Cutting up a long Pangea power cable, should I?

Mr. Sharpe

Hello all! Hope you’re all doing well, it’s been a while since I’ve done much on here.

I find myself in need of couple more cables and Pangea is what I’ve always used but I only have one short 14SE cord. I have my sub hooked up with one that’s something like 14’ long and was thinking of cutting it a few times and making some shorter ones with copper plugs. The idea mostly comes from the price of the new 14SE going up and possibly no one wanting the long one I have so I can repurpose the funds for new cables. Plus I like doing this type of thing and it’d be simple.

What would you do? Not really sure why I’m asking bc I’m pretty sure of what I want to do.

VR3

Sure why not. Grab some quality connectors and go for it. Most power connectors are Phillips screw Terminals.

When I bought my power cables I purchased 2m and then cut in half so I didn't have to do the braid

mhardy6647

I am definitely also of the why not? school of thought.
FWIW.

mhardy6647

... and now a word from the alternate point of view:



This has been a public service announcement.

Gardenstater

I just bought some Cardas Rhodium over silver over pure copper IEC and power plugs to make some power cables in the future, when I decide on wire etc.. They *were* on sale at Sonicraft.

Hmm still on sale:
https://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/cardas-3455r-male-ac-p-2110
https://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/cardas-3455r-iec-p-2109

BlueBirdMusic

Go for it, @Mr. Sharpe.
I recently bought several sets of Cardas PCC ER and Cardas PCC EG cartridge clips (on sale) from Sonic Craft. I will cut up some wire to make my own headshell leads per a Jeff Day article. Trey had written about Dueland oil cloth covered wire and mentioned Jeff Day.
Initially, I will use Gavitt cloth covered 22awg pre-tinned pushback vintage-style guitar wire for the headshell leads. Next, I plan to use Dueland DCA26GA tinned-copper wire to make additional headshell leads.

I also purchased 6 meters of Dueland Dual DCA16GA tinned-copper wire from Parts Connexion to cut up as I please. I have cut the 6 meters into 2 X 3 meters and have them in use as speaker wire. The wire is great. The next cable I will order to cutup will be Dueland Dual DCA12GA to use as speaker wire instead of the 16 gauge wire.

SIHAB

I sayth no.

VR3

BlueBirdMusic wrote: »

Go for it, @Mr. Sharpe.
I recently bought several sets of Cardas PCC ER and Cardas PCC EG cartridge clips (on sale) from Sonic Craft. I will cut up some wire to make my own headshell leads per a Jeff Day article. Trey had written about Dueland oil cloth covered wire and mentioned Jeff Day.
Initially, I will use Gavitt cloth covered 22awg pre-tinned pushback vintage-style guitar wire for the headshell leads. Next, I plan to use Dueland DCA26GA tinned-copper wire to make additional headshell leads.

I also purchased 6 meters of Dueland Dual DCA16GA tinned-copper wire from Parts Connexion to cut up as I please. I have cut the 6 meters into 2 X 3 meters and have them in use as speaker wire. The wire is great. The next cable I will order to cutup will be Dueland Dual DCA12GA to use as speaker wire instead of the 16 gauge wire.

The dca wiring is a phenominal value. I think you will really like the 12 awg

Gardenstater

What kind of copper does Dueland use? Because of the prestige of their name they don't even need to specify this? Sorry, this stuff bugs me

VR3

No idea, maybe unicorn grade but it sounds excellent

xschop

Hopefully we can get a real-world review from our resident electron-flow guru.

Emlyn

I say go for it too, but...

Tripp-Lite 15 amp cords for under $10:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027JRMD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Gardenstater

Emlyn wrote: »

I say go for it too, but...

Tripp-Lite 15 amp cords for under $10:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027JRMD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I did not want to believe it but I have heard substantial differences in the SQ of my sub when a friend has twice brought over 6 ft. DIY power cables (one 12 and the other 14awg) made from teflon insulated UPOCC wire and the above plugs I mentioned. This is compared to a 14awg 6 ft Monoprice power cord.

Emlyn

I switched to the Tripp-Lite cords on my SVS SB-2000s a couple years ago. Turned out the heavy PS Audio, Kimber, and Pangea power cords I'd been using on them weren't doing anything positive. I do think it's good to have a good base to see where there might be improvements in a system. Most of the cords I use provide incremental improvements to my ears but at 20x the cost and up. Cutting up Pangea cords to make shorter ones could be worse than using a generic cord. I'd still do it though and try a good generic cord for comparison.

Gardenstater

Emlyn wrote: »

I switched to the Tripp-Lite cords on my SVS SB-2000s a couple years ago. Turned out the heavy PS Audio, Kimber, and Pangea power cords I'd been using on them weren't doing anything positive. I do think it's good to have a good base to see where there might be improvements in a system. Most of the cords I use provide incremental improvements to my ears but at 20x the cost and up. Cutting up Pangea cords to make shorter ones could be worse than using a generic cord. I'd still do it though and try a good generic cord for comparison.

Yeah I can't comment on the Pangea cords except to say that they are cagey regarding how much of their total copper is Cardas One and how much is just ordinary OFC. Also, they use PVC insulation, at least the ones I have checked. My friend's DIY cables were 100% Ohno Continuous Cast Copper with 100% teflon insulation.

Emlyn

I have some of the Pangea 14SE cords but not the MKII version. Personally, I've used them on a primary two channel and secondary system but don't think they're necessarily better than a good quality generic on a source component other than looking good. Not worth ten times the price to me in retrospect.

