An update on Pete's TWL Plus cords...
A few weeks ago in a fit of much deserved audio-nervosa, I had Pete upgrade all of my pre-Plus TWL powercords to Plus status along with getting them cryoed. Well, the upgraded cords came home to Papa last week and I'm one happy audio dude. Having been TWL-less for several weeks, I'm not really able to speak in detail on before and after, but what I can say is that I feel my system has never sounded better. Here's just a couple of things I noticed with the upgraded cords in place...
There's an album I've been listening to quite a bit of late called
Night by Tift Merritt and Simone Dinnerstein. I'm touched by the music and fascinated by the recording quality. On a few songs the vocals may be mic'd a bit hot, but for most of it, it's exceptional. After inserting the Plus powercords, this album took a big step toward placing me in the performance space - grand soundstage, black backdrop yet with voices and instruments clear as a bell floating within a 3 dimensional space. There is one song where a harmonica floats high center stage left and a step back from the front. I'm sure it was there before, but it struck me as so much more real and integral to the performance. Gotta love this stuff!
Another fave for me is Holly Cole. She has a deep, warm and incredibly sexy voice - rich, organic, & voluptuous (well, OK, that last one is probably more about what I was imagining than what I was hearing
On the song
I Can See Clearly Now from
Don't Smoke in Bed, there is a strong bass line throughout just to the left of center stage with piano set back to the right -- two instruments that just seemed far more real with the Plus cords in place. In the 1st half of this song, her voice is clear, sweet and relaxed. About mid way, the song crescendos and her voice easily pulls you emotionally in raising goosebumps along the way. In the crescendo, Holly's voice turns a bit thin and edgy, but the strength of her voice and emotion of the performance carries the song in a big way. I did listen to this with other power cords several times and what Pete's Plus cords seem to do with greatest effect is make that 'thin and edgy' a very real attribute of the strength and characteristic of her voice in the performance, rather than a sonic signature of my stereo. It's a fine line but contributes in a big way toward improving goosebump potential. (i.e. musicality, prat, emotion!)
Pete's power cords are not just great-bang-for-the-buck cords (which they are), they just seem to enable my system to sound more musically engaging than anything else that I've tried. For me, that's what it's all about (standard caveats apply: my system, my music, my ears, my imagination
.