Ideal power cord lengths?

If you're tuning your sound with power cords expect your results to vary with blood alcohol.  Make sure your power cord is beefy enough not to limit your amp.  To that end, the shorter the better.  I'm guessing the 2M length recommendation has it's roots in someone selling 2M power cords.

Long enough to stretch from the outlet to the component is ideal.  Shorter than this improves noise level—system would be dead quiet—but, I find the system will also sound lifeless.

With power cables it goes that shorter is not better, especially with screened ones. A length between 1,5 to 2,5m is ideal depending on cable.

5FT is  great.

Takes me back to Thirty Seconds Over Winterland. Must dig it out again.

Have you seen the Saucers?

I wonder if you moved closer to the power generation plant if that would help? 

Anyone else done A-B tests of like cables of different lengths?

It’s a power cord thread; welcome to the party, lol!

"the cables shorter than 1.5m sounded TERRIBLE by comparison."

I realize the subjective nature of our hobby but this is the kind of BS that gives bad wrap to audiophiles. Just think about it, why would a cable manufacturer supply a 1M length if it sounds terrible compared to 1.5M, 2.0M and so on? 

@glennewdick ...LMAO!

@lalitk

I realize the subjective nature of our hobby but this is the kind of BS that gives bad wrap to audiophiles. Just think about it, why would a cable manufacturer supply a 1M length if it sounds terrible compared to 1.5M, 2.0M and so on?

Agreed 

I tried different DIY digital cable lengths (single ended RCA  non-coaxial types) years ago with a Bel Canto DAC 1 and ended up preferring a 90" (total length of both wire runs combined).

It was made as follows ("" below are copied from a 20 year old post I made @ AA) with 47 Labs OTA 26 gauge wire and in addition the 60" run was "loosely" looped around the 30" run.

"With digital IC's I preferred 1.5 over 1.0 and .5. I eventually made a cable 90" long with the hot lead being 30" and the neutral lead being 60" (this sounded much better to me than the equal length leads in the 1.5, 1.0 and .5, so go figure)."

The design was given to my by Richard of Vantage Audio in the UK and I used 47 RCA connectors on the cable (their RCA's contain zero metal and the wire itself make the necessary electrical contacts).

The odd DIY cable sounded better than a $200+ Illuminate (Kimber?) and another popular/budget digital cable of the time that was an unusual purple/mauve color (forget the name).

I don't recall the length(s) of the 2 commercial cables noted above, but they were @ least 1 meter in length (the purple one may have been 1.5 - but not certain).

I later read that the length of the digital cable (making a difference) also had to do with the design of the DAC itself (some applied - like the Bel Canto and others did not, but I did not understand the explanations).

My power cords are 5' BMI's and Absolute's that I think are around 9' (both sound good to me, though I prefer the heavier gauge BMI's on source gear - so once again - go figure).

DeKay

The odd DIY cable sounded better than a $200+ Illuminate (Kimber?) and another popular/budget digital cable of the time that was an unusual purple/mauve color (forget the name).

Sounds like an Apogee Wyde Eye.  Of course I just ordered a 1m PC yesterday  for my soon-to-arrive DDC before I saw this thread.  That’s how my luck’s been running of late.  Oh well, should still at least be better than the stock cord I guess/hope.  Ugh. 

So you have 1m from amp to wall?

I'd be more worried about the 5 m of non audiophile approved wire between the wall plug and the main electrical panel, and then the 70 km of who knows what kind of wire between my panel and the power pole......

Soix:

That rings a bell (think it was <$40 new or used 20 years ago).

DeKay

Well, the results were done with a blind test, so not so subjective actually!

You can try the test as well, if you are interested. You may very well not have the same results as me, given differences in systems. Had I started out upgrading cables before my amp and speaker upgrades, I highly doubt I’d notice the difference in power cables or USB cable lengths. Part of the journey when you realize it makes a difference, objectively through blind tests. Some will never get there and that’s okay.

There’s one thread on here where a dude was going on with all the usual arguments - what about all the wire leading up to your house, and the non-audiophile approved wire in your wall (actually I do have audiophile approved 10AWG twisted wire in my walls, lol)… Anyways everyone challenged him to try a demo at his local dealer going between power cords, and to his credit, he actually did, he said “I don’t know how it makes a difference, but it does.” And impressively, he said “I was wrong.” Again, not everyone will get there.

This subject is like religious fundamentalism, and it’s highly amusing how worked up people get.  

Apologies for giving you all a bad name, lol!!  

Simple, pure heavy gauge copper at shorter distance equals less resistance, that’s a fact. As to changing the tones or Quality there of, A huge imagination coupled with a light wallet..you know you’re gonna hear perfection. Lol 

I definitely hear perfection, mostly due to my 10AWG wire I am certain ;)

10AWG wire over 14AWG costs an extreme, totally outlandish premium of $150 extra, for my lower resistance and greater access to instantaneous peak current. Sounds fantastic!

ooh, poked the bear methinks…

Sorry brother,

I have PC’s from 4 different companies and they are all 5’ or 6’.

Well-done , someone has done some research on this aspect.

