Mains Products
The electrical supply within our houses is becoming increasingly polluted. The typical household now has around 40 microprocessors and many of the electronic components we now use are fitted with switch mode power supplies. Chord established some years ago that high frequency electrical interference was having a seriously detrimental effect on the performance of both hi-fi and home cinema systems, not just on the audio performance of a hi-fi or home cinema but also the picture quality of a plasma or LCD television.
The Chord Company has spent a great deal of time researching all areas of electrical interference. As a result of this research, many of the company’s products now feature extremely effective high frequency shielding systems, including interconnects, speaker cables and mains cables. These products have been developed to deal with a very specific problem: high frequency interference.
Effective shielding contributes hugely to reducing this problem and the same shielding can be applied effectively to mains supply cables as well.
The Chord Company experimented with several designs of mains cable before producing the Power Chord. One of the real problems with specialised mains cables is that they can be extremely system dependent. What works in one system in one location can perform completely differently in another system.
Fitting Chord mains cables to home cinema and audio systems
On the face of it, it would seem to make a lot of sense to connect Chord mains cables to the source component of a system first. Any interference getting through to the source component will be amplified throughout the system. We would however recommend experimentation. In many cases, introducing one of our power cables to the source component will bring dramatic improvements to detail, clarity and dynamic performance. Chord mains cable can also enhance the stereo image and improve the space around individual voices and instruments. However, if these uprated cables are not being used throughout the system, we would recommend that you experiment, first by fitting one to the source component and then swapping to the pre or integrated amplifier. In some cases, this may well bring about a bigger increase in performance
Fitting Chord mains cables to a home cinema system can turn the fitting order described above on its head. The very first place to experiment is with the power connection to the plasma, LCD or projector. This will often dramatically improve picture quality. After the screen we would advise experimenting by fitting to the DVD player and finally the processor.
