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How can power cords make a difference?

I am trying to understand why power cords can make a difference.

It makes sense to me that interconnects and speaker cables make a difference. They are dealing with a complex signal that contains numerous frequencies at various phases and amplitudes. Any change in these parameters should affect the sound.

A power cord is ideally dealing with only a single frequency. If the explanation is RF rejection, then an AC regeneration device like PS Audio’s should make these cords unnecessary. I suppose it could be the capacitance of these cables offering some power factor correction since the transformer is an inductive load.

The purpose of my post is not to start a war between the “I hear what I hear so it must be so” camp and the “you’re crazy and wasting your money,” advocates. I am looking for reasons. I am hoping that someone can offer some valid scientific explanations or point me toward sources of this information. Thanks.
bruce1483

Showing 2 responses by mhubbard

mhubbard
86 posts
 
Holy crap this issue again!?

Don't you think that if power cords made a difference then huge dollar equipment makers would include them with their product? Don't tell me that "frickin" KRELL would be concerned with cost cutting and save margin by putting a smaller guage cord on their stuff? God knows that they would talk it up in their ads (and god knows that they could count on Stereophile mag to pump it up!). I'm purchasing one high quality cord to see if I can hear a difference, I will report what I hear.
mhubbard
86 posts
 
Albertporter. I dont know that people who buy Krell or any other super high end componet would have a problem with seeing a nice fat cord included with their hardware. I dont see many people saying that these aftermarket cords "hurt" performance; only that it does nothing, or it sounds better.
The mindset of most consumers is not "oh my god"! "look, I'm paying for this nice looking cord, and I dont need it". I would guess that most consumers would say "cool, look at this nice cord they "included" with my gear"! This is (in my opinion) the response most tech geeks(lovers) have to a product feature.

Or perhaps I'm the only one who feels this way?
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