reduces harshness...fast, good dynamics, sweet treble, good everything..better than any power cable i have used around the same price range

none so far

excellent power cord...would recommend it 2 anyone with any system...buy with absolute confidence

Similar Products Used:

russ andrews classic powerkord with wattgate 320, Eupen 2.5, Eupen 4.0

Nice construction, no mumbo-jumbo manufacturer data, extremely quiet noise floor, better definition across soundstage, allows you to see deeper and wider into recording

Would be better if free (what wouldn't?)

Think power cords don't make a difference - try the LAT AC-2. It's quiet, dynamic, fast, fluid, ballsy. It significantly lowers the noise floor of the system and each one added to the chain is accretive in it's benefits. I own 5 of them - to my PS Audio Power Plant, Ultimate Outlet, Pre, and two to my monoblocks. The sum total spent has been better than a component upgrade. I've got a 6th on the way for my DAC. I haven't tried others to compare (except cheapos that come with component), but the effects are real here. I was a power cord skeptic 18 months ago I assure you! Highly recommended!

Similar Products Used:

Stock power cords

Gives a spacious smooth accurate presentation

None we could hear

Before buying, I looked at many cable company web sites and saw all their claims and gobbly gook technical talk. Everybody says they have the best cable. So much hype out there. What to do?! What to do?! The LAT International web site seemed to be the most down to earth. I liked the price and their money back guarantee and plain talk. You might want to give it a look - very informative in revealing all the hype in the cable business, latinternational.com I decided to give their AC-2 a whirl. I thought I would put it to the test up against two cords in the same price class as the LAT. They were the Kimber 10 PowerKord and the Harmonic Technologies Pro AC II. I also put it up against a very pricey cord the JPS Labs Kaptovator at $1500.00. But first I wanted to be sure I had some good credibility in this evaluation, not just my own, so I imposed on a dealer and his assistant, both enthusiasts who I know personally and asked them if they would host the audition of all four cables at their shop. Our consensus of the evaluation was generally the same so you can conclude that the evaluations are generally unanimous. In comparison to the LAT, the Kimber had a flabby bass, not controlled. The Kimber had a very noticeable background noise. It either could not get rid of this grunge coming through the AC source or it created it. Sound stage was decent but not as wide as the Harmonic, and definitely not as wide as the LAT. Sibilance on voices was apparent and bothersome. The Harmonic displayed a definite over hang of bass. In fact, throughout the entire frequency range it lacked impact when the music demanded it. Timbre was not sufficiently accurate to identify many string instruments in complex music passages. The LAT by comparison has accurate tight, bass. It providing just the correct amount of impact and slam, when it was on the disc. In well recorded discs, hall ambiance came through so as to recognize the type of venue; concert hall, medium size or small size room. It effortlessly produced a relaxing, accurate presentation no matter what ever you threw at it. The Kimber and Harmonic may be in the same price class, but definitely not in the same performance class as the LAT. The LAT easily blows them away! The JPS was noticeably better than the Kimber and Harmonic. But in comparing it to the LAT in all the above categories it was no match. In my book (or ears

Similar Products Used:

Kimber, Harmonic Technologies and JPS Labs

Make a List, then check ''em all off.

Stupid me, should''ve bought earlier and enjoyed music some more.

