Cullen Cables ?

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Mechnutt

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Has any one had any experience with Cullen Cables. Their 10g power cables are reasonably priced. I am not willing to spend $300 on a power cable and these are reasonably priced for an area of audio that is filled with snake oil.

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Patrick makes a very good cable for the money and is one I would recommend if you are not wanting to spend stupid money for a PC. Good build quality and very good sounding. Try his Crossover power cord- its a very good cord regardless of price. I use them in parts of my system. They take about 50 hours to break-in, but he offers a 30 day money back guarantee on them.

gjg
 
Thanks, I will order one after the holidays and post a review. I wonder how his XLR's are.
 
You might want to investigate the quality of other value offerings before you buy Cullen. For example, compare outer jacket, braiding, and dielectric materials used by DH Labs compared to Cullen. The quality and design of these materials can make a long-term difference and do not necessarily result in excessive cost.
 
Hiker said:
You might want to investigate the quality of other value offerings before you buy Cullen. For example, compare outer jacket, braiding, and dielectric materials used by DH Labs compared to Cullen. The quality and design of these materials can make a long-term difference and do not necessarily result in excessive cost.
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I looked at DH labs, the most comparable cable in price to the Cullen is a 14g power cable where the Cullen is 10g. I prefer 10g to go with the Pass amp. DH Labs has an 11g but it costs over $120 more. After just dropping 5 grand on gear and needing a good set of XLR's, I am going to be cheap with the power cord for now.
 
Having heard both the DH and Cullen, I prefer the Cullen cables. The gauge of the power cord (assuming its greater than 14 gauge) actually has very little to do with the overall sound of a PC. The distributed capacitance of the wire will have the the most significant impact on the sound of a power cable, followed by the type of conductor used, use of shielding, and ends/termination used. Both Triode Pete's and Patrick's power cord have a significant amount of distributed capacitance in their power cords- one reason I like the sound of both of them. I will be interested in what you think of the Cullen cables.

gjg
 
ggraff, since you've had both Triode Wire Labs and Cullen cables, cost aside, if you were to choose a set to audition, 10-plus or Crossovers, which would you choose to start with? Both have 30-day returns. This is for a desktop computer system, i.e., Maestro outlet to computer and for two powered speakers (Focal CMS 40). Thanks,
 
Mechnutt said:
Has any one had any experience with Cullen Cables. Their 10g power cables are reasonably priced. I am not willing to spend $300 on a power cable and these are reasonably priced for an area of audio that is filled with snake oil.
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Like it or not, you get what you pay for. I started with Pangea, and they were inexpensive, and a step up over stock power cords. Of course, Shunyata cables utterly decimated the Pangea cables, but at a higher price.
 
They are both excellent cables and only differ in the flavor they give. Patrick's cables are more on the analytic/neutral side while Pete's are slightly more tube like in their presentation. Both are an exceptional value and I would not hesitate to recommend either for someone not wanting to spend what I call stupid money.

I replaced my Cardas Golden Reference and Shunyatas power cords with Patrick's. I got a significant performance increase and made money at the same time. I ran into Pete's last year when we showed with him at THE Show (and subsequently at RMAF) and thought it made our equipment sound significantly better than previous cords we had used from another well know vendor I will not name (but it wasn't Patrick's). Pete and I have been missing connections so I could put one in our reference system and judge its full merits. But based on what his did in our show system, I have every confidence in recommending it to people.

For full disclosure, I have since replaced most of Patrick's wires with ones that we developed based on our speaker wires. Those will not be coming to market because they would be just too expensive to compete effectively with the plus $2,000 crowd. Besides, we don't want the product liability issue you can have with power cords.

Since they are both friends, I will not recommend one over the other. Even if they were not friends, I would hesitate recommending one over the other since the differences really come down to the flavor you are looking for.

Sorry I could not be of more help. I guess one way to look at your question is do you think your desktop would resolve the differences between the two? If not, I would go for the cheapest.

gjg
 
ggraff said:
They are both excellent cables and only differ in the flavor they give. Patrick's cables are more on the analytic/neutral side while Pete's are slightly more tube like in their presentation. Both are an exceptional value and I would not hesitate to recommend either for someone not wanting to spend what I call stupid money.

I replaced my Cardas Golden Reference and Shunyatas power cords with Patrick's. I got a significant performance increase and made money at the same time. I ran into Pete's last year when we showed with him at THE Show (and subsequently at RMAF) and thought it made our equipment sound significantly better than previous cords we had used from another well know vendor I will not name (but it wasn't Patrick's). Pete and I have been missing connections so I could put one in our reference system and judge its full merits. But based on what his did in our show system, I have every confidence in recommending it to people.

For full disclosure, I have since replaced most of Patrick's wires with ones that we developed based on our speaker wires. Those will not be coming to market because they would be just too expensive to compete effectively with the plus $2,000 crowd. Besides, we don't want the product liability issue you can have with power cords.

Since they are both friends, I will not recommend one over the other. Even if they were not friends, I would hesitate recommending one over the other since the differences really come down to the flavor you are looking for.

Sorry I could not be of more help. I guess one way to look at your question is do you think your desktop would resolve the differences between the two? If not, I would go for the cheapest.

gjg
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Great advice.
 
ggraff, I sent you a PM first, not wanting to put you on the spot here, then realized it wasn't going to be delivered because I'm new to AudioShark. Your answer actually does help a lot. My system is Ciunas dac, Focal CMS 40 speakers, Teresonic Clarison silver ICs and Maestro outlet, so it shows the difference between cords and cables quite well. And I've listened to a few: Pangea, MAC HC, Shunyata Venom 3, Grant Fidelity and WyWires silver. Plus, I have sensitive and critical ears. Since I'm more a music than 'sound' person (in the common audiophile sense of the latter), I favor tube-like timbre more than the analytical, other dimensions being equal or close. And that would complement my desktop system well. I do note, though, that Patrick describes his Crossover cord as tube like (unlike his other cords), but as an independent listener I take your thoughts for good coin. I also have a 2.0 TV system - Grant Fidelity TubeDac-11, AE 5+ speakers (for the remote volume control), Silflex Toslink and Tersonic ICs. Maybe the Cullen's would work better there. Their price certainly does. Thanks.
 
I have a Triode Wire Labs 10 Plus on my amp and it's one of the best I've had. I find it very transparent and clear..and very musical.
 
Nice to hear. I've been using a 10+ as my computer cord off a Maestro outlet for the past week, roughly 125 hours of music alone, and am very pleased. Right off, even compared to the nice WyWires silver the difference in transparency and staging was stunning, and as the week progressed the ragged edges have disappeared, allowing the cord's warmth to develop. Have a pair of Cullen Crossovers coming soon to compare, before deciding what to put where (TV system too). One thing that intrigues is the possibility of using Cullen's power box with a crossover cord. Would love to find a box that doesn't turn everything steely and cool/cold.

I should add that the latest version of JPlay (5.2) is a real improvement, and Vincent Burrell's VB ASIO Audio Bridge and Virtual Cable is a great idea, allowing JPlay to be used with Spotify, Pandora, VLC, Zoom Player, the web, etc.
 
Wires in general and power cords in particular are very system dependent. I hope that you find that Patrick's are what you are looking for. I have had MANY power cords in my system over the years and think Patrick's and Pete's are among the best I have heard for under $1K. Since we are a wire manufacturer, we finally decided to build our power cord- for our personal use only. That is the only reason I no longer use Patrick's cables in our reference system. We took distributed capacitance one step further than either Patrick or Pete and the results were better IN OUR SYSTEM. I will be interested in what you think if you decide to get one of Patrick's PCs.

Happy Holidays

gjg
 
Pete makes a very good power cord that does not also require you to take a second mortgage out on your house. The best thing is that he is also a real gentleman. I really like to support the "good guys" in this business.

Happy Holidays

gjg
 
ggraff said:
Pete makes a very good power cord that does not also require you to take a second mortgage out on your house. The best thing is that he is also a real gentleman. I really like to support the "good guys" in this business.

