by Martin Appel
Paul Kaplan has been very busy since I last reviewed his power cords in April 2010 and has come up with a Mk. II version of his GS power cord. Actually, two versions of the power cord have been produced. One is for amplification and one is for source components. These are of all copper construction and gone is the use of Rhodium. I asked him what the improvements were from the original and all he would say is that he couldn’t divulge any technical data due to the very strong suspicion that some unscrupulous folks out there have copied his earlier designs and are using them as their own. I currently have three of Paul’s all copper GS cords in my system and was enjoying them very much. When he contacted me and informed me of his new cords I had to give them a try.
I installed four of his new all copper cords as follows: PS AUDIO POWER PREMIER power conditioner, AQVOX 2ci MkII phono preamplifier, MARANTZ SC-7S2 preamplifier and DEQX 2.6p processor. I let them burn in for about 100 hours even though Paul thought they sounded fine after less than half that.
I went back and reread my review and all the positive comments I made still applied, but it was obvious the new cords went further. The most obvious was the development of an even larger three dimensional soundstage, seemingly beyond the borders of the room. This was eye opening. Bass performance improved and went deeper with improved focus and impact. Scary!
Further gains were made in detail and transparency without losing its inherent warmth and solidity. High frequency extension was also addressed and improved upon. Cymbals had greater definition and decay and sounded more just more convincingly real. Again, these cords, still maintained their warmer, weighty character, but now were more evenly balanced across the entire frequency spectrum. These MK. IIs will not leave my system.
Improvements and growth are the happy byproducts of development and Paul Kaplan epitomizes these with his Mk. II power cord. He did not sit still and enjoy his ‘star’ rating but continued to research and refine his design and produced a power cord that offers even more performance, challenging the very expensive products that are found in this sometimes crazy end of home audio. His research and hard work have resulted in a very fine power cord that has earned the same award as its predecessor. Congratulations. Very highly recommended.
[It is with great pleasure that we award The Audiophilia Star Component Award to the Kaplan Cable GS Mk. II AC Power Cord. Congratulations! - Ed]
Manufacturer’s Comment
Sincere thanks for the review. I’m pleased that you found the GS Mk II a worthy successor to the original GS. Inevitably, an effort to improve the performance of the GS cord across the board, to make everything ‘mo betta’, forces a compromise. My compromise was the acceptance that I couldn’t achieve what I wanted, unless I took the step of making those 2 versions of the GS Mk II, one designed for amplifiers and power conditioners, an ‘Amp’ version and the other a ‘Source’ version for source components and preamplifiers (mostly). These allow, via changes in materials and implementation to optimize the cords, largely based on their power consumption.
I really want existing customers to upgrade their original cords. It’s not a slight upgrade for the sake of having something new to sell. To make life easier, customers can trade in their existing GS power cords and for $300 get a new GS MkII. This a total rebuild of their cord, with changes in materials and implementation making it indistinguishable from a new GS Mk II cord. For those interested in upgrading, or for those seeking advice on which version is most appropriate for their specific components and needs, please contact my retail distributor, Mike Garner at Tweekgeek.com
Again, many thanks,
Paul Kaplan
Kaplan Cable
The Kaplan Cable GS Mk. II AC Power Cord
Manufactured by Kaplan Cable
933 President Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
USA
1-718-789 8224
Price: US$1,695 6ft
Source: Manufacturer loan
Associated Equipment
Amplifiers: 4-Hephaestus HMA-1000 Monoblocks
Speakers: Levy Acoustics
Preamplifier: Marantz SC-7S2
Phono
Preamplifier: AQVOX 2 Ci Mk II.
CD source: Marantz SA-7S1
Analogue source: Avid Volvere/SME IV arm/
Cartridge: Shelter 7000
Speaker cables: Acoustic Zen’s Absolute, Wasatch’s Ultama (no longer being produced)
Power Cords: Acoustic Zen’s Absolute and Kaplan GS Copper
Interconnects: Acoustic Zen’s Absolute, Antipodes Audio KOKIRI and KOMAKO
Accessories: Herbie’s Audio Lab Tenderfeet, Black Diamond Racing Cones, Soundcare products, Acme Audio Labs wall outlets
Surge Protection: Brick Wall 2R and 8R Surge Protectors
Power Conditioning: PS AUDIO Power Plant Premier
Processor: DEQX 2.6P Modified
Musical Choices
Reference Recordings RR-96CD Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances Oue/Minnesota Orchestra
Pablo OJCCD-744-2 Clark Terry/Freddie Hubbard/Dizzy Gillespie/Oscar Peterson: The Alternate Blues
Telarc CD-83373 Ray Brown: Some of My Best Friends…The Piano Players
Capital 72434 94756 2 5 Frank Sinatra: Sinatra Sing for Only the Lonely
Telarc SACD-60042 Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition-Maazel/The Cleveland Orchestra
Napua Davoy-ALL I WANT, www.napuadavoy.com
Nuforce LIVE BLUPORT JAZZ SAMPLER Blueport
 
  




Audiophilia on 
Audiophilia on 
Audiophilia 
Audiophilia 
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the great review, Marty. Looking forward to hearing all these new cables in the Spring.
Cheers, a
What a shame the Kaplan Cable website is not functional…
How about a Grand Opening date???
Yes, Roger, it’s been a while. No idea of the launch date.
Welcome, BTW.
Cheers, a
Hi Roger, I just spoke to Paul Kaplan and he is working very hard on the website. He’s so concernd that it be perfect that it’s taking a long time to get done. He assures me it’s very close.
Stay tuned
Since the review, and at Paul’s insistence, I have added his GS II power cords to my monoblocks and I have to say they added greatly to my musical enjoyment. Increased dynamics, larger soundstage with more solid images were just some of the results of this change. Needless to say he was right. There were other benefits which have already been discussed in the review that were cumulative and employing his power cords throughout the system has made this reviewer even happier.
Now I await his power conditioner. Stay tuned
Seriously? A $1700 power cable?
I’m sure I remember an old saying about a fool and his money…
I remember another.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
;)
Welcome, Marc.
Cheers, a
Thing is though, electromagnetism isn’t philosophy. It’s science.
‘”All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”
— Galileo
I could go all day. :)
Yes, I expect you probably could. Platitudes are no substitute for actual scientific evidence however, and my suspicions would start to be raised at the point when the manufacturer told me that he wouldn’t “divulge any technical data”, so I’ll stick with what I learned on my BSc in Acoustics and Broadcast Technology. But hey, how you choose to spend your money is entirely your business, so good luck to you.
I’m just curious as to why some people think that by spending extortionate amounts of cash on snake-oil hi-fi products they can somehow improve the fidelity of a recording beyond that which it was originally recorded at. A serious question; if these products such as pebbles on your cables, wooden volume knobs and so forth (these are just examples) improve the sound quality so drastically, why don’t recording equipment manufacturers such as SSL or AMS Neve incorporate them in their consoles?
I could. But, I won’t.
I’ll get back to listening and I’ll let you get back to your measuring.
No smiley, this time. I think you may have missed the fun.