AC travels miles from the substation, enters my house, goes into a panel, then runs to my hifi equipment. Once inside the equipment it goes through whatever wiring the manufacturer used. I don't understand how the few feet from the outlet to the back of the gear can make some of the dramatic changes claim (low end goes down another octave, deeper wider soundstage, etc). My thought is that as long as the power cord is shielded so that it's not working like an antenna, properly grounded, and of sufficient guage so that you're not loosing juice to heat, and has contacts that make a solid connection, any power cable should sound like the next, especially since the AC coming in is rectified and smoothed.
I'm not looking for flames, but for those that believe in power cables, enlighten me. Or said another way, can that $11,000 plus power cable I saw today possiblet do more than fatten the manufacturer's wallet?
The quality and unfortunately, that's related to cost, of the connectors can have an impact on the power cord.
Just switching the ends made a difference in the sound of the wires.
So does eliminating as many connections as you can.
I've simplified things so that I run a direct 10 guage line from the panel to my amp using only one IEC connector on the line then into the amp.
Because of safety issues,a direct soldered connection to the amp would be the ultimate.
So I am not using any DIY or Store bought power cords to the amps and I've noticed an increase in dynamics and resolution.
I am not saying that power cords don't matter,just the opposite.
It's all about the power delivery to the gear that matters.
If it didn't I would have stuck with plugging the amps into the wall on a non dedicated 15 amp line with stock power cords.
I've only experimented with DIY and Shunyata power cords,but it's always been easy for me to hear that no two are alike.
And like most things in this hobby the quality(and expense)of the connectors played a major part in shaping the sound.
If someone has to decide on where to save some money,don't let it be the connectors if DIY.
My first DIY power cord was back in 1987 when I replaced the thin power cords on my Quad 63. I used the Quad IEC, bought generic male plug and used 12 guage solid core romex.
All stock power cords from that time on stayed in the box.
I make all my own power cords too. All wire has resistance. And will have a voltage drop for every so feet of wire and gauge. Go far enough and you'll have almost no voltage at all on the other side. There is even a calculator online that is accurate. Any engineer would need to know that by heart and use it often.
Electricity loves the path of least resistance. That is where is flows best and fastest. The shorter and thicker the power cord or line is the better. Pure copper and silver are the best conductors on the planet. The less brass the better, the less gold the better (although gold doesn't corrode so I give it that, but pure copper is better for transmission). The thicker and purer the copper the better. The tighter the connection the better. You want the least amount of connections as possible. Usually outlets and connections have brass in them. This damages the flow of electricity and causes resistance. Higher quality ends can have more copper and thicker copper with better tighter connections.
With good tight connectors and ends and a thick gauge from your local home improvement store you're going to get the best electricity you can going to your gear (and it's pretty dang cheap to boot!). Yes you'll get different sounds from different cords but the one that get's the signal there the most intact and less voltage drop and least resistance is going to the the purest. That is the one you want. And that is going to be the one with the shortest run, best contact, thickest gauge. And that can be made for relatively cheap with some good hospital grade outlets, good thick wire from the improvement store, and the least breaks in the line and least brass as possible.
If you can go pure silver sure you can do that, that's even better but it's only 5% better conductor and tarnishes pretty easy. And is really really expensive for a little bit better transmission improvement. A slightly thicker copper will make up for it.
Not everyone wants to make their own cords though. And that's fine. As you've noticed the best and most expensive cords are almost always the thickest ones. There is a reason for that. I just don't think the price is justified, sure they will try to add all kinds of other buzz words to it and techniques they say will help, but in the end it was the tighter connection, less brass, thicker wire, that made it better than the cheaper ones in their line. Stuff I can do for dirt cheap on my own.
Hi Kacz, I agree with your findings, although I own a aftermarket pre-made power cord, It is 10 awg, 1-meter long, one of the best model oyaide terminated plugs, this coensides with what you said, However, I have to correct you on one thing, that is the Hospital grade recepticals, Do not use them!, they are plated!, gos against what the both of us know!, get a pure audiophile out-let, make sure it is not plated, use a Iridium/copper cryo treated, very, