After Market Power Cables - Gold or Snake Oil?

I am a Building Inspector and my primary responsibility is the complete inspection of new housing. How and why PC’s work baffles me. I have asked a lot of experts and the best answer I receive is “resistance vs. load“. Another way to look at the subject is, something’s are true weather you believe them or not.

Recently I was talking with the designer/president of a prestigious cable manufacturing firm about his various AC cord offerings. Get this: even *he* doesn't completely understand why they do what they do for a sound system! No argument from me that they do work wonders; no question about that at all. Certainly the builder has his theories, but all the numbers still don't explain everything...

Case in point: based upon feature-set alone, about 18 months back I bought a fantastic famous-name $10K preamp sound-unheard. Initially I was not all that satisfied with the sonic performance, although very good, it just wasn't what I expected it to be. In fact in some respects it was less satisfactory than the $2K preamp that it replaced. Since I only change one thing at a time, after about a week allowing for some burn-in time I then decided to experiment. Shelving & footers accomplished some audible changes, but that wasn't the answer. I figured that the AC cord was fine because I had experimented extensively with different cords on the first preamp & had found a good combination. Finally I decided to change the AC cord again & I am still amazed at what happened; the new preamp completely came alive & sang just beautifully. I'm now very happy with it of course.

So use your ears & don't worry about the physics. And if you haven't done so already, burnish all of your AC cord prongs with at least an ink eraser, or better get some crocus cloth from a good hardward store & shine up those prongs bigtime. Follow with a quality contact cleaner. Your ears will thank you.

Audioengr,
If i read your post correctly, the same results would be obtained if the run of ROMEX were 19 ft, and the 6 ft. P/C were at least as good as the ROMEX?

Just thinking...

I am the 'other' collegue to Checkmate110. I am intrigued to hear both sides of the discussion but I am yet to be convinced by the pros of the PC. I am no expert when it comes to electrical wiring but I understand the basics of inductance and agree with Checkmate 110 that having a shorter length of house wiring from the transformer to the wall socket would have a much greater impact than purchasing a short length of expensive "jewellery" (considering what many of the high end cables are made of).

From my point of view a power conditioner or separate power supply would be of benefit because you are changing the quality of the AC supply after the wall socket, but I find it very difficult to believe that a power cord can change that much since it is just permitting the same AC supply to pass through it to the connected component. However, if the electrical transformer was connected with the same wiring as what is in the after-market power cord all the way through the hifi component, yes you would have more of an arguement than what is being presented.

Since this seems to be as much a quest for questions as it is for answers, here are a few in response.

Ever wonder why dedicated 'philes upgrade their in-wall wiring and use better grade receptacles? Ever consider why solid wire is recommended over stranded wire for this application? What kind of wire, connectors, insulating material and geometry is used in building stock cords? How does all this compare to a good quality aftermarket cord?

What kind of care was taken in that stock cord's construction? Is it properly terminated or was it just slapped together? Have you ever taken a stock cord apart and compared it to something better? Regarding the latter, if you haven't taken a cheap computer cord apart before, do so. It's an eye opening experience, especially considering that this is what comes with many hi-end components.

BTW, this has been discussed before, so try giving the search tool a workout. There's a wealth of reading material available. My guess is the redundancy of the thread is why some of the more knowledgeable regulars haven't chimed in.