Power Cords Snake Oil ??


Having been a long time audiophile living with countless high end compnents I have to wonder about the theory and practicality of high end power cords.

I have yet to hear the difference a power cord makes. Ive owned, synergistic, Shunyata, BMI and cardas. I in no way can detect any sonic signature or change. Give me a pair of interconnects and I imeadiately notice a difference somewhere in the sonic spectrum. Not the PC though. I have accomplished 4 blind tests with my friends. 3 out of the 4 they did not know their cord was replaced. All 4 were using a stock factory supplied cord. Each of the 4 tests were done on different components. Amp, CDP, Preamp & dac.

My electrical backround tells me that provided you supply the component with its required voltage bet 110vac or 220/240vac its happy. Now, change the incoming frequency from 60hz to say 53hz and watch how quickly your soundstage collapses.! This is often the case during the summer months when home air conditioners are in use and the utility company power output is taxed to the max. A really good power conditioner should however take care of the frequency fluctuations. But 110vac is still 110vac regardless of the conductor it passes through as long as its remains 110vac when it reaches the intended circuit. Does your 8k amp or preamp know the difference of the path the voltage took to reach it ? Many an audiophile will use a dedicated 20amp circut for their equipment.That is a good idea as voltage & frequency fluctuations will occur in the home circuit to to other loads on the main breaker panel but again, A power cord simply is the means of transporting the voltage from the wall to the component. IF there is a clean 110vac @ 60hz at the wall socket, no matter what the medium is to go from the socket to the component, it will still be 110vac @60hz.

Could somebody expand on this a bit more. I just dont understand it. ??
jetmek

Showing 9 responses by slappy

I got a couple amplifier design and construction books authored by G Randy Slone, Ive only browsed through them, and im no electrical engineer, but SS amplifier designs are not exactly complicated. It is all basic electronics.

Im sure that Quantum physics which has been accepted as fact, will have SOMETHING to do within the spectrum of electrical sciences, but basically you construct it and it works, and it is known why.
Im not sure i understand the relation of mystic and unknown powers of the universe that people keep trying to tag onto an amplifier, wire, or whatever else.

I understand the idea that a high end power cable might have some good filtering attributes from it, but i still think that this entire debate is somewhat useless because some people have better power being fed into thier homes than other people do.

Maybe if you have clean power and a good power cord you can hear a difference, or maybe you cannot. Maybe you can only hear a difference if you have crappy power.

Maybe they fact that some people hear differences depends on the magnetic fields in the earth. Who knows.

The fact is this, if two people buy a $400 power cable, one of them claims to hear a great difference in sound and the other claims to not hear anything different, i refuse to believe that one of them "Isnt hearing right" Personally i would be more to lean to puyt merit in the person who states he cannot hear any difference, because it DOES sound like the other guy is trying to justify an expence while the other guy chalks it off as a mistake.

The world of High Fidelity 2 channel audio is not exactly making leaps and bounds of technical advancements. It is more of different configurations, or slight modifications.

Seeing as how i have never used a high end power cord, i cannot totally discount thier sonic benefit.

There are 2 groups of people. Those who hear the differences and those who dont.

Maybe instead of claiming mystical forces, other factors should be looked at for explanation. It could be alot of different things and it could probably be explained if looked at the right way, and there is nothing as far as i see to indicate some strange mysterious things happening in the power cable itself.

I would look more at geographical location, look for electromagnetic lines (way lines)in the earth, look at the distance and quality of power and lines in the persons house, or how many people share that grid. Does your house have alot of metal in it? what is used for your main ground? will the equipment you are running actually even benefit from the power cord? Maybe some equipment does and some doesent.

seems like alot of finger pointing and name calling. Not much mutual interest in getting to the bottom of this mystery.

You might find that the altitude in colorado puts a system a little close to the electromagnetic shield and differences cannot be heared, while in florida they can.

who knows?

All this badgering and name calling isnt going to get to the bottom of this, and sometimes things work a certain way for resons beyond the component itself.

there is a practical explanation to everything, and i dont see the benefit to pass it along as faith in the unknown.

I would like to see what happens when the non believers hear a comparison in a believers house, and vica verca.

Sum it up, add it up, locate it and pin it. The answer is there, and it is nothing fantastic or beyong comprehension, it is something nobody thought to look at yet.
this is something im skeptical on, i have no experience with high end power cords. I can see the logic in a dedicated outlet, however there is one thing about the high end power cords that make me dubious.

with high end power cords, you are merely changing the quality on the last 3-6 feet of electrical path. So, it would make sence to me, that your power cord will only be as good as the electrical cable bringing the power to the outlet. So if the cable from the power box is crap, then spending a buttload of money on a power cord wont make a difference.

Its like crawling through 20 feet of crap and putting on a tuxedo on the end. The presentation is better, but yer still covered in crap

thoughts?

Like i said, i have no real experience with the high end power cords, but changing the quality of the last few feetof the electrical path seems like it wouldnt make a big difference.

Funny thing, is im sure i will be hooking one of those garden hoses up to my amplifier as soon as i get a good amp

hehehehe

wait a second, Ok, here we go. On the same train of thought, why have a cable at all? why not run the power from your powerbox directly to your amplifier? Wouldnt that be the ultimate power cord?
Honestly i think some of them are worth it alone for the presentation they show.

The fiancee and i are debating buying a new house or the one we are renting. If we buy a new house, ill be in a position to be able to do alot of nice electrical work for my system. Im gonna make sure i got real good cable from the box to the outlets. Maybe then i will be able to hear a difference?

Who knows. They definatly make yer gear look aot more burly though.

I think im gonna go read Sean's post he was talking about. im curious about this.

Hey sean,
you certainly do know yer stuff, no doubt about it. What are your opinions on the issue of the quality of cable from the power box to the outlet? Do you think that few feet of high end PC would still make a difference? I would really like to hear your insight on this, you manage to point out things that alot of people miss.

Has anyone ever heard of somone doing a direct connect from thier amp to the power box with no outlet? Wonder what effect that would do.

I know if i had a rig like say.. Brainwater, i'd be making damn sure my stuff was up to par all the way to the electrical plant.
hahahahahha
WOW! I read another thread on Power Cords, looks like they beat this issue to death.

The way i see it,

Group A Cannot hear any difference
Group B Hears a massive difference.

I wouldnt say group B is wrong, there are alot of audiophiles that i respect strongly stating that PC's make a difference
Same goes for group A.

Here is my reasoning why some people CAN and some people CANNOT hear a difference.

Group A has crappy cable in thier walls, so that it is basically matched with the stock cords. That extra 3 feet they plug into the wall doesent make a Difference.

Group B has real good cableing in thier walls, and probably shorter runs to the Power Box. They very well may hear a big difference, because the stock PC cord is not as good as thier electrical runs. When they upgrade to another PC, which is more of the calibur of thier electrical runs, it improves sound.

There. It is settled for once and all.

If you cannot hear a difference with a high end power cable, then fire yer contractor and hire somone to run some real good quality cable.

I read about 1/2 of that thread and there was alot of immaturity, alot of heated debate, and nobody mentioning the possibility of crappy electical runs installed in the house.

There. It is solved. you can all thank me later.

Im gonna look into electrical runs, and when i buy my house im gonna have it wired up with the best.

because damnit, when i buy that 200.00 power cable, I BETTER HEAR A DIFFERENCE OR MY FIANCEE WILL NEVER LET ME BUY ANOTHER COOL GARDEN HOSE AGAIN! :) :) :)

Peace! :)
What amazes me is how heated these power cord discussions are.

Want to see a fight on A'gon? Ask about power cords and thier validity.

As for now, im with Jetmek, i think they look burly as hell and i like the way it looks. I will probably buy them for appearance reasons alone.

Who knows, maybe i will hear a big difference. :)
well who knows? as newer areas of science develop we may find it has a major impact to our own endeavors.

I personally dont expect and dramatic breakthroughs that will make fantastic changes to amps, cords, or whatever.

However, anyone who will state that "there is nothing more to learn from something" did not look hard enough

I remember hearing a quote, i cannot remember who said it but it was quite some time ago, around the Thomas Edison days. It was a disginuished political figure and a well respected intellect of the time.
He stated that "Everything that can be invented, has been invented". I wish i knew who said that.

Either way, there is always new things to learn.
Slappy, for a guy who thinks he knows what he's talking about, your cinnamon chicken cigar post sure doesent make sence.
KT88, thinking of snakes,

Did you read about that python they found in Indonesia? i think it was indonesia.

Anyways, this thing is the biggest snake ever found. The previous record holder was a reticulated python of 33 feet in legnth.This new snake is the same species, 49 feet long, 2.8 feet in diameter, and weighs in just under 1,000lbs.

the local tribe worshiped it as a god.

now, back to the arguement.

:)
You guys just couldnt lead a sleeping dog lie could you?
Another can of worms is getting peeled open. :)