Sablon power cords

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Fair enough. I guess if the whole country works with UK plugs then following the norm makes sense. Over here we buy all most of our distributors with us sockets and lots change the wall sockets too. UK plugs are a bit cumbersome and a pain and have crappy fuses.
Yes, Mark of Sablon would agree...though he can at request put in higher quality fuses into his plugs. At his recommendation, I have SR Orange I believe.
 
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Sablon Audio

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A quick heads up for those of you contemplating a King cord - the Bocchino USA plugs are now all sold out until the next peoduction run materialises in mid-October. I started a waiting list last weekend and this is filling fast. The Prince model is however available within a more reasonable timeframe.
 

heebrog

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May 12, 2018
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I recently purchased 2 Prince power cords after glowing endorsements by many respected members here; one for my Extreme and the other for my Chord DAVE.

I was previously using HFC CT-1 Ultimate Reference for the DAVE and an Allnic ZL-5000 for the Extreme both via a Sound Applications TT-7 PGI conditioner.

After a few days of burn-in, I am very pleased with my purchase.
There is a lovely smoothness and atmosphere to the sound which I noticed with well recorded string quartets.The string tone of the cello is simply wonderful and the interplay between the various instruments is easier to follow even on unfamiliar pieces. I am finding I am listening to complete works more frequently; admiring the soundscape rather than jumping around looking for familiar demo tracks.

There is also a new found dynamic punch which I can't understand coming from source components but I don't really care and there may be more to come as the burn-in process continues.

Thanks Mark.
 

Sablon Audio

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Carmine Bocchino advised me yesterday that he is putting through a 20% price rise on his mains connectors after my current pending order. Although I will be able to allocate this plug shipment at existing prices, once these are gone I will need to revisit my pricing structure.
 
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NanoSword

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Mar 1, 2020
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I've tested the king Sablon on all of my devices and wherever I put it I hear sounds more naturally.
When I put it in the electrical extension I found the biggest benefit that all the devices and cables in the same extension take advantage of the Sablon cable sound nature and gain the air that I actually miss from some of the cables.
I consider this cable a necessity in my audio system and it cannot be compromised.
 
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LL21

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Carmine Bocchino advised me yesterday that he is putting through a 20% price rise on his mains connectors after my current pending order. Although I will be able to allocate this plug shipment at existing prices, once these are gone I will need to revisit my pricing structure.
Hi Mark, thanks for the notice. When you say mains connectors, does this apply to his products generally incl his IEC?
 

LL21

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Thanks for letting us know, Mark. I have made my order!
 
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spiritofmusic

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Just installed two more Bocchino modded Elite pwr cords ie Prince Sablons. On my Nat Audio SE2SE 70W 211 monos. To add to the one on my Nat Audio Utopia tubed pre.

I was gonna wait a few days to leave my impressions, but as with all Mark's creations (now with added Carmine goodness), they just sound great out of the box, and carry on getting better. So I have some amazing comparisons to refer my system to, and the changes wrought by stuff like the Prince Sablons. Added to the fact that I'm the most content I've ever been with my sound, any changes now to my nicely evolved presentation are of great curiosity to me.

And the Prince Sablons don't disappoint. Nothing overly obvious, just a further nailing of timbral accuracy. I'm listening to yet another LP boxset of Haydn symphonies, and my appreciation of differences and essential character of wind instruments is especially enhanced. Add to this, a real sense of palpable ease and deep texture on tuba and trombone swells, and that jump to closer to reality, so hard to achieve with the wrong system balance or room acoustics, is uncanny.

Additionally, there is real attack in those bowed massed strings, I'm getting way more drama as the orchestra picks up intensity, and the realism in strings tone again is upping the ante on enjoyment over and over.

Moving onto my more familiar prog genre, Hatfield And The North vinyl, that can be a polyrythmic mess, is really enhanced on the texture front and instrumental lines that were always a little "mashed" together are more seperate and intelligible, but the holistic completeness of the performance doesn't suffer in any way.

