A not sarcastic question for the power conditioner/upgraded power cord folks
And I realize that there are those that don’t believe in either
Assuming you use a power conditioner and after market power cords, do you feel that the power cord from the power conditioner to the wall might be a limiting or even a negating factor to the performance of the after market power cords that run from the power conditioner to the gear?
The reason I ask is that I was about to embark upon some more experimentation with different power cords and where I plugged them into when I discovered that the aftermarket cords I had purchased before and some recent arrivals are actually a meter shorter than the ones that came with the gear. This doesn’t matter for the amp due to its location, but when I did my last power cord upgrade I ran my CDP and pre into a conditioner so the length for those didn’t matter either, but as I was doing the musical chairs with power cords thing today, I also was intending to run the CDP and pre straight into the wall on separate dedicated circuits, but I found out that I am a tad short on those two.
Which doesn’t preclude me from moving my dedicated circuit outlets up a couple of feet, and I suppose I probably will, but I was curious as to the opinions about the limitations of a power conditioners power cord.
That paper from The Absolute Sound is unusual. It mixes thoughtful, solid advice and downright dangerous garbage no one should attempt unless they aspire to become poster boys for Darwin’s teachings. Usually you get one or the other but not both, and, unexpectedly, the author is in a leadership position at a legit, well-regarded company. |
True, but... If I recall correctly, Krell FPB-600s were known to pull something like 6500W from line. That's 50A, short peaks of course. High-current amps driving sub-2-ohm speakers at significant SPLs can stress a 15A circuit, the more so the longer the circuit.
True and true. Grounding individual circuits to earth is a truly idiotic thing to do.
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@immatthewj Yes that’s what it would mean. Good luck wrestling 6awg and 10awg cables into a standard JB though. I also can’t immediately think of connectors appropriate for that job. Using a subpanel is the sensible thing to do here. Subpanels are designed to accommodate large gauge wiring in the first place, so it would be far less labor and pain than mickey mousing a junction box together. It will cost, I don’t know, $70 or $80 extra. The alternative is to run multiple 10awg circuits. That's probably the route I will favor when I get around to doing this job in my house. I know the insulation material you’re talking about. Wear a respirator, not a covid mask. |
@immatthewj I totally empathize. If it can make you feel any better, mine will entail spending a day in a spider-infested crawlspace with 18" clearance under the beams. Honestly, before you go to too much trouble you might want to assess the worst load you’re ever likely to plug into your existing 12awg circuits, before you declare them inadequate. In my most humble opinion, unless you’re planning to biamp Apogee Scintillas with a quatuor of Krell KMA-800s you’re probably fine 🙂 |
@duckey there was a long thread on here about a low-cost cable brand called Preffair. Their power cables are in the $40-50 price range on Amazon. Folks seemed to think that they were well built, and that in certain cases they sounded as good as brand-name cables selling for 10 or 20 times more. At that price they're worth a try, why not? They certainly beat the black molded-plastic cord that came in the box. Some caveats would be to check that the conductors are really copper and not copper-plated aluminum, and that the advertised 12awg wire is not 18awg buried in extra thick insulation. |
