[RobertWood]

I keep seeing for sale on the Classified Forum something called a "Fatman" power cord. It's priced at $895 and apparently this is a bargain since the manufacturer's list is $2500. It's 5' in length. Not to mention that the Fatman cord is not even top of the line. The maker (Electra

Glide Audio) also sells the "Genghis Khan" power cord (describing it as "the greatest power cord history has known") for a mere $4500. Also 5' in length.

At the risk of revealing my ignorance can someone explain

how these peform differently from what I buy at Radio Shack for $1.98?


Bob Wood




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~ The Sultan of Cheap ~

 

[Phat Phreddy]

Just proves you dont hang out in Audiophile forums hey BOB http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif ...


If you want to have a laugh (or recoil in horror as you see yourself) give this link a read...


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[email protected]
HTPC without using windows... GUI Front Ends for Home Theater

 

[Swampfox]

It's like the difference between a Ferrari, and a Yugo. Especially for the owner of Electra Glide Audio.
http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

 

[catullus]

Bob:


I shudder to think what I have spent on wire for my audio system; yet the costliest thing I have is a $700 pair of bi-wire speaker cables. On the other hand, Ray Kimber last year demonstrated a $20,000 pair of 8' speaker cables at an audio show and had over a hundred pre-orders before the show ended. Crazy? Probably.


There is a BIG debate in audio circles over whether ultra high-priced cables really make much of a difference. I THINK I could hear the difference between a stock detachable power cord and one which sold for $150--but the difference was subtle enough to make me pass. On the other hand, Radio Shack's wire is not very good, so I would check Audio Advisor for a wide selection of quality A/V cabling at SANE prices. (For example, my S-video cables are about $100 each, the interconnects from my CD player about $250.) One could easily spend $50K on power cords and cables for a home theater system and still not have top of the line wire. On the other hand, for the same money, one could also buy a D-ILA and a Mercedes.


Mike

 

[Cameron]

Bob,


I know that you are the Sultan of Cheap so I have a great power cord deal for you. My engineering dept. has come up with the Fatman/Genghis Khan killer cable. It is called the "Black Cobra Cable". It is a superior design in functionality and aesthetics.


The Black Cobra Cable is custom designed to integrate well with black AV equipment. It is lighter and more flexible than the Electra Glide competitors. It also comes in a 6' length giving you 17.6% more cable for your money.


Now here is the part that you are going to love...


Even though the MSRP for the Black Cobra Cable is $6,999.99 I am offering a special value to AVS Forum members for the bargain price of $599.99.


Please send me a Private Mail if you are interested.


Cameron

Chief Engineer

Black Cobra Enteprises LLC.


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-- Well I have really blown my budget now. --

 

[Morbius]

Bob,


Phat Phreddy is right - try lurking in audiophile

newsgroups some time. It's not only power cords -

but there's all sorts of audio voodoo out there.


There's everything but wood blocks that have been

blessed by the Dhali Lama - to bring good Karma

to your audio system [ How's that for mixing my

metaphors as well as religions, Buddhist and Hindu. ]


Now that I've given away the business plan for a real

money making operation - I wonder if the Dhali Lama

would really bless wooden blocks for me?


People know that silver has the lowest specific resistance

of any metal - so there are lots of silver conductors out

there - both power and signal lines. The silver really

costs. There are megabuck amplifiers wired with the stuff

out there.


Of course, you can always reduce the resistance by making

the cable fatter - but it's silver that sells.


Home Theater is a relatively new hobby - we have a while

to go before we become as crazy as audiophiles.


I'm both an audiophile and a videophile; the average Joe

on the street would say that I've gone off the deep end -

but I can't hold a candle to some.


Greg

 

[kelliot]

These guys need a good textbook on eletromagnetic theory.


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Ken Elliott

 

[LMDA1]

Go ahead and visit the folks at PS Audio ( http://www.psaudio.com/Home_page/Our...lab_cable.html ), they seem to be making the most noise regarding power-related upgrades. It probably won't justify the price but at least they try to explain what goes into their stuff.


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Sergio R.


[This message has been edited by LMDA1 (edited 07-06-2001).]


[This message has been edited by LMDA1 (edited 07-06-2001).]

 

[RobertWood]

Thanks, guys, for getting me up to speed on power cords.


I sure want to get that Black Cobra from Cameron (that's a better than 90% discount - has my name all over it).

Only thing though is that so far I've financed my whole home theater with recycled aluminum cans. $599 is a right smart amount of cans.


Bob


p.s. to Phreddy. I just read your link. One of the most amazing things I have ever read.


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~ The Sultan of Cheap ~




[This message has been edited by RobertWood (edited 07-06-2001).]

 

[Morbius]

Sergio,


I read the PS Audio link you provided. Some of my

components are PS Audio - and they make some good

equipment.


However, that part about how the clean power from their

Power Plant is going to be contaminated by RF on it's way

to the amp really got me.


First, we are not talking about a high resistance signal

cable in which it's easier for RF to induce a voltage.

We're talking about a relatively low resistance power

cable - it takes a lot more spurious current to give you

a spurious voltage in a low resistance cable relative to

a high resistance one.


RF noise in a signal cable is going to be amplified by the

system as if it were part of the signal. The noise in the

power cable is going to be used to help charge the amp's

power supply filter capacitors.


