August 2, 2009

My Alumini! JPS Aluminata Power Cord.

This is an old post of ours in the blog we previously contributed to.

An early X'mas present from Santa!? I've been a good boy too, Ha!Ha!

My friend called and told me ecstatically that he's just got the JPS Aluminata power cord, and he'd like me to cook his new toy with my home brew kable kooker.

Packed with classy aluminium case, ribbon and all, inside a certificate of authenticity greets you.

I cook the JPS Aluminata for about 18 hours or so, during which the cable ran moderately warm to touch, always a good sign when cooking! Stone cold cables when cooking means a non-effective cook!

Cooking the big snake.

After which, I proceeded to plug the 2 meter length JPS Aluminata in to my Marantz CD7, replacing my AOR Reference 003, I heard a sound that is very familiar, but with much better resolving low level resolution. I guess it was the Marantz CD7 doing it's thing again, i.e., not responding to tweaks!


I then proceeded to plug the JPS Aluminata in to my Pass X2.5 pre amp, again played my favorite music, lo-and-behold! It was an immediate show stopping moment from time the play button was pressed on the CDP. The rest of the sound impression below is done with the JPS powering my pre amp.


The sound now took on an whole new dimension. The first thing I noticed was the bass, full, in control, gutsy and extends very low!, about as low as I've heard before in my room. The mids give vocals great body and mass(I listened to Tsai Chin's Lou Ge on a recently re-issued 180 grams LP), pianos and violins have just the right amount of balance between strings and wood reverb(I was listening to Tube Hifi Violin, by Wilhelm Dennigen playing the Sennhauser, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu 1735 violin, accompanied by back ground piano). On that CD, I have never heard Wilhelm breath so much in to the mike so closely and each with diferent intensity! Also never before apparent is the bowing and playing techniques which he executes that sounds so melodramatic! I didn't know I was missing that much of musical experience on this very familiar CD.

My all time favourite violin/piano duet CD! I must have listened to this a million times by now.

The highs are smooth, extended and at once airy. The whole sound stage and image had an organic, believable aura to it! Compared to the PS Audio Plus, post listening to the JPS Aluminata, I've found the PS Audio to have a certain artificial, some what edgy sheen added to the violin, of the above same CD. I've never picked this out before. But to be fair, at RM$11K(recommended retail price, my friend told me he got it for a lot less as he ordered it during the JPS cable sales at Center Circle Audio) the top dog JPS is almost 10 times the price of the middling PS Audio!, no contest here for sure.

The JPS Aluminata, laying over the AOR Reference 003(underneath), for a size able comparison?

That's my brief few hours with the JPS Aluminata, to date the most expensive, but probably, the very best power cord to have grazed my humble system! In a way, it made me felt that I've just graduated from a top dollar hifi lesson, hence my alumini! I would not call this a review, but rather a preview, just from a few hours of enjoyment with the JPS Aluminata.


My friend called up to ask how a felt about his new toy, I told him the above, he came over straight away, took it home, and as I checked on him in the late evening, he was still listening and immersed in his music! He sure is one lucky fella!


In case you're wondering, Center Circle seems to still have some stock of those wonderful JPS cables for sale! Do hurry if you've not check it out just yet!


JPS cables are sold by Center Circle Audio, tel:03 77282686.

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