Well if is scientific proven AB test with phone's microphone and app to substantiate would have been good.

And average of many trial is how research is done.

Thanks.

Call Jim from wisdom cable , He gave me a very good understanding regarding power cables, including length.

The world record for snakes is over 20 feet 🦶,  I owned a Audiostore for 10 years 

personally I use between 4 and 6 feet and cannot hear any difference 

what truly counts are the end connection points , here purity copper with gold,silver or rhodium over the copper , with ,not brass which is bright and no where good of a conductor. , make sure if bought commercially , make your own using top Furutech wire ,and connectors to save $$.

I honestly don't know what the hell to think. I buy the best quality I can afford. I run a longer cable from the outlet to the power regeneclean power box of choice. That way i can move it around as i like. My system is not so high end that I would hear a difference. He'll my ears are old. Get what works that doesn't run you broke. Do buy quality. Just don't remortgage to do it. Stop listening to your gear and listen to the music. 

I have not done the study. But recently, when I asked my dealer (when he was at my house) to order me a one meter Audio Quest Hurricane power cord… he responded with, “two meters will give you more conditioning”. I was shocked… I never thought of it that way. But I respect his opinion.

I am currently running ARC REF 160m monoblocks, one with a 1 meter AudioQuest Hurricane and one with a 2 meter Audio Quest Hurricane. Well, guess what, I can’t tell the difference. But unless it was enormous, I can’t imagine being able to.

I really respect my dealers opinion… which seems to be… the longer they are the more they sound like they sound.

Absolutely no ideal power cord length! You want a cord long enough to connect everything easily, that’s it. Typically the shortest is best for high current devices like conditioners and amplifiers.

Regarding getting back to enjoying the music…. I’m actually at the point where I am enjoying considering how to improve my system, as opposed to stressing over certain aspects of my system that sounded bad to me, and not knowing how to resolve those issues. But as I am conducting critical listening analysis now, and going through blind A/B tests (with family participation - they don’t actually care but they think it’s fun when they are otherwise bored), I am finding more often now that all of a sudden I’m sucked back into the music. That happened the other night and I stayed up all night re-discovering the back catalogues of some of my favourite artists, which entirely due to my 10 AWG wire, @1971gto455ho , are now presented in an entirely different light…. ;)

@nyev  

No poking here, I’ll tell ya what I’ve got. A smaller town, 5km from Electrical substation, a Single transformer post from a mainline with me being the only destination. I have a pony panel with 100 amp service with four outlet hospital grade boxes side-by-side each wired with 12 gauge and individual 20 amp breakers. That wiring Is directly wired into the panel which is a 10 foot trip. The panel is Obviously inside my sound room exiting through the wall then 200 feet to the transformer service pole. Power is remarkably clean with enough current to service several systems. I do feel privileged.

Cheers 

Yes to PC's but you must include this

Why does no one run rack mount Lithium batteries with an ATS during listening? For the amount that’s spent on cables and PC’s this could easily be accomplished and I would wager would yield an indisputable sonic difference. 

@nyev I just added a 1m Audioquest Hurricane powering my Puritan PSM-156 power conditioner and it sucks!!!! It’s causing me to stay up until 3am listening and I’m totally sleep deprived at this point. It must be the 1m length that’s at fault here hahahaha.

Seriously dude you’ve built an awesome system. Just sit down for a listen and enjoy it. Good components (which is what you have) don’t give a crap about power cord length. Don’t overthink it.

@nyev: I guess your equipment now is placed in the hallway, 2m from your fuse box?

@tablejockey, I actually know of specific people doing this in the US! Or at least, convincingly local power companies to upgrade their pole transformer at their cost! I do draw the line somewhere, and some point long before this type of upgrade….

That said, I hear it definitely helps!

I’m not planning on going out and buying more cables of differing lengths. It’s more just a curiosity to me, based on a few experiences I noted above. Seriously, if you have a highly resolving system with upgraded cables, especially speaker cables, if you can manage to get a high quality 1m USB cord and the same cord in a 2m version, I think you will be shocked at the difference.

As I said I’m not stressing at all over my system or the next upgrade. I’m totally happy with my system, to the extent I want to learn more about it, the impact of components including cable lengths. Looks like no one really has had the direct experience of objective comparisons. I just love obsessing over this stuff.  I’m FINALLY through with always trying to fix some sort of sonic fault in my system. Any change from now on would only be to improve something, rather than to fix something, which is just awesome.  That said I’m just mesmerized by how awesome my system sounds as-is.  All thanks to that 10AWG wire in my wall, surely!!!

Good god.

@nyev I recall having read that there was a minimum length for power cords, and that would be roughly 1,5m. Under that length some of the benefits would be lost. I just go with that recommandation every time I buy a power cord, but I haven't directly compared. 

I suggest you get cords that are long enough to get from the outlet to the device you are powering.

I have never had any difference in sound from different lengths in power cords or interconnects for that matter. In regards to digital interconnects, I have a .5m analysis plus golden oval from my dac to to pre amp and a 1.5m nordost Valhalla from the bluos node back to the dac. All sounds fine, although I understand nordost recommends a 1.5 m for their digital cables. 