Now what PS Audio is saying is true - theoretically. But

how much of an effect is this induced RF in the power cable

on your audio system. I'd like to see a quantitative

analysis of how much of an effect there is.


It costs a few hundred dollars to buy their solution. If

you are Bill Gates and have an effectively infinite amount

of money - you can go plug every leak in the dike - the

cost be damned.


But most of us have to husband our finite supply of money.

I really wonder if you get as much "bang for the buck" in

terms of spending money on power cable vis-a-vis making

some other improvement with your limited financial resource.


Greg

 

[dkeller_NC]

"I'd like to see a quantitative

analysis of how much of an effect there is."


Quantitative (or even logical) analysis is the enemy of audiophiles. As near as I can figure, most people that are heavily into air bladders for their CD transport think that the human ear/brain combo is the most sensitive measurement device in the Universe. Oscilliscopes, hall effect transducers and other electrical measurement devices run a poor second by comparison, especially if they don't justify the purchase of $1000/meter Mark Levinson speaker cable... http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif


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ABC = Another Boring Channel. Watch CBS on Monday Nights!

 

[dkeller_NC]

Here's a nifty little device for those that need a Druid Priest to bless their connections to "improve the sound":
http://www.bedini.com/dual.htm


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ABC = Another Boring Channel. Watch CBS on Monday Nights!

 

[Cameron]

Bob,


Perhaps we could work out a trade. In order to make our Black Cobra Cable a lighter, more flexible, and portable solution, we use a highly refined conductive aluminum alloy that just so happens to be found in aluminum cans. Perhaps you can be one of my suppliers.


Also, I think that it is the appropriate time to annouce our newest masterpiece of engineering.

The Beige Large Headed Asp Electrical Multiplier!!!


I am looking at a prototype right now. It is incredible. With this incredible device you can interface 6 Black Cobra Cables to one power source without any visible signs of power loss (sometimes known as dangerous sparks). The deluxe version even includes a Red lighted on/off switch.


We are taking prebuy orders for the Beige Large Headed Asp Electrical Mulitplier (BLHAEM) for the prebuy price of $600.00 (a savings of over $18,400 under MSRP).


Cameron


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-- Well I have really blown my budget now. --

 

[apg]

While we are on the subject of Audio Wackos...

I sort of dropped out of the "Hi Fi" universe around 1985.


I had just read Colin Wilson's "The Outsider", and after having recognized all the attributes of religious cultdom in the audio world, I decided that these people were nuts. Not as in put-away nuts, but as in rich-enough-for-the-neighbors-to-call-them-eccentric nuts.

Take a person who "Sees The Truth". He presents "The Truth" in a way that makes it Different and New. Followers gather to experience "The Truth" as he saw it, but they only partially glimpse it. So they splinter to follow their own Truths, arguing vociferously about ever smaller details. The original "Outsider" gets martyred, usually because his company fails due to bad products and worse marketing, and a second wave of followers take up his "Truth" in a "Reformation". Followed, of course, by a Counter-Reformation, Evangelyzing, Proseletyzing...

So those people who are on the trail of the Ultimite Hi-Fi are basically modern religious nuts.


I'll take a clue from the Deists of two centuries ago- Great Audio probably exists, but I'll never experience it, it has no bearing on my day-to-day affairs, it is quite unlikely to have any effect on me once I'm dead. I'm an Audist.


Besides, everybody knows that the only way to experience the best possible sound, with superb imaging and no phase shifting, is with Binaural Stereo, on a pair of extremely rare Sony ECR-500 headphones.

I have Spoken, children. Follow Me and be Free...

apg

 

[Yahoo]

Quote:

Originally posted by Morbius: However, that part about how the clean power from their Power Plant is going to be contaminated by RF on it's way to the amp really got me.

Live next to a radio station and you'll need one of those! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


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- Balance Between

- Quality & Price!

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Editor of the Skyworth FAQ page at:

http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/003495.html

 

[RobertWood]

I'm stamping on new beer cans as we speak, Cameron.

I'm consuming er, I mean removing all the impurities as I go (just made my fourth trip to the head).


Bob


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~ The Sultan of Cheap ~




[This message has been edited by RobertWood (edited 07-06-2001).]

 

[petew]

Greg (Morbius) said

Now that I've given away the business plan for a real

money making operation - I wonder if the Dhali Lama

would really bless wooden blocks for me?


I seem to remember a critter show on Discovery about a bunch of cobras slithering around wood blocks. Supposed to give them magical power of some sort. Maybe you should look into that

 

[Swampfox]

Don't know abiut the snakes, but I have a bunch of "stabilization" stone that has been blessed by an exotic Swiss Mountain Dog.


SM

 

[AlMark]

It won't matter how much engineering and facts you present to them because in the end, enjoying music is an emotional thing, and how you arrive at an emotionally satisfying experience is independent of how good hardware is at reproducing sound. Good imagery, it seems, is not so easily dismissed - we can tell good images with greater agreement than good sound.


Al

 

[Cameron]


Quote:

It won't matter how much engineering and facts you present to them because in the end, enjoying music is an emotional thing, and how you arrive at an emotionally satisfying experience is independent of how good hardware is at reproducing sound. Good imagery, it seems, is not so easily dismissed - we can tell good images with greater agreement than good sound.

I forgot to mention, my Snake series of power transfer devices also give a remarkable improvement to the average emotional experience thus increasing satisfaction and enjoyment.


Cameron


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-- Well I have really blown my budget now. --