My guess is the Prince Sablons are lowering noise floor to allow more detail thru, but in the time honoured Sablon way, the effect is to lock tone density and variation, timbral accuracy, and to nail that totally vital midband, from which treble and bass evolve.

Totally fantastic from Mark.

My system has been really singing of late, no pricey upgrades or tweaks made this year other than my new tonearm and sorting final room acoustic issue.

Additionally I've been visiting Blue58 and Audiophile Bill with their stellar, superbly dialled in digital- and analog-fronted exemplary horns-based systems.

And it's based on where my system has evolved and the reference to these two stellar comparisons, that I frame my comments.
 

Sablon Audio

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Some insightful feedback from ultrafi member LL21 (post 88 in https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/best-cost-no-object-cables.31381/page-5)

Hi All,

I have been waiting nearly 4 months to get the system completely reassembled and tuned...it is not there yet, but at least all of the key pieces are back in order. New speakers, new preamp, Gryphon amp got damaged due to a fault in another piece of equipment and finally came back today.

And of course, the reason for this particular post...a new set of power cables...changed from my historic 10 year 'old reliables'. Sablon Audio Prince (Orange fuse). Over the years, I have heard:

- Transparent Audio Opus Gen 5
- Purist Audio 25th Anniversary, 20th Anniversary, Dominus (own all)
- Vertere (brief hearing...do not recall which one)
- Crystal Cable Absolute Dream
- Gryphon VIP Reference (own)

I have A/Bd in home:
- TA Opus Gen 5 vs Sablon Audio Prince vs PAD 25th Anniversary, 20th Anniversary and Dominus
- Crystal Cable Absolute Dream vs the above

Overall, I declared the Sablon Audio Prince Orange the absolute winner on all counts. It was not based on price but on absolute all-out performance, and the decision was decisive. Namely:

- a density of tone with a clarity that I did not find in the 25th Anniversary (which is the most lucid of the PADs other than the Dominus which is exceedingly clear but a bit coarse)
- shockingly, a far more powerful propulsion in upper bass (something I was not expecting)...the ability to shock/punch in the upper bass
- a quiet ease which eluded the Crystal Cable Absolute Dream (which was neck and neck with the PAD 25th Anniversary in the Gryphon)
- a clarity and superior capability to maintain an even effortless keel on all the syncopated rhythms of deep house simultaneously that very cleared bested the TA Opus Gen 5 (which in our system was remarkably elegant, but almost too much so)

Now on to the value proposition which is astoundingly good given that it costs half of the TA Opus Gen 5 and 1/6th of the PAD 25th Anniversary or Absolute Dreams. Again, this was a search for all out absolute performance, not best performance/price ratio.

This is only our system, our ears, but I have been waiting until the system settled in, the old cables have been formally and finally swapped out permanently (now for resale) before posting. Thanks to Mark Coles who founded the business and continues to dedicate his time and efforts to constantly driving his products forward.
 

Kingsrule

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Carmine Bocchino advised me yesterday that he is putting through a 20% price rise on his mains connectors after my current pending order. Although I will be able to allocate this plug shipment at existing prices, once these are gone I will need to revisit my pricing structure.

This unbelievable considering what the world is going thru.....What he should be doing is expanding capacity so he can sell to everyone, not just cord manufacturers.....then he could maintain or actually lower his prices as the volume goes up......
 

Sablon Audio

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This unbelievable considering what the world is going thru.....What he should be doing is expanding capacity so he can sell to everyone, not just cord manufacturers.....then he could maintain or actually lower his prices as the volume goes up......

I’m afraid he isn’t the only one as Furutech are also pushing through price rises just now. To be fair though, his prices have been the same for a while so there’s an element of catch up going on.

As all the Bocchino products are CNC machined from billet, production isn’t that scalable for mass market volumes. That said, much of his range is available for public sale with the exception of the usa and iec plugs which are OEM supply only.
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Whatever the arguments on Bocchinos upgrades pricing to Sablon Elites pwr cords, the effects can't be denied.

I've been over the moon recently with my tt motor upgrade, but I thought I'd stick 100% with cd at the start of the week.

And the effects of the Bocchinos upgrades are really decisive. I have a lot of challengingly (aka non-audiophile SQ Lol) mastered prog and fusion deep genre silver discs.

They were borderline unlistenable until I got my Eera cdp and upped the rest of my system to where it is today.

The Bocchinos have absolutely opened up the tap on dynamics, but at no tonal disadvantage (here my Mazdas Mullards 6DJ8 preamp tubes are helping massively on tonally saturated colors). Discs that could easily burn my eardrums with drier, more astringent cables (I know which ones don't float my boat) now have greater jump factor but with no edginess or toppiness.

For me, it's times like this that I know I made a good decision in getting the core gear that talks to me in the areas I consider most critical for gear to get right, tonal density, texture/palpability, and mids realism. And then changes to wring as much performance on dynamics, air, timbral accuracy, gently layered soundstage, and natural warmth.

The Bocchinos Sablons are ticking so many boxes, explosive dynamics and dynamic scaling really revealed for the first time today...on the most challenging of recordings.
 

Sablon Audio

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On the first day of Christmas, Carmine sent to me........enough mains plugs to resolve @1/3 of my King Sablon order backlog.
23C6DCAD-E4CF-4593-8BA7-CF458B66FFD4.jpeg


As I alluded to earlier in a reply to Kingsrule, the supply of these plugs isn’t like a tap which can simply be turned on for more. The past weeks have seen some production hiccups which have caused delays and I must thank my customers for their forbearance. Right now, I am working through the backlog, allocating according to when orders were placed. More plugs are already on their way to complete November’s orders provide for December also.

Going forward, I have already placed a larger order for January delivery to proactively build a bigger stock buffer of my own to enable faster turnaround.
 

Kingsrule

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Feb 3, 2011
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On the first day of Christmas, Carmine sent to me........enough mains plugs to resolve @1/3 of my King Sablon order backlog.
View attachment 72005


As I alluded to earlier in a reply to Kingsrule, the supply of these plugs isn’t like a tap which can simply be turned on for more. The past weeks have seen some production hiccups which have caused delays and I must thank my customers for their forbearance. Right now, I am working through the backlog, allocating according to when orders were placed. More plugs are already on their way to complete November’s orders provide for December also.

Going forward, I have already placed a larger order for January delivery to proactively build a bigger stock buffer of my own to enable faster turnaround.
I never "alluded" to anything Marc. I suggested an increase in manufacturing capacity and selling these plugs to everyone would be a way to keep prices at current level or actually sell more and lower them.....
 

Steve Vu

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Oct 26, 2020
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I need one King Sablon power cable 8 feet. Does anyone want to sell it? Please PM me. Thanks.
 

Sablon Audio

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May 22, 2015
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@Steve Vu - most people order 5-6ft cords and I have only made a couple in this longer length, so I think your chances of finding a used example are slight. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss a new build, as I have a large consignment of plugs arriving next week.
 

shaned

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Nov 7, 2019
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Just wondering what people think is the first piece of equipment you should put a Prince Sablon into. I hope to change all my plugs to Prince Sablons over the next 12 to 18 months. That’s 4/5 so is there an opinion of what you should plug it into whether it’s streamer/TT motor going upwards to the Amp or from the Amp down to the streamer.
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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Because I run two sources, it made sense to plug my first Prince into the preamp, to spread the goodness btwn LP and CD.
In the pre-Bocchinos loom when I added further Sablon Elites, tonality was reinforced by the additional cords.
But w the Bocchinos in the mix, there is cumulative benefits from the spooky low noise floor that the Princes provide.
So, I loved the Prince on my preamp, but adding Princes on my monoblocks has dramatically opened up my sound further.
Moral of this story? Tonality is set by the first preamp power cord, but reduced noise floor from further additions dramatically boosts performance further. No apparent law of diminishing returns.
I'm looking at Bocchinos on my CDP, Straingauge energiser LPS and tt motor LPS.
 
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