Wowsa! I was a real skeptic to the hi-end hub-bub about cabling. Then, I tried some better quality cable and, ultimately, led me to the excellent LAT IC-200D Interconnect I use as references. Deep, articulate, strong, clear. Then, I was still somewhat unexcited by the prospect of loudspeaker cable changes. I held tight to my belief any good 12 guage wire will do and used basic (cheap) Apature cable for years. I upgraded to Kimber 4TC and found many appealling attributes, but it overall left me wanting. However, I heard great differences now. I eventually found the LAT SS-1000D used on Audiogon and wow! All of a sudden, the soundstage opened up, bass flowed, clarity was enhanced and system was much quieter (black was black). With all this education, ya'' think I''d believe in Power Cords? Nope, little-cheap-ol-me can''t possibly believe that 6'' of electrical cable could alter the sound for the better - not acoustically possible. A few months ago I saw a 6'' length of LAT International AC-2 cord on Audiogon (I think, used at $90.00). Oh, what the hey, I dig the LAT stuff, when I find out it does nothing I''ll lose a few bucks and sell it again in the open market. Holy crow, no joke, this is one serious upgrade. Used from the wall to my PS Audio Power Plant the music improved quantifiably. Everything ''settled'' in, system sounds less stressed, greater clarity and soundstaging. I can''t believe, and sometimes don''t wanna'', but I''m seriously hooked on these babies. I now have three in my system - one lowered the noise floor of my tube preamp so significantly that I still can''t believe it. I''m sorry I''m gushing and sound like an ad/plant, but I am reasonably frugal and these things are plain great. The proprietary Silverfuse conductors work in conjunction with total shielding and hospital grade plugs on both ends. My system: 2 Norh MultiAmps(to get AC-2 cords soon!) Dynaco PAS-4 Preamp (tube, Line & Stage) Thorens (modded) TD-316 TT Shure VMxR Cartridge Rotel (modded) RCD-965 Transport MSB Gold Link II DAC (w/External PS) Camber 5.0ti 2 Way Speakers PS Audio Power Plant PS Audio Ultimate Outlet Hospital Grade Wall Outlet Home-brew Hospital Grade Power Strip Cables: LAT AC-2 (3 of ''em), LAT IC-200 (2), SS-1000D Speaker cable, DI-20II Digital Cable, Alpha-Core TQ2 (1).

Similar Products Used:

Generic cable, SJT 10 ga. Power Cord made from cord and plugs at Lowe''s

The effortless impact, clarity and elimination of grunge and noise.

Try as I may, I can''t find anything about this cable I don''t like.

There is so much good stuff being said about Lat International that it peaked my interest. I was looking to up-grade my existing cord which is the Analysis Plus Oval. Lat gives a 45 day trial period so; nothing to lose. The Analysis Plus cost me $300.00O. The Lat sells for quite a bit less; (a birthday gift from my wife). After burn in, which by the way, is a good 150 hours, some of my audio club members also brought their cords over for comparison and sat in as we did them. Theirs were much more expensive than both my Analysis Oval and the LAT. Theirs were the Harmonic Technologies Magic at $1500.00, the Nordost Eldorado at $600.00, and the PS Audio Ultimate Lab Cable at $1400.00. I was a little hesitant to get their impressions because they are known at the club as real critical “Golden ear “freaks. I was also concerned that they would be influenced by price (You know the higher the price the better the cable) not to mention the pride of owner ship bias. Well, on to the comparisons. To put it mildly, I was blown away by the LAT! I was expecting only improved bass because of its large 10 gauge internal wiring, but I found vast improvement across the entire frequency range. Lat says in their literature that their cable gets rid of noise you never knew was there. They are so right! The background was dark and completely devoid of any noise interference. The sound stage was wide and deep. The bass was tight and I then suddenly realized that the boomy bass I had with the Analysis Plus was gone. The timbre, and tonal accuracy across the full frequency range, in my evaluation, far exceeded that presented by all of the other cables. I was especially surprised that the PS Audio Lab cable, with its included line conditioner box, did not fair very well against the Lat. As we were conducting these A/B comparisons I could see the expression of disbelieve on the faces of my member friends who had paid out significantly more bucks for their cords. Ultimately, though they did not dispute my evaluation. To keep this review reasonably short, I will cut off by concluding, and saying first, the Analysis Plus Oval was completely outclassed by all of the others in the comparisons. Comparisons to the other cables revealed that the LAT was superior in most categories of evaluation. I can now see why there is such “buzz” out there about LAT.

Similar Products Used:

Analysis Plus Oval, Harmonic Technologies Magic, Nordost Eldorado, and PS Audio Ultimate Lab Cable.

