Do I need 10 gauge power cord if I have 10 gauge from panel?

To make it easy I rated everything the best I could doing it very carefully and make it easy as I said the total came to an average of 7.6.

Is that helpful?

I think Nelson Pass said this although not sure it was his quote originally: "Some of what we can hear cannot be measured & some of what we can measure cannot be heard". Sound reproduction is not an exact science because there are simply too many factors involved, especially the unpredictable interactions / compatibility between various system's components. 

Just listen & see what you enjoy the most. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks or says. 

OP,

Only when comparing to other cords. This is not a pursuit with absolutes… maybe the desire, but we live in a world of imperfection.

No.  There is no reason to match.  After all, do you know the gauge of the power line coming from the generating station to your home?   Miles of it.

Just make sure it's heavy enough to comfortably carry the power being drawn by your amps, which figure will be published by the manufacturer.  My uprated Krell KRS200s can draw up to 1.8kW per side.  I use the UK equivalent of 12 gauge from the board and the standard cord supplied by Krell, who may be presumed to know what is required.

No, you do not.

I will rephrase the question about the need for a 10 gauge power cable.

Would it be better to have a 10 gauge power cord that plugs into a 10 gauge dedicated circuit outlet?

Most things in this world we don’t really need but many a time it makes things better.

@jumia    No, I said there is no reason to match.  As long as your wires are big enough to comfortably carry the current being drawn.  It's that simple.

@jumia

I’m with @ghdprentice on this one:

"Only when comparing to other cords. This is not a pursuit with absolutes… maybe the desire, but we live in a world of imperfection."

As with many audio pursuits, experimentation is the key to success. Hopefully, you can get your hands on some good examples of premium PCs and give them a listen.

IMO, adding hospital grade plugs will have a larger sonic impact. I have 2 dedicated 20A lines for my stereo. It turns out that with everything running and playing music, 2 amps, preamp, phono-pre, dac, cdplayer, turntable, draws only 2.4 Amps. So, the 20 Amp circuits were unnecessary. 

@jumia 

What speakers are you driving with the commercial series Crown amps? As per their own recommendations, they were designed to be used in music halls and live performance studios, not for a homes living room. Also these were supplied with a 30A plug on a 10AWG  cable, to meet the commercial requirements of that amp.

This whole thing isn't making sense to me.

This really didn't seem to be a difficult question but I guess it is.

I was just curious if the last few feet make that much of a difference if you use a larger gauge Power cord when using a 10 gauge wire from the panel to the outlet. The bulk of the muscle effort comes off the panel to the outlet I would guess and maybe to extend a 10 gauge to the amplifier is very important.

It's not about having enough power for the speakers. It's about improving on the sonic benefit of a higher gauge Power cord. Mackintosh is a bit narrow viewed on this issue. Very perplexing

I found this an interesting thread. Has anyone else besides me looked in their power amps to see what was the size of the power cable to the on off switch? On my Conrad Johnson Premier 4 it appeared to be #14 wire. The wire to the power transformer was the same. Seems to me if this superlative amp can hit instantaneous crescendos without those puny 14 gauge wires acting as fuses, then perhaps we have an incomplete understanding of the physics/science. I have 12 gauge wire feeding my power and pre-amp both. It has met my standards for excellent sound. 

As my teeny tiny brain tries to absorb everything in this thread I am left with an additional question.

I use a power conditioner, a transparent power isolator, and I wonder what the internal wire gauge is to the various outlets on the back of this device that I plug into.

To me this seems like a really good spec that no one talks about. Why is this?  Maybe Tucker Carlson can shed some light on this.

If the tiny weeny wire in the fuse can handle 10amps, why can't a 14 gauge cable.

OP,

You are trying to reduce a multi-variable question into a single question. The answer can easily be yes or no… depending. If you have to reduce this to the grade school level… yes, you should have a 10 gauge. But the question is far more complicated than that.

What is in front of it or behind it doesn’t matter. The only question is… if I put this power cord in, will my system sound that much better… more than enough to justify the cost? Most of the time high quality power cords made for amps will be 10 gauge… but the best sounding one might not. 

@jumia Oops, sorry mistook ditusa's post showing the Crown amp with dedicated 10AWG cable as yours, so was a bit confused.

My thought regarding your original question on aftermarket 10AWG cable for your amps - 12AWG cable would be more than adequate. More important is the quality of the cable and connectors.

