In skimming the detailed arguments about power cords, I have not noticed anyone addressing the issue of the quality of the power line behind the electrical outlet. One might spend hundreds on a nifty power cable, but its merits may be moot if the AC feed in the wall is insufficient or degraded.
Having re-wired several photo studios and my own 99-year-old house, I can comfortably warn you folks that you MAY be wasting money on a limp piece of 6-foot cable, when you should be putting your dough into upgrading the line from the service panel to your listening area. I am not denying that some people can hear differences in cables: I'm simply suggesting there might be other ways to upgrade before you jump into wasting money on power cables.
For starters, upgrading the service panel itself may improve things. Beyond that, we are all at the mercy of our local power companies who control the size and quality of lines between the ultimate source - which might by miles away - and our buildings.
Numerous things can degrade the quality and integrity of power between the service panel and the listening room outlet: cable age, cable size, length of cable run, cable kinks, additional loads between the service panel and your listening room (anything with motors, such as wine coolers and dehumidifiers play havoc), proximity to aberrant and spurious radio frequency signals, even the quality of connectors within junction boxes and the grade of the outlet itself.
I've not even addressed the problem of hum-induced polarity amongst various components - but that's for another forum.
Only after you have looked into these issues and eliminated possible causes of power degradation should you begin to consider putting 10% of your equipment budget into a stupid power cable! Once you fix any problems mentioned, you might find a generic power cable works just fine, so long as its rating matches that of your conditioner and equipment.
Having re-wired several photo studios and my own 99-year-old house, I can comfortably warn you folks that you MAY be wasting money on a limp piece of 6-foot cable, when you should be putting your dough into upgrading the line from the service panel to your listening area. I am not denying that some people can hear differences in cables: I'm simply suggesting there might be other ways to upgrade before you jump into wasting money on power cables.
For starters, upgrading the service panel itself may improve things. Beyond that, we are all at the mercy of our local power companies who control the size and quality of lines between the ultimate source - which might by miles away - and our buildings.
Numerous things can degrade the quality and integrity of power between the service panel and the listening room outlet: cable age, cable size, length of cable run, cable kinks, additional loads between the service panel and your listening room (anything with motors, such as wine coolers and dehumidifiers play havoc), proximity to aberrant and spurious radio frequency signals, even the quality of connectors within junction boxes and the grade of the outlet itself.
I've not even addressed the problem of hum-induced polarity amongst various components - but that's for another forum.
Only after you have looked into these issues and eliminated possible causes of power degradation should you begin to consider putting 10% of your equipment budget into a stupid power cable! Once you fix any problems mentioned, you might find a generic power cable works just fine, so long as its rating matches that of your conditioner and equipment.