The Sablon Audio 'The Robusto' power cord is today's fresh catch, and believe me, it serves up some fine listening. More often than not, it’s through the ‘audio underground’ that I get tips about new or relatively unknown Hi-Fi products that really deliver the musical experience in spades, for it is from the underground’s deep recesses that the imaginations of the audio illuminati’s passionate experimentalism evolves the state-of-musical art in vacuum tube amplifiers, horn-loaded loudspeakers, vinyl front ends, and those rare accouterments that can bring music to magical life.
It was in this context - right on the heels of Stephaen’s and Pete’s visit (described here) - that my pal Cato in London told me about the Sablon Audio Robusto power cord designed by Mark Coles: “… thought I'd share my latest … power cords from Mark Coles … they really trounce my collection of JPS, Nordost, and various other power cords from well known manufacturers. The Robusto is beautifully made and a lot of thought has gone into the design and the terminations … highly recommended stuff! Stay well and keep the ink flowing!”
Cato put me in touch with Mark (thanks Cato!), who was kind enough to provide a sample of the Robusto for me to review for Positive Feedback Online. In the photo above The Robusto is plugged into the business end of my Leben CS660P amplifier. The Robusto lives up to its name, and is the size of two Acoustic Revive Power Reference power cords (my usual ref) attached to one set of connectors, or in other words, it's one beefy power cord! (You can click twice on the photo above to enlarge it to two larger sizes for more detail if you wish)
As those of you know who stop by Jeff's Place from time-to-time, when I get something really special in for review, I like to give all of you a 'heads up' in case you want to get a jump on things before demand shoots up post-review. Leben owners take note: I've found The Robusto to be a particularly synergistic match with Leben electronics due to its tonally rich, colorful, and musical presentation. I cannot imagine a Leben owner not being thrilled with the muse The Robusto brings to the music, so consider this my pre-review recommendation of a winner of a product. An impressive debut indeed!
The retail price of The Robusto is $750 USD, which I think is an appropriate price for this level of performance, but Mark is offering it at an introductory price of $625 for the remainder of 2010 to get the ball rolling. Mark offers a 30-day trial period so you can return The Robusto if you're not thrilled with it's performance, which I doubt you'll want to do once you've heard it in your system. More information is available at the Sablon Audio website.