BlueFox

I started my power cord journey with Pangea. However, once I used a Shunyata Venom cable on my amp I discarded the Pangea, and went on a Shunyata journey.

BlueBirdMusic

Another option ($32 vs $75) for power cables if they are in stock.
I purchased a couple of these for my subs.

6 foot Hardwired by Transparent
3 conductor power cable.
They changed the color of the ends so we got all of their NOS purple.
Same construction as the model in the info link.
Let us know how many you'd like at checkout.

https://echohifi.com/details/17145/Transparent_Perfect-Power-3

mhardy6647

Gardenstater wrote: »

Emlyn wrote: »

I say go for it too, but...

Tripp-Lite 15 amp cords for under $10:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027JRMD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I did not want to believe it but I have heard substantial differences in the SQ of my sub when a friend has twice brought over 6 ft. DIY power cables (one 12 and the other 14awg) made from teflon insulated UPOCC wire and the above plugs I mentioned. This is compared to a 14awg 6 ft Monoprice power cord.

out of... academic... curiosity
1) what sort of substantial differences?
2) for the better or... well, you know... the other kind?

TroyD

They are in stock....I just picked up a couple just because....

Gardenstater

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Gardenstater wrote: »

Emlyn wrote: »

I say go for it too, but...

Tripp-Lite 15 amp cords for under $10:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027JRMD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I did not want to believe it but I have heard substantial differences in the SQ of my sub when a friend has twice brought over 6 ft. DIY power cables (one 12 and the other 14awg) made from teflon insulated UPOCC wire and the above plugs I mentioned. This is compared to a 14awg 6 ft Monoprice power cord.

out of... academic... curiosity
1) what sort of substantial differences?
2) for the better or... well, you know... the other kind?

Well first off on both occasions I wish I could've kept them for a few days to fully process, but in a few hours listening session each time it was clear that there was less bass with something the likes of Norah Jones "Just a Little Bit" from Begin Again, but it was cleaner and tighter. That surprised both of us and we both remarked that we could even turn the sub up a little. That is, I believe, very electronic synthesizer heavy bass material and I didn't think my sub was muddy prior to that but apparently it was a bit.

Then when listening to some material that had very deep but highly transient bass material like the gongs in Minnesota Orchestra: Copland "Fanfare for the Common Man" there was no desire to turn up the bass whatsoever! The gong was so much more impactful and full of texture/detail. Same was true of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" and Erich Kunzel - Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture.

So my impression is that the power supply in my amplifier is somewhat under designed storage-wise and was simply not capable of supplying those short term highly transient peaks in a distortion free manner but the high quality power cords made up for that deficiency.

Mr. Sharpe

Sweet! Thanks for all the replies, another reason for cutting this up is I didn’t pay anything for it so it’s not like I’m losing anything. it was tossed in when I ordered my Furman PFI15 several years back.
I probably won’t cut off the iec and plug that’s on it already. I have plenty of generic cables I can always compare with too! I like the way these looked when I started using them but when I changed from the regular 14 to the SE on my blu ray player I saw deeper blacks and better contrast. I had used the 14 for probably a year before switching it out, even my wife mentioned something about it bc I thought I was seeing things. I’ll probably post some pics once I get to doing this.

pitdogg2

Exactly use the ends the Pangea came with and just but a set of plug and iec ends. Boom two cables....

Well unless you plan on making 3 cables out of it.

audioluvr

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Gardenstater wrote: »

Emlyn wrote: »

I say go for it too, but...

Tripp-Lite 15 amp cords for under $10:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027JRMD0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I did not want to believe it but I have heard substantial differences in the SQ of my sub when a friend has twice brought over 6 ft. DIY power cables (one 12 and the other 14awg) made from teflon insulated UPOCC wire and the above plugs I mentioned. This is compared to a 14awg 6 ft Monoprice power cord.

out of... academic... curiosity
1) what sort of substantial differences?
2) for the better or... well, you know... the other kind?

The expensive ones had this loud sucking sound emanating from the purchasers wallet region followed by distant laughter.

Mr. Sharpe

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Exactly use the ends the Pangea came with and just but a set of plug and iec ends. Boom two cables....

Well unless you plan on making 3 cables out of it.

I’m shooting for three, they don’t have to be really long, 3 feet would be very useful. I have two other regular 14’s but are .6m and idk if I’ll be able to use them:-/

one step at a time I guess😁

F1nut

You cannot reuse the terminations as they are permanently molded to the cable.

pitdogg2

F1nut wrote: »

You cannot reuse the terminations as they are permanently molded to the cable.

Sure you can. You're not removing them. You're using the factory ends and adding either a plug or iec opposite of the factory end on the cut end.
The third cable will need both new iec and plug on the cable.

motorstereo

I'll admit my workmanship isn't as good as what a factory can do so in my case I would find a use for that long cable before I'd attempt to butcher it.
If you do chop it some pics would be nice.

audioluvr

You could send it back to the manufacturer to be made into the desired lengths with factory ends.

VR3

Power cable ends are super simple... Philips screw driver and maybe heat shrink on the wire before you install... Done. You can do it!

sgmsmg

audioluvr wrote: »

You could send it back to the manufacturer to be made into the desired lengths with factory ends.

Unfortunately Pangea cords don't work that way. Like F1nut said the ends are molded so they cannot be removed so like pitdogg2 said just use aftermarket plugs for the cut ends.