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

devinplombier

432 posts

03-25-2025 at 11:56pm 

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 

I apologize if I'm not using the proper methodology to quote subscribers posts but I'll get a handle on this eventually.  Now on to my comment...

Yes Devin, what planet does this guy live on?  The whole industry surrounding accessories for hi fi has mostly been based on ludicrous claims about what these products do and the dubious and unscientific claims manufacturers make about them.  If it seems too good to be true it probably is!  On the other hand, reliable connectivity and continuity between components is without exception but if a hobbyist wants to dress up their system with cables other than what comes in the box with a new component by all means and forums like Audiogon can be a valuable resource to help wade through the hype and make rational choices about realistically functional additions to their systems even if they know its superfluous bling. 

@aberyclark "I cannot see a High-quality audiophile component maker (especially some that sell volume) pass on a few dollars for a better sounding power cable if indeed the cable improved their product. I cannot see a person buying that $7000 amp is not going to balk if the product was introduced at  $7100 (with the better cable)."

Rega does and it's available as aftermarket as well for anyone who'd wish to try one. 

@jea48 "Years ago I used to post a photo of a power cord sold by an audiophile internet company showing 3 single insulated conductors twisted together with only a loosely protective covering of a cellophane plastic. WOW. Going from memory the wires were 16AWG."

Mapleshade - they had a whole "loom" based around this construction.

@sdl4 "Ah, the joys of negative expectation bias. That's when you have a belief that cables (or other audio gear) do not have an effect on sound, which leads to not hearing a difference even when other skilled listeners can hear a difference. It's important to recognize that controlled listening trials (using single or double-blind testing) can control for positive expectation bias (where an expected difference can bias results), but even blinded testing cannot control for negative expectation bias. This makes it incredibly important not to underestimate the power of expecting "no difference" when comparing audio equipment. But I definitely don't think people with negative expectation bias are lying or ignorant."

Please!  It's just a freakin' wire!

@jea48 "What was wrong with the OEM power cord that came with the equipment you installed the audiophile power cord on?"

Way too long and cumbersome.  I could purchase the VooDoo in the exact length I needed to reach from the power conditioner to the component that needed it and as I explained earlier in the thread, I'm just fine with a little bling but realistic. I have after market power cords on all of my equipment except the power conditioner that is just fine with the one the manufacturer supplied and my 30 something year old Radio Shack powered antenna that uses a wall wort plugged into the PC with everything else.

The Audiogon forum program is a little antiquated to say say the least.

If you want to post a quote you need to use the two quote thingies in the header of the message box.

They are similar to these. Quotation marks . Click on quotation marks, where you want the quote displayed on the page. A vertical line will appear. Paste the quoted material to the right of the vertical line.

Example:

. .

.

But wait, there’s more... You may find if you place the quoted material at the top of the message box you can’t respond to the quoted material below it. That’s part of the challenge posting on Agon.

So before you post a quote at the top of the page, using quotation marks, you will need to first type a number or letter or what ever first then move it down the page a ways. Then click on the quotation marks where you want the vertical line to appear.

..

Respond to quoted material.

 

@jea48 Like this? Yikes!

@jea48 Thanks for reaching out to me with the tip.  I think I've got it at least for now, anything else you can share as we go along will be greatly appreciated.