I built all of my power cords myself to lengths that kept the clutter down as much as possible behind my racks. None are the same length. The ones to my conditioner and amps are heavier gauge. No clue if there is a difference over the factory supplied. I just wanted some nice cords.

Some great answers here! So funny! Made my morning.

Abraham Lincoln was 6’4” or 5” back when the average man was almost a foot shorter than that. He was asked ideally how long should a man’s legs be & his response was “long enough to reach the ground”…..

First, assuming the circuits are dedicated to the music system, I suspect the length of the circuit feed wire in the walls from the electric panel & their proximity to other potentially deleterious interferences has a much greater effect than a meter difference in a good quality power cord. Additionally, I have experienced better sound at night in some homes I lived in probably due to both lower overall ambient noise but also cleaner, more stable electric power due to generally less usage in my own home & perhaps the grid in general. 

@jasonbourne52 Right Arm!

I've audtioned and diy built many PC's over the years, I can't recall a single experience where I put differences down to length of PC, and this from a person who regularly changes out things like capacitors, resistors, inductors, etc, and does hear differences with these items.

If you really think you can hear the difference one meter of cable makes at the end of the electrical chain, then why not go all the way and install a Tesla Wall Battery system and cut out the electric grid all together.  Would seem the only solution that will satisfy.  

@bigtwin , The end of the chain is the most important. It’s a filter for all the noise on the public grid. Both for THD noise coming into your system and eventually manifesting in your speakers. And as a blocker for noise generated by your gear that goes back out to your AC lines which your other gear can pick up. The theory is that the longer the end cable feeding your gear, the greater the filtering effect. Which at a point becomes detrimental…

THD is measurable with meters, and it doesn’t magically disappear - it shows up in your speakers if you don’t deal with it with conditioners and/or power cords….

I know it’s an unpopular concept for those who have not conducted blind tests…. On a relatively resolving system, with good quality speaker wire, that is. Otherwise you may very well hear no difference in which case your priorities should be elsewhere…

As an aside, I do think the prices for premium cabling is stupid…. But I guess it’s simply an effect of supply and demand.

Not trying to convince anyone, at all.  This debate has been raging for 25 year or longer!  I doubt it will ever be put to rest with consensus reached.

OP, Glad to hear you get sucked into listening to your system. Hence a great time so carefully choose the details. I struggled getting my power cord correct for my amp for a year, long after getting all my components correct. 
 

If I were you I would start by getting the brand correct. I swapped every level of Cardas, one level of Transparent, WireWorld Silver, DH Labs and was not happy with any. Then my dealer brought over a Audio Quest Hurricane. The difference was simply amazing… it was completely right… the perfect balance of detail and highly refined bass.

I realize in writing this I have a 1m and 2m Audio Quest Hurricane and a Audio Research Reference 160s amp. So, I have what it takes to do the experiment. I’ll see if I can get motivated to switch amps and do some testing. My REF160s has not been used for 8 months so it is going to need some additional break in. But maybe I’ll give it a go.

What a load of… we are supposed to think there is crosstalk created by units transferring noise from now internal DC Back to AC line in…now works its way back into other AC lines in ? Not to be nasty but that is the biggest pile of electrical rubbish I’ve read yet. This form is fun I just can’t believe the Collection of unsubstantiated BS that gets slung around.

@1971gto455ho , no, that stuff is not what makes the real difference.  I’ll let you in on my secret:  all the magic all is in my beefy 10AWG AC lines…. WAY better than wimpy 12 or 14 AWG!

Did "we" come up with a preferred PC length?

My unused PC's are all tangled up with my Liberty of London Paisely Tie Collection, so I thought that I might simply buy some new (untangled) ones. 

DeKay

@nyev 

I gather your using a 30 amp breaker with your 10 gauge line, and your amp is of a size that requires that hefty feed ? That is highly unlikely. Or perhaps your entire system runs off of a single 10 gauge line ? I’ve 4 outlets with cut gangs so each socket has a 12 gauge service. That’s 8 moderately bendable wires and a total of 160 amps of breaker protection. In poker that would be called a full house, shuffle the cards will ya...

However long you need them…wow!

Correction to my last post folks, the tabs not gangs were cut on the Receptacle outlets…now I feel better 😎

Cheers 

No amp will draw more than a few amps continuously. You definitely have RMS current covered with your full house of 12AWG! And your breakers won’t trip as all they care about is RMS. Heck 20A breakers are overkill for RMS current demands of your amp!

Seems odd that Audioquest rates their conditioner models by the amount of current they can provide instantaneously for up to 25ms, with their top TWO models able to supply up to 90A for up to 25ms? Very odd, hmmm, I wonder why….

Again @1971gto455ho you have RMS current demands of your system totally covered, no issues there! Instantaneous (peak) current must totally be made up by AudioQuest as a marketing ploy, I’m certain! You’ve convinced me.  Dammit, wish I didn’t spend those extra few bucks on my beefy, low-resistance, high-current capable 10AWG wire… ;)

Power cables need capacitance…Long ones have more.

you can even measure that!

shunyata ideal length is 1.75M.

voodoo 2meters

wireworld 3 M

you see they all vary