Happy Holidays

gjg
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Just saw this post...
Thanks, Greg! Coming from a friend & competitor, I appreciate your accolades!

Cheers,
Pete
 
ggraff said:
They are both excellent cables and only differ in the flavor they give. Patrick's cables are more on the analytic/neutral side while Pete's are slightly more tube like in their presentation. Both are an exceptional value and I would not hesitate to recommend either for someone not wanting to spend what I call stupid money.
...
Sorry I could not be of more help. I guess one way to look at your question is do you think your desktop would resolve the differences between the two? If not, I would go for the cheapest.gjg
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It turns out my desktop system was able to distinguish between Patrick's Crossover and Pete's Ten Plus cords (and a couple of others) more or less readily. That is, less so with my TV system, but still enough to make a decision to go with Pete's for now. In what follows, I wish to emphasize that power cords really do seem to be system dependent. For example, where the Cullen sounded forward in my 2.0 TV system (w/ dac), they were unbearably recessed in my desktop one.

Here's a summary of what I found common to the Cullens in all configurations and both systems after 350 hrs of burnin. Also involved in the testing were Shunyata Venom 3's and a WyWires Juice 2 (silver).

- Tonality: Patrick has a very good ear
- Smoothness: excellent, about the best I've heard (wish Pete's had a little bit more of this, esp. up top and down low)
- Clarity (quiet) - very good
- Bass - very good
- Very listenable

OTOH, I've found those qualities to be limited or undermined by a palpable sense of constriction (heard from Day 1), which I noted in the following areas:

- Bloom ("air") - voices and instruments sounded limited no matter what position I put the cords in; this is awfully important not just on its own merits, but also because it is tied to a sense of dimensionality and detail. It was very frustrating, given their good qualities
- Dynamics - a little less "explosive"
- Detail - seems partly related to limited sense of bloom/air
- Soundstage - not bad in depth, but a bit narrow compared to the others in width

While I know some would say that comparison with cords costing in the $350-430 range is unfair, to me that's not relevant, plus I don't get the sense from Patrick's Audiogon ads that he sees his work and what he's aiming at that way.

Again, power cords seem especially to be highly system dependent (I just changed the power fuse in my TV dac and wish I had thought of doing so while the Cullen's were here).

Btw, Patrick was great all the way through, a pleasure to deal with.
 
Check out Chis' (VH Audio) Flavor 4 power cable sometime.
I think you might like what you hear compared to the other 2 you mention.
A little more expensive, but not so "equipment dependent" as the other 2 designs.
Just something to consider, awesome "bang for buck".
 
[I've also asking around about DCCA for the same reason]

I must first say that I am fairly skeptical about the claims most power cable companies make. A good friend of mine lent me a few of his power cables (all from makers we all know) to try out; some were good, some were no different, and some were bad compared to stock power cables. Even the good ones, on further investigation, seemed to be shrouded in mystery rather than based on physics. That is when I came across Patrick (Cullen Cable) and Don (DCCA). Both are very knowledgeable and are just great people in general, the kind of people you don't worry about ripping you off or selling you a bill of goods. My father and I decided to try each out: he went with the Cullen and I the DCCA. I have not yet heard back from him, but here is my thoughts on Don's cables.

I recently bought two of Don's (DCCA) "The Source" power cables (the 6" version) to power my monoblocks. I had specifically asked Don for the most dead silent, neutral cable he had . . . and he delivered. Right out of the box there was a dramatic difference, with much wider soundstage and more dynamic response. After 300 hours of break in, they only got better. There are no shrill or tinny highs, no augmented bass, no overly analytical or relaxed, warm sound. Just pure, unadulterated sound. I have used an analogy to help describe what I mean: I is like owning a Ferrari and never taking it out of first gear. These cables don't change the sound of your system, they just allow it to operate at it's fullest.

They are more expensive than Patrick's, but downright cheap when compared to some of the ridiculousness that is out there. And I can attest they have bested most (if not all) of the most expensive power cables I have heard.
 
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