April 20, 2015

  • Pranawire Satori, Part 14

    In early 1994, I purchased an API Power Wedge 116, which rested on the floor, right next to an AC outlet. I realized that, with the API 116 in this position, only a short powercord was needed. At the time, both API and Kimber happily made their PL-313 and PowerKord, respectively, in 1-foot lengths.

    Uh oh. As the API 116 took up residence at my house, ACS and her friends would frequent San Francisco's "adult entertainment" stores. ACS and her girlfriends liked to check out dildos. But I still recall the expression on one girl's face, as she discovered a double-sided dildo. ACS enthusiastically stepped in, and said that the double-sided dildo was "for two girls."

    Sigh, whenever I got 1-foot long powercords with bulbous AC plugs, ACS likened them to double-sided dildos.
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    Regarding the Pranawire Satori, here are some important factors. Yes, Pranawire can make the Satori in short lengths. This particular sample is 8.5" long. However, with the now standard Oyaide M1/F1 plugs [original production runs of the Satori utilized the Acrolink CF plugs], this Satori measures 15" long, tip-to-tip. As these are custom orders, I do not know if Pranawire will charge the same as a full 1-meter length, which is currently $2950.
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    Like all powercords, the Satori needs to be properly burned-in. Very few cable burn-in devices treat powercords. But the audiodharma Cable Cooker does. Throughout the years, I've had at least a dozen Satoris. Through trial and error, I have learned that a Satori should see 4-6 days on the Cable Cooker.

    In November 1996, ACS and I received the floorstanding Thiel CS.5. When hooking up the CS.5, ACS and I would hold up the Kimber 8TC. When the 8TC was plopped onto the floor, the sound became closed-in, rolled-off, and congested. Thus, we learned that cables needed to be off of the floor. When I bought some ceramic "cable towers," ACS called them "dick lifts." But she also said they looked like "upturned breasts." She would also say that certain cables strung across cable towers looked like a "shirt pulled down too low" across a woman's boobs, or "nipple piercings."
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    Bottom line, if you want to preserve the Satori's high-frequency prowess and midrange openness, you must get it off of the ground.