Question for Atma-sphere, will expensive power cables improve your amplifiers?

Why do equipment manufacturers provide a power cord at all? Leave it up to the customer to decide what kind of cord he/she wants. 

@oberoniaomnia 

My unverified guess is that if the equipment is certified, a power cord must be included.

I have yet to hear about cords connecting separate power supply chassis to electronics units to have upgraded cables.

To your point, the power cable between my Krell preamp and power supply is a DB9 to DB9 cable that costs maybe $5. Those are signal cables once known as RS-232 or VGA. They have 26 or 28AVG conductors so they were never designed for power applications, especially the not-insubstantial amounts the Krell PS puts out. 

@oberoniaomnia, aren’t both cables in the photos above DC power from the power supply to the receiving equipment. Wouldn’t that be comparing apples to oranges.

@jea48

The cables shown in the pics carry DC power, but how is DC vs AC apples to oranges as far as the quality of the cables is concerned?

(If I misunderstood something I apologize)

@aberyclark 

Way to yank the dog's chain, man!

@61falcon 

Did the Bryston folks explain why aftermarket cables would throw their amps into protection? That's interesting

I suppose that, theoretically, you could bolt down your amps to make them "permanently connected appliances" per UL 749 (appliances that are connected to the electrical supply by means of other than a supply cord and an attachment plug), get rid of your IEC receptacles at the rear of your amps and solder 12awg wire directly on to your power supply PCBs, and run single uninterrupted runs of wire to your panel.

You could not use Romex in this application because it is only allowed inside walls. You would have to install appropriately secured, listed conduit in the prescribed manner.

My point was merely that you could, if you really wanted to of course, connect an amp’s power supply DIRECTLY to the electrical panel.

In other words, eliminate (a) the amp’s IEC receptacle, (b) the power cord, and (c) the wall receptacle altogether.

Home run from PCB board to panel.

Oh and that wiring method would yield you an isolated ground, by definition

No, that could create another problem. No power disconnecting means at the hard wired piece of equipment.

Is a disconnect required at permanently connected appliances? Generally, electric cooktops, dishwashers and the like don't have a disconnect at the appliance, just at the panel. That's also why they have to have dedicated circuits.

Like I said, for this to be kosher you'd have to "permanently install" your amps. That may be inconvenient, though only mildly so by audiophile standards.

And again I would not recommend Romex for this application but rather EMT or MC, which provide insulated ground as a bonus. I don't disagree that the latter, like so many other things, is misunderstood by many audiophiles but it does provide some benefits.

Protecting customers against...?

In fairness though, the actual voltage drop across a power cable is going to be as insignificant as its resistance and in any event, wouldn't mitigation consist of heavier gauge conductors (ref. Ohm's law)?

I am not suggesting power cables do not make a difference in sound quality, merely that voltage drop may not be the best explanation, unless of course the conductors are improperly sized. After all, some big amps can pull 50 or 60A from the wall during transients.

@jetter

Honestly @atmasphere deserves a lot of credit for being so forthcoming while being somewhat unfairly put on the spot by a question that applies not just to him but to every manufacturer on the planet, assuming of course that that question had value in the first place.

Cable warning: In recent years a number of cables have emerged on the marked that are manufactures with no or little consideration to the electronics that they are connecting, unfortunately there are no standards and some ”exotic” cables can create unstable working conditions, these cables are often coaxial speaker cables that may work fine with Tube amplifiers or other bandwidth limited constructions.

wtf does that even mean 

its obvious that manufacturers have the ways of ’tailoring’ the sound of cables. Would be very curious to know and understand process behind it

So would I

@kevn it's starting to look as of this dumpster fire of a thread - starting with the original post - is aimed at putting @atmasphere on the spot - about cables, no less, a topic only a newborn or an imbecile would regard as safe and noncontroversial​.

The man operates a business. He'll discuss cables as much as he wants to of course, but it's like you keep poking at him for some reason. Maybe it's time y'all got off his back and let him run his business? Why don't y'all go ask McIntosh and Pass Labs and PS Audio why they don't include audiophile cables with their products? Be sure to let us know what they said 😂

@kevn 

I respect - and share, mind you - your desire to learn more about cables, and more specifically which of their properties benefit sound quality and which do not.

I also think you're asking a person you should not be asking. The subject is fraught, I'm sure you'll agree. Now, imagine for a moment that you make your living manufacturing high-end audio components. Your entire customer pool is a few hundred people and shrinking. If you start opining on controversial, divisive subjects that your customers care deeply about, you know that someone is going to take umbrage, and possibly start sharing their displeasure with like-minded folks on social media.

Knowing that, would you feel compelled to state your beliefs anyway? And if you did, do you think it would help or harm your business?

ive found it is only when we are each called to task and have to unequivocally state what we think or believe, that true communication is achieved.

Around here, that's called bullying, and it is considered abuse. Just sayin