A king is visiting Hong Kong : the Sablon Audio King Sablon powercord

[CKKeung]

I must thank Mr. Mark Coles of Sablon Audio to let me to have the opportunity of enjoying his flagship powercord - King Sablon for a few weeks.

The parcel arrived and was unexpectedly large and heavy.

A lot of bubble plastic sheets for protection.

 

[CKKeung]

The King Sablon is unlike any of the audiophile powercords which I have encountered before.
The built is far better than all previous Sablon Audio series.

The Bocchino power connectors are AWESOME!

 

[spiritofmusic]

That plug end looks bigger than most listening rooms in HK!

 

[CKKeung]

The ground pin is a solid bar!
I guess the Bocchino power plugs can conduct whatever high current with ease.



According to Mark, the Bocchino power connectors are difficult to make and are always backordered, and only a few audiophile cable makers are able to get them for their flagship products.

I know little about the materials which make the pins and connector enclosure.
Maybe Mark can give us more info?

 

[CKKeung]

I didn't want to make the beautiful white connectors dirty so they were wrapped with Glad Wrap when being "boiled" at my home.

Mark told me that he had treated it with a cable cooking machine, but I guessed it still needed some workout before I evaluated it and brought it to audiophile gatherings in Hong Kong.



I boiled it on my home powerstrip, on the Furutech NCF socket.
The grip is very secure, tight and stable, despite that the Bocchino power plug is big and heavy.

During the next several days, I will psot more photos and tell you how it perfoms in my audio syatem and at audiophile gatherings in HK.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Sorry for what might be a silly q, but what if you wanted to plug in six King Sablons on that strip?
Could you accommodate them all?

 

[CKKeung]

Sorry for what might be a silly q, but what if you wanted to plug in six King Sablons on that strip?
Could you accommodate them all?

Nothing is perfect.
A compromise between usability and performance in conduction/prevention of interference & vibration.

It's obvious in the photo that the Bocchino power plug is occupying so much space.
Users have to consider this factor when planning the purchase.

 

[Sablon Audio]

Peter, thanks so much for sharing your photos and initial impressions. I have asked Carmine for some more details on the materials he uses for the plug casings but can tell you that the pins are machined from a high purity virgin mined copper which is then heavily plated with silver. More anon.

 

[LL21]

Look forward to reading about how it sounds!

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Look forward to reading about how it sounds!

It is an addictive monster - I auditioned an earlier version with the Bocch IEC “only” (plug end was Furutech NCF) but with the new humongous guage / geometry. It was fantastic and I was pissed when I had to send it back lol.

 

[Sablon Audio]

Look forward to reading about how it sounds!

Hi Lloyd, here is some fb on a hybrid model like Bill described above. I took it to a dealer friend yesterday and he replaced a cord costing @$12k with mine. Is several generations more evolved than the early cord of mine you have

Amazing!
It’s a single ended triode with an awesome low end.

 

[LL21]

Hi Mark,

Sounds great. Two questions:

1. How much?

2. Does it come with UK termination?

 

[Sablon Audio]

Hi Mark,

Sounds great. Two questions:

1. How much?

2. Does it come with UK termination?

Will email you the details for UK termination Lloyd

 

[CKKeung]

Two more photos of the female IEC side of the Bocchino powerplug on the King Sablon powercord.
It's smaller in size than the male side.
The IEC socket and the body of the plug are made of whitish telfon-like material.
The anti-vibration & shielding effect must be very good.

 

[Sablon Audio]

I didn't want to make the beautiful white connectors dirty so they were wrapped with Glad Wrap when being "boiled" at my home.

Mark told me that he had treated it with a cable cooking machine, but I guessed it still needed some workout before I evaluated it and brought it to audiophile gatherings in Hong Kong.

View attachment 45497

I boiled it on my home powerstrip, on the Furutech NCF socket.
The grip is very secure, tight and stable, despite that the Bocchino power plug is big and heavy.

During the next several days, I will psot more photos and tell you how it perfoms in my audio syatem and at audiophile gatherings in HK.

