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.
The Chord Co 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 and this discovery
prompted the development of firstly the Signature interconnect and then the
Signature speaker cable.
Prior to this we had experimented with several
designs of mains cable, none of which produced consistent results from system
to system.
Having successfully developed the Signature cables
and proved their effectiveness it was logical to apply the same shielding
principles to a mains cable. The result is the Chord PowerChord.
Unlike previous designs, the PowerChord's performance
and the improvements it brings are remarkably consistent, regardless of the
system it is fitted to.
The PowerChord is also a simple and effective upgrade
to both plasma and LCD televisions, improving clarity, contrast and colour.
On the face of it, there is a logical approach to
fitting PowerChord/s to a hi-fi or home cinema system, it would seem to make a
lot of sense to connect a PowerChord to the source component of a system first
of all.
Any interference getting through to the source
component will be amplified throughout the system.
In many cases, introducing a PowerChord to the source
component will bring dramatic improvements to detail, clarity and dynamic
performance.
The PowerChord will also enhance the stereo image and
improve the space around individual voices and instruments.
However, if PowerChords are not being used throughout
the system, we would recommend that you experiment first by fitting the
PowerChord 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.
Ultimately, fitting PowerChords throughout a hi-fi or
home cinema system will guarantee the best performance but to some extent, the
law of diminishing returns comes into effect.
Each PowerChord you fit after the initial
experimentation described above will bring further improvements but the first
one will be the most dramatic.
Fitting PowerChords 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 PowerChords to the DVD player and finally the processor.
Chord tested many IEC plugs before deciding on the
one that we fit to the PowerChord. During the blind testing, the one we use
was consistently found to produce the best sound quality.
The same process was applied to the 13 amp mains plug
and great attention was paid to the routing and configuration of the internal
wiring in both plugs.
