MCRU Ultimate Mk. III Cables

[MartinT]

I sent two of my key power cables to David for upgrading to Mk. III status. One was my big Furukawa 2.6 feeding the entire system via the P10 (effectively an Ultimate HC) and the other was an Ultimate feeding my most power hungry component, the Chord power amp. David upgraded them both with carbon loaded outer braiding and internal 'magic' the detail of which he won't reveal. He also replaced a failing Furutech plug for an inline rhodium type (I like rhodium connectors).

He returned them to me today and hasn't even charged me yet. This is typical of David's service. The reason I did this, and sacrificed the sound of my system for a week, is that Mike (MikeMusic) already had one of these Ultimate Mk. IIIs and was enthusing about them. Mike and I know each other's tastes and systems pretty well and, despite him having initially picked up on mains cables from me, this time around he had first bite of the new model.

So to this evening and, having performed the usual contortions to get that big 2.6 cable to bend and take the shape required, I left it running for an hour and had a good listen to both vinyl and CDs. The immediate improvement I noticed is in detail which is simply compelling but not thrown at me; it's more a case of detail everywhere in the soundstage, highly resolved so that the struck edge of strings are immediate and ... err ... striking. In fact, the whole performance has taken a step forward towards that nirvana of life-like and believable. What's so pleasing is that every component, from my sources right through to the Ushers, responds so well to small improvements like this, just giving me more.

I won't go on, simply to say that if you want pretty much the best power cable out there and your system can justify the price then I urge you to try one on David's trial offer. If it doesn't work for you, then fair enough. However, if you use a power regenerator or big amps I urge you to try one. You may well not send it back.

[Tarzan]

l feel compelled to chime in here and echo Martin's thoughts regarding MCRU mains cables, David after so much teasing about my Nordost Shiva, he sent me a cable to try that he built himself and would " blow away your Siva", well blow me it did ( it was tad more expensive than the aforementioned Shiva but in performance terms was EASILY worth the extra- by a country mile as well, if you a non cable believer then you need to try some of his cables, this guy knows what he is talking about regarding wire let me tell you.

[Marco]

Nice one, Martin. Sounds very interesting! However, as your findings are essentially a mini-review, shouldn't they be in Strokes of Genius?

Marco.

[MikeMusic]

Sounds like I need my other Ultimates seeing to then.
I was very surprised by the huge difference between the standard Chord power cable and the Ultimate.
Anyone would be happy paying many £100s or £1000s for a new bit of kit to get that improvement

I still remember picking up mains cables from you, starting as cheap as I could on Ebay, not believing they really would make much difference. (A mains cable makes a difference to hifi, surely not ?!) That was the beginning of where my system is today. Sounds fabulous too.

[Audio Al]

I am having problems understanding this

How can a 1mtr high quality lead make a difference between the wall socket and the equipment ? what about the wiring from the wall socket to the consumer unit , this could be 50 60 70 years old depending on the age of your house

I fitted a 60amp dedicated supply from the main power inlet under the stairs, then under the floor to a dedicated consumer unit feeding 26 double sockets 52 plugs in total with a dedicated earth rod

Sounds good to me

[MCRU]

Nice one, Martin. Sounds very interesting! However, as your findings are essentially a mini-review, shouldn't they be in Strokes of Genius?

Marco.

Agreed, although we don't want to endorse anything I sell too much do we!

[MartinT]

Nice one, Martin. Sounds very interesting! However, as your findings are essentially a mini-review, shouldn't they be in Strokes of Genius?

I was following the description of this forum as "All cable/equipment support discussion". I need to listen much more tonight (I can't wait to get home as it sounded superb last night) and then I'll post a review in Strokes

[MartinT]

How can a 1mtr high quality lead make a difference between the wall socket and the equipment ? what about the wiring from the wall socket to the consumer unit , this could be 50 60 70 years old depending on the age of your house

It's been done to death, Al. I would posit that the question should be reversed, i.e. "it sounds remarkably better with this cable, now what mechanism could be responsible for it?" I don't know the answer to that. However, don't forget that a standard ring main can supply a lot of current on demand so a kettle lead will be the bottleneck. The Ultimates are not bottlenecks (just look at the thickness of the cores) and more dynamics and naturalness are the result. There must also be an RFI element in there, as good screened cables always seem to sound better.

I think results will vary with equipment. As I said, regenerators and big power amps seem to respond especially well.

P.S. my wall socket to P10 Ultimate HC lead is 2m long.

[MikeMusic]

I am having problems understanding this

How can a 1mtr high quality lead make a difference between the wall socket and the equipment ? what about the wiring from the wall socket to the consumer unit , this could be 50 60 70 years old depending on the age of your house

Quite. It's bonkers


But it works

[MikeMusic]

Agreed, although we don't want to endorse anything I sell too much do we!

Credit where due.
The Ultimates are doing a very good job.