There is no getting away from the fact that the Bocchino plugs are huge. The iec alone seems colossal but the USA plug is @50% larger in volume. Although the pins have been offset by 90 degrees to allow a pair of these plugs to be mounted alongside in a duplex outlet, their width can infringe on adjacent outlets like in Peter's distribution block above. Whilst he could potentially use the outer sockets to fit 4 cords, I also offer a hybrid model which uses the NCF USA (or UK or Schuko) plug which combines the usual 6awg conductor area of the Elite model together with the Bocchino iec of the King Sablon at a commensurately lower price point. Big gains accrue from the Bocchino IEC alone over the NCF equivalent, so don't think of it as a poor cousin!

 

[CKKeung]

Would like to update you on my impression and my audiophile friends', on this King Sablon powercord.
I used it not only on my own system but have also taken it to audiophile gatherings in HK.

The above photo was taken at one of the gatherings.
This good friend of mine bought an unit in an industrial building for music enjoyment and held gatherings there regularly. The listening area is about 450 sq feet which is perfect for a large audiophile system.

The LP turntable, speaker and amplifiers are vintage stuff : the legendary Cello Suite, Equilizer and Performance II monos.
Do you recognize the horn speakers there?

 

[BruceD]

Indeed I've owned the Cello setup as pictured--I gather they drove the Pioneers fine--I have to admit the Performance Amps could not drive the
Wilson Grand Slamms I tried at the time. I notice pair of Janis W-1 Subs-- fine products!

BruceD

 

[CKKeung]

I contrast to the LP, amps & speaker, my friend has fully embraced a very modern digital frontend :
He has a diy CAS desktop computer with linear powersupplies and the HQPlayer as playback software.
Its usb output is connected to an Uptone IsoRegen, then a SOtM tx-USBultra which is clocked by a Cybershaft new Limited OP20 10M clock.
Then the signal goes into a Chord Blu2 which upscales it to pcm758 and sends it by two Habst 5N silver coaxial cables to a Chord DAVE dac for decoding.

During our gathering, the King Sablon was applied on the Chord Blu2 :



Clad Wrap was used on the King Sablon as protection for the beautiful white colour Bocchino connectors. Photo from another angle :



The several powerlines are separated from those for non-audio electrical appliances. The big Bocchino male power plug sat comfortably and securely during the audition.



IMHO the King Sablon gives me a very different impression when compared to the other Sablon Audio cables.
The latter are very musical and involving.
But the King Sablon gives me an immediate feeling of Authority and Liveliness in additional to musicality.
One of the usual pitfalls of CAS is the suboptimal "density" of the images & soundstage, which are much "diluted" when compared with LP & CD/SACD.
The King Sablon powercord excels in these 2 areas.
Images becomes vivid, lively and 3-dimensional. The soundstage is no longer empty but filled with "air".
Also, and not unexpected, King Sablon gives excellent macrodynamics and microdynamics.
The Bocchino connectors are big in size but the sound is agile.
The treble is extended, smooth and beautiful.
Mark : are there silver wires in the King Sablon?

All in all, King Sablon is definitely a top audiophile powercord and can fight with those conventional big brands costing 2 times more.
This is my first encounter of the Bocchino power connectors and I guess they must be contributing much to the great performance of King Sablon.

Is it perfect? Not of course but the only consideration that I can think of is the size of the Bocchino power connectors. Some components or power sockets may not have sufficient space for them but I think this must be a much less important consideration in N Am & European audiophiles. Your listening areas/rooms must be much biggers than ours in Hong Kong.

Last but not least, I have to thank Mr. Mark Coles of Sablon Audio again for giving the opportunity to enjoy and review this fabulous King Sablon powercord!

 

[spiritofmusic]

CK, every stage I've gone thru on Sablon ownership, from the original Panatella and Gran Corona, to Reserva and Elite, now to modded Elite, has brought to the fore more air, texture, authority, natural warmth, tonal density, and accurate timbre.

I can only imagine what the Bocchinos bring to the party.

 

[CKKeung]

Indeed I've owned the Cello setup as pictured--I gather they drove the Pioneers fine--I have to admit the Performance Amps could not drive the
Wilson Grand Slamms I tried at the time. I notice pair of Janis W-1 Subs-- fine products!
BruceD

Correct! They are TAD/Exclusive 2402 speakers.
https://audio-database.com/PIONEER-EXCLUSIVE/speaker/model2402-e.html
They do receive great help from supertweeters and the Janis subs!