My Talk with Roger of XLO (power cords)


Hi all,Ray Here I regularly pick up my inventory and special orders from XLO. While I was there last week, I had an opportunity to Chat with Roger (Owner of XLO) on why his power cords work. I remember most of the conversation and thought you would enjoy it
Roger: Ray would you like to know why a XLO power cords work????
Ray: Yes, Pleeease tell me. I hear so many different theories, I don't know what to tell my clients, they are under the impression that it is black magic.
Roger: The key is in the design. That is why power cables work best on transports, amplifiers, and especially video devices. Pre amps, DACS, and other devices don't benefit as much.
Ray: Why is that?
Roger: Pre amps, DACS and other devices usually have power supplies with sufficient build quality to meet the performance demands. Most people are under the impression that power cords are used to keep interferance out, but this is impossible. Think of it this way: power comes from the power station, runs miles to your home, travels through romex in your home to your outlet, and there is nothing a three foot power cord can do to filter all that rf from the power station. Tests have shown that loud speakers, amplifiers, output devices work best on the same frequency as an AM radio bandwidth, approximately 60 cycles). So if you can design a power cord to try to maintain that cycle, you inherently will have better performance. Another words, don't build it to filter out, build it to keep wanted cycles in.
Ray: Another words you are trying to maintain consistency in the frequency?
Roger: That is correct.
Ray: Can I ask you about your opinion on speaker cable? There is a lot of confusion in this area also.
Roger: A lot of manufacturers build too much capacitance in the cable. This alters the transmission. Speaker cables and interconnects should do absolutely nothing to the sound. They should be as close to nuetral as possible.
Ray: Roger do you mind if I post this on the internet?
Roger: Absolutely not. I was given a PL1500 power cord from XLO,I tryed it on our Zenith 900 Pro CRT and our Sony LCD in our Show room after seeing the results I am a firm believer in Power cords Especially for Video Display devices XLO Limited Edition wire and cables were just reviewed in Ultimate Audio Magazine. Needless to say Roger definately knows his wire. The cables and wires received top praise from the reviewers. Take care.
Ray
RLA Home Theater and Hi-Fi
rlahometheater
I tend to agree with Sean that the original post is mumbo jumbo. By the way, I find the XLO cords sound quite good here in New Zealand where the power is 50Hz - I wonder why Roger exported to New Zealand if he really believed the issue was controlling 60Hz. Also, pull an XLO power cord apart and you see what is going on - good materials, shielding and conductor twisting for common mode rejection. Look at the construction of his cheaper black cord and compare it with the dearer purple cord and the most obvious difference is that the construction of the purple cord will give roughly twice the common mode rejection of the black cord. This does not gel with the claim that "there is nothing a 3 foot cord can do to filter.."
Well you all did a great job of bashing Roger but how exactly in your own words do power cords work ??? I confess I know little on the subject and was sceptical of there useage I have heard more than enough opinions on how they work and Rogers is no less acceptable than the others.Its easy to bash what you yourself dont understand I guess.And for the record I have never sold even 1 power cord from any manufacture.But please give me a detailed explanation of how they work and why they work equally as well on Dacs and Transports I dare you no double dare :)
Hi Am I missing something here??? does the post not say that Pre amps and DACs will not benefit as much??? nowhere does say that preamps and dacs will not benefit at all!!! Cheers RLA
I didn't say that power cords can not make a difference. I said that it would be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to "resonate" them for a very small ( especially low frequency )range. You can design specific filter slopes into them by playing with their electrical values ( capacitance / inductance, etc ). The problem with this is that you would have to change the design for each given length. In other words, a 3 ft cord would have to have a different design than a 5 ft cord in order to achieve similar filtering action. Otherwise, the electrical characteristics and slope rate would change as the cable was lengthened or shortened. As for your comment about an engineer or designer taking time out to talk to an average guy, i've spoken to several designers / engineers / owners for hours on end. Some of these were over the phone and i didn't even own ANY of their products. As to a product getting a rave review, that doesn't necessarily mean much to me. I've had more than a few differences of opinions with reviewers before, regardless of who they were and where they were printed. Sean >
You should be ashamed of yourself.This area should not be used to spew garbage.If MR $^** XLO does not think power cords make a difference on preamps,this tell me he knows dick about the subjet.this tells me his cords are just another pile of snake oil/.
So you are saying that the power cords did nothing to the video preformance of our projectors??? I was not the only one who saw improvement,my Tec saw it as well.Hell yes this is a plug for Roger at XLO!!! how many owners of cable companys would take time out of there day to talk about desighn of there products to a custom installer????? I have been doing this for a lot of years and have never had a cable company do this.I will let the review in the Magazine speak for itself,unless you think Ultimate Audio is giving a Blatant Plug as well??? Oh yea they are considered one of the most neutrall magazines out there Cheers Ray
While I confess to being "dumb as Dirt":I own 3 different brands of power cords that I paid over 600 ea.for.All 3 brands Make a LARGE difference when used with my pre amp.(Cat mk3)The King Cobra,naturally the biggest dif. So sign me "no brains---just ears" Maybe Roger has been in the lab to long?? I wonder if these guys listen on good equiptment;and to other good power cords??
While i do own some XLO products, this appears to be nothing more than a blatant plug with more non-technical "mumbo jumbo". You can't "resonate" power cords for a specific frequency range like you can RF transmission lines. Sean >