’ve all winced at the sound of a powerline not connecting, but I think it’s also possible for them to be partially connected with music still coming through- but lacking the proper fullness and weight.
Currently I’m using and enjoying a standard mains lead on my linn radikal- at some point I’ll replace the powerline and compare. Anyone got an opinion about powerline with the linn?
Works well for me.
As usual with a Power-Line, just give it a firm push to make sure it’s fully engaged in the socket. I’m assuming you have the standard Radikal, not the Klimax version as the Power-Line won’t fit the shrouded case ?
Yup, standard radikal. Do you like what the powerline brings to the linn? I was pleasantly surprised when I switched back to a standard lead, so much so I’ve not felt the urge to start a/b comparisons again.
The standard lead gives a very coherent and tight sound- pleasurable.
Run Musicline PowerIgel (no Powerline, standard Naim mains cables) but fed from a dedicated mains spur. That dedicated mains spur however did a heck of a difference.
I must admit it was already in place and I just used it. The Linn power cable is still in the box. I did find it gave a nice uplift on the NDX2 over the standard Power-Line Lite. The other advantage I find with the Power-Line is that they are very easy cables to ‘dress’ under the racks as they hold their shape.
That’s the Powerline had time to show its worth. What I’m noticing most is the presence of all the individual instruments in a piece is greater. Like they are playing against a quieter background. This enhances all the subtleties, like fingers on strings for example, thus taking you closer to the performance. Everything feels more present, solid in space if you like.
None of this detracts from the cohesion of a piece either, quite the opposite.
Now for that second PS555…
G
in fact the plug of the powerline cable is furutech, inform yourself before writing …
Only in certain markets.
in fact the plug of the powerline cable is furutech, inform yourself before writing …