RF rejection, construction, sound.

Preface-
When writing a review on a product, one generally would think they know a lot about the product. And since quality, like everything else, is static, one generally can make an arguement of whether a product is good based on comparisons to other products at similar prices. Especially, when the product is something as new and subjective as power cords.

I've auditioned a total of two power chords. So I am definitely no authority when it comes to this audio component. But ,since information is power, I thought to give my two cents worth, and hope I can help a fellow audio hobbyist out.

Body-
After reading about "the cable hype", on LAT's webpage, I learned there are lots of hype going on in the audio business (actually who doesn't know that.) Also, I am introduced to the manner in which their cables are made. It seems to be a proprietary formula that coats/melds silver onto copper. I believe they do this to all their interconnects, speaker cables and power cables. And this is supposed to give you the clarity of silver with the conductivity of copper. (Ok, so LAT is guilty of hyping their product as well.)

After doing some research on various websites such as jps, dhlabs, audiogon, and a few others, I settleed on 2 LAT ac2 and 1 mapleshade pc. I felt they had the best value and had the most positive feed backs.

Because this is my first time using power cords, I installed each cord, one at a time while auditioning before between each installation.

First, I installed the mapleshade on my nakamichi ca7a preamp. This upgrade was not subtle. It completely transformed this preamp from an acurus/aragon level preamp to a threshold/klyne level preamp. Before the cord upgrade, the nak always too hot to touch due to its class A operation design. But after the cord is installed, the preamp was always cool to warm. But most importantly, the sound stage opened up big time.

But this review is about LAT's pc, so moving on...

I first installed one LAT pc on my dac, Cal Audio Sigma. After installing and giving a brief listen, I found the sound to be "weird". The sound became very airy which ought to be a good thing. But the over all sound became incoherent. As if the highs and the lows were not arriving at a focal point at the same time. It didn't sound out of phase. I can only described this as a warbeled sound.

At this point, I noticed a tremendous attribute from the current upgrade of one mapleshade and one lat pc. The mapleshade greatly increased the soundstage when connected to the preamp. But the LAT did something I never thought possible. It cured the mid/high range glare that I thought was incurable for mid-fi solid state equipment.

After installing the second LAT pc on my transport, the warbel is gone. But the "air" also subsided a bit. The focus, linearity, pace and stuff are snapped back into place after both cords were installed. And what I "think" i got for the 260dollars is a slightly higher dynamic range, and a "neon cool" tubish aura around the sound, as opposed to a warm tubish sound you get from a tube equipment.

At this point, I felt I garnered an excellent return for my investments. It seems to me that when upgrading your front ends' power cords, you have to do it starting with the first source equipment-CD player first, then your dac, then preamp then amp, so on. Not only does this hide the bad virtues of your weak link, you would also avoid the "warbeled" effect = X.

3 stars for value because I hate buying cables at retail!!
5 stars for performance because it cured the glare and opened up my soundstage, not to mention it filtered some ac noise.

Similar Products Used:

Mapleshade Double Helix

Overall unsurpassed clarity and transparency from highs to deep bass. Fast transients, and resolution of detail with great dynamics. Fast transients with high detail resoluton.

