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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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I didn't really start writing about music and audio until the late-80s. And one of the biggest influences was the television series, The Wonder Years.
On 5/12/93, a couple friends and I were in the community room at UCSC's Crown-Merrill apartments. While casually hanging around, we watched what turned out to be The Wonder Years' final episode. Even more stunning was the narrator explaining the fates of each of the main characters. In the end, Kevin Arnold does not end up with Winnie Cooper.
On Friday, 5/14/93, UC Berkeley's finals ended. My ex-girlfriend, KJ, called, and told me not to come home to San Francisco. She needed to decompress and unwind, and wanted to spend the weekend with me in Santa Cruz, before taking on more hours at her part-time job. In her previous visits, KJ would bring a backpack, act like she was staying for the school week. But this time, she only brought a fanny pack, and stuffed the pockets on her light jacket.
When she got to my apartment, KJ looked behind the Sony ES/Adcom/Pinnacle stereo, and spied the PAC IDOS on the floor. Back in January 1993, KJ had accompanied me to Ultimate Sound, to purchase that IDOS. She then asked where was the peculiar-looking Kimber PowerKord, which we had also bought from Ultimate Sound, later in that Winter 1993 quarter. I had to explain that the PowerKord was back home in San Francisco, on the B&K Pro10MC preamp, the only component which had an IEC jack.
It must have been VH1, which played the video for Restless Heart's "Tell Me What You Dream." KJ racked her brain, and thought it sounded vaguely familiar. That's 'cuz it was co-written with Timothy B. Schmit, who had previously created "I Can't Tell You Why" for/with the Eagles.
On Saturday, 5/15/93, fog was absent, and the sun was up bright and early. Arm-in-arm, KJ and I walked to the bus stop, in order to get off campus. We were not paying attention, and a red car drove by, stopped, reversed, and stopped in front of us. It was my friend/classmate, Ed. He asked me and KJ where we were going, and told us to hop in the car. Ed noticed that KJ was wearing a loose tank top, with a tear in the side. Since KJ was not wearing a bra, Ed looked at me, and without saying a word, obviously was referring to KJ's side boob. When Ed learned that KJ was a Chemical Engineering major at Cal, he perked up. He then rattled off the names of some Cal females, and asked if KJ knew or was classmates with them. Ed would later pull me aside, high-five me, and say, "No wonder I don't see you dating Santa Cruz girls. You got some Cal babes!"
Ed dropped us off at the Boardwalk. There, KJ bought and donned a new black tank top. You never forget days like these, and honest audio products reinforce those memories.
Hard to believe, but 1993 was a whopping 28 years ago. But that's so much time, that entry-level powercords, like the Kimber PowerKord, are in the rearview mirror. You now have multi-thousand dollar powercords, such as Pranawire's Maha Samadhi, Cosmos, and Satori. These benchmark performers lay bare the PowerKord's deviations and errors.
In order to test these powercords, you need high-quality sources. So let us remove the Pranawire powercords. Here, the Kimber PowerKord is hooked up to a Simaudio 820S outboard power supply, which feeds a 750D CD player/DAC.
Right off the bat, images are given the "crumpled paper" treatment. In addition, the 820S/750D no longer can spread out and layer the images within the recorded soundscape.
Along with the crumpled-up image, snare drum loses some snap, focus, quickness, and power. Basslines become lumpier, with less reach to, and control of, the deep bass. The upper bass becomes more tubby.
The Kimber PowerKord does not do as good a job of keeping noise at bay. Thus, the contrast between music and silence is reduced. Moreover, it is harder to "see" micro details and textures.
When you play music with true dynamics, from soft to loud, the PowerKord-fed 820S/750D does not do so as accurately and effortlessly.
But you know what? For such an old and affordable product, the Kimber PowerKord does not grossly alter, color, and distort the music. You still get a reasonable facsimile of what the 820S/750D can do. Octave-to-octave balance and transition are somewhat bulbous, but overall tonal balance thankfully is neither fat nor threadbare.
Overall, the difference between the Kimber PowerKord and the reference-level models is that the latter allow you to regurgitate micro details. For example, on The Wonder Years, you knew that Paul went to an Ivy League school. With the reference-level powercords, you also know that he specifically went to Harvard. You knew that Winnie went to Europe. With the reference-level powercords, you know that she went to Paris, to study art history.
With the Kimber PowerKord, you have that "vaguely familiar" feeling, with Restless Heart's "Tell Me What You Dream." But with the reference-level powercords, you know definitively about Timothy B. Schmit writing both "Tell Me What You Dream" and The Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why."
With the PowerKord, you still recall that KJ (a) did not bring any bras, and (b) had stuffed pockets. But with the reference-level powercords, you unequivocally know that KJ's pockets held socks, black panties, and a rolled-up blue-colored Cal Bears t-shirt. With both powercords, you remember that, with the warm weather, KJ didn't feel the need for much clothes. And besides, she was there to buy Santa Cruz clothing.
But can the Kimber PowerKord bring back the vibe of that mid-May 1993? Even though you don't have many photos (this one of the Santa Cruz beach is from 2019, pre-COVID) from that era, as long as you have quality sources, yes.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Kimber PowerKord, Part 6 - Luminator 21:59:24 09/22/21 (2)
- RE: Kimber PowerKord, Part 6 - BenE 06:05:46 09/23/21 (1)
- It feels like building a sand castle too close to the sea - Luminator 17:26:17 09/23/21 (0)
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