As others here have said - you can build a very good cable, that would be as effective and sound as good or better than some of the high dollar boutique wonders, for a fraction of the money......Jim  

If you have never tried a aftermarket power cord before, I would recommend getting something something that doesn’t cost too much like a cord from Pangea and try it in your system and see if you can hear an improvement or if you can hear a difference at all. Some systems can hear difference while others not so much, and don’t worry about the gauge as all after market cables are more than sufficient gauge.

I started with Pangea many years ago and I absolutely do hear differences. in my system unfortunately as my pocket book really suffered in the process because my precent power cords do cost a pretty penny. But they brought my system to such a level, you really have to experience it to believe it. I have a full loom of SR Galileo SX power cords in my system. Put back the stock cords and the magic disappears. Yes, my system is very sensitive to changes and power cords do effect my system considerably.

Sorry jasonbourne52

but you are wrong. Power cable makes difference. Most audiophiles can hear the sound improvement. Some PC doesn't make any difference but some do. I am not sure if the owner of the basic audio system can hear the difference. Why some PCs are insanely expensive, that's a different topic. 

Don’t think anyone has mentioned it here yet but most power cords are also designed by construction geometry and materials to do some power conditioning as well.  A few years ago I did my own shoot out including my owed cables from Wireworld, loaners from Nordost (most $) Shunyata, AQ and others hooked up to my c-j monoblocks.  Yes, there’s a difference in SQ.  Price was not a predictor of quality, although I now run AQ Hurricane and some Tornado. All to and from a Shunyata Denali 2  conditioner.  The Nordost dealer was incredulous.  I do use their Valhala 2 speaker cables and love them. Everybody has different gear and hearing so just listen patiently.  Time to flip the vinyl.

The first wire an amp will see it the power cord, if it is a choke point then it will keep the amp from attaining peak performance. Once upon a time I did wire for stereo rooms and made cable. If you do an A/B test with good performing PCs you will find a difference assuming your hearing is good enough. I have used 10 ga exclusively in my system for years. It usually only takes seconds to notice the difference.

ventusaudio Some PC doesn’t make any difference but some do. I am not sure if the owner of the basic audio system can hear the difference.

+1.

ventus Why some PCs are insanely expensive, that’s a different topic.

Because Oganesson is the most scarce material, 1 gram of Oganesson is us$400 trillion even though it is nothing useful.

All PCs sound veiled and glare except my Wavetouch PC. Only my WTPC doesn’t have veil/glare sound in the world (and reproduction audio history). What is the price tag on my WTPC? The small fraction of top AQs, SRs, and Nordosts.

Alex/Wavetouch

I suspect the next trick in the evolution of the power cable argument is to cryogenically cool the cables, so they become superconducting. This should separate the physicists from the crowd. Not practical you say? Then the next best thing is to direct wire the power feed to the amps power switch to eliminate any resistance inherent in having a receptacle. Once your amp is open you may observe what gauge wire the factory thought was justified by their engineering staff. I'd be surprised if it was more than 14-gauge wire. 12 gauge would be overkill. Since the concern is really power density, rather than thinking in terms of resistance of the circuit, I would think it would be more appropriate to think in terms of conductance. Since I'm old school the units would be Mhos. Current teaching is Siemans as units. 

Let’s see  115v or 120v times

15 amps is 1725 to 1800 watts 

your wall outlet voltage might have some

wiggle room 

so yea you need a bigger cable to maximize your audio system 

Eventually frequency is impacted by gauge but not always in a good way.  I would be more concerned with downstream electronics not being able to blow a huge breaker when in distress.  Unless it is some one off like that monster Amp pictured I would not exceed 12 gauge 20 amp service for stereo gear.  For the huge 30 AMP monster AMP I would run dedicated circuit with dedicated breaker.  It already has a 30 AMP NEMA plug to prevent plugging into a standard 110 outlet.

It seems unlikely. Component power supplies are usually built with capacitors lage enough to store power beyond their staedy state demands, and supply power for transients much closer to the output devices than the power cord is.

When your why do people always think the power cord is the last 6 feet? If your amp draws the current wouldn't it technically be the first 6 feet? After all if your amp is plugged in and not powered on how much current is on the 15 or 20 amp circuit? 

@alerrico Wrote:

For the huge 30 AMP monster AMP I would run dedicated circuit with double breaker. It already has a 30 AMP NEMA plug to prevent plugging into a standard 110 outlet.

FWIW: I run the Crown studio Reference 1 Amp on a 240 Volt 20 Amp dedicated circuit with a dedicated 20 Amp double pole breaker, per Crown’s recommendation. 😎

Mike

Electrical wires directionally created? Ie. Does it matter which direction wires are installed between the panel and the outlet??

Wow, so many of my posts deleted, including banal one's about math.  Hah.