None I have found

I was in the market for a power cord and while price is important to me I was prepared to pay for top of the line pricing $600.00 to $800.00 if necessary since I wanted to get one of the best cords out there. I had heard so many raves in chat rooms and from friends about this Lat power cord that I just had to try it. Let me first say that I would give overall ranking of those I tried above as follows: number one is the Lat followed in order by Magnin, Electra Glide Reference, Synergistic Research (their top of the line), TG Audio HSRi and last, Absolute. Strange isn’t it that the LAT is less expensive than all of them except the Absolute and by a considerable amount. It is also interesting that I noticed that Tom, in a review below, also reviewed the Lat. The interesting thing is that he compared it to the Absolute and TG Audio HSRi. We also compared the Lat to these same cords and at first listening we found exactly the same comparisons and criticisms as Tom did….. but not for long. Lat manufacturer says that the burn in time is 100 hours. But we found that it did not burn in until more like 150 hours at which point, it suddenly blossomed into a completely different sounding cord. Gone was the heaviness and looseness of the bass that Tom also found. The entire frequency range became fully integrated and tonally even from top to bottom. It now has a vitality and transparency that surpasses all of the above cables I compared it to. The bass is tight and accurate. Mids and highs are crystal clear and smooth with no fatiguing no matter how long I sit and listen. Instruments are easily discernable from each other in both identifying what instrument it is and where it is across and back into the sound stage. No doubt, Tom did not allow the cord to completely burn in. The difference once it hit the 150 hour point was sudden and dramatic. This long burn in is apparently a trait of Lat cables since my friend says he found the same long burn in time necessary for their speaker cables he owns. I would guess that this is probably attributable to the PTFE Teflon insulation they use. (See their website at latinternational.com for an explanation of PTFE Teflon they use instead of the FEP type that probably everyone else uses). Back to some comparisons: The Magnin is the only one that gives the Lat a real test. The Lat though does just barely edge it out. Even if they were equal, what about $800.00 for the Magnin vs. $129.00 retail for Lat?

My system consists of the following: CD Oracle 2500, DAC Bel Canto Design DAC-1, Preamp Blue Circle BC21, Amp Bel Canto Design EVo 200.2, Speakers Joseph Audio RM22si.

Similar Products Used:

TG Audio HSRi, Absolute, Magnin, Electra Glide Reference, Synergistic Research

Adds quickness,speed and pace.

Funny I had the absolute pc very neutral, but on my Audio Analogue Integrated Amp, Rotel 971 and Sonus Fabers the system seemed a little sluggish. No rythmn and pace. The Lat picked up the pace for me. Just what I needed. Built much better than the absolute cord. The Absolute cord seemed a bit cheaply made.

Similar Products Used:

Stock, and the Absolute PC.

Coherent and revealing throughout the whole range, unbelievable performance for the price.

The fact that LAT does not advertise enough to let people now they exist.

I will keep this short. There is no need for a lot of flowerly hype words. It is simply the best power cord that I and my friend have ever tried. My friend has tried more than I have and many in the mega-buck price range. We compared it to the one my friend owns which is the Tara lab, The One ISM – retails for $1200.00, he got as a dealer demo for $875.00. The LAT simply excels in all the usual standards of performance. It gives a far better simulation of a live performance than the Tara. “Nuff said” One last point; I agree with Phillip the last review prior to this one, you have got to be patient during the burn in period. It needs way over 100 hours to completely burn in before it pops into place and starts performing like a champ. So, I also agree with Phillip where he says that Tom (about three reviews below this one) must not have given the LAT enough burn in before writing his review, since the cables he compared it to are some that my friend compared it to and says, no contest.

Similar Products Used:

Tara lab, The One ISM

warm, smooth, dynamic

a bit forward sound

Bought these power cord cable last piece at the dealer shop. Before purchase this cable, the dealer pluck-in a demo LAT cable to let me listen with their system. Once the music started playing, i was surprised with these cable performance and at the end decided to buy it.

When bring home these cable and connected into my system, the sound a bit forward. After a few days of run-in, this cable started to shine and the entire sound totally different. The sound were smooth, warm and dynamic. It also produce good soundstage with tight bass and no edginess on high, i think it match my overall equipment.

For those who are looking for cheap and good quality cable, this is highly recommended! I believe cheap cable can perform quiet well if you know how to match your system.
Good luck and happy trying.....


My associated component use :

1) Ownself made, power cord distributor with AFA(Hera) cable

2) Audioquest AC12 power cord to Rotel 991AE cd player

3) StraightWire Maestro interconnect cable

4) MIT MH-750+S3 speaker cable

5) B&W 601 speaker

6) Power cord tested - XLO / LAT to Classe 151 intgr'd amp

Similar Products Used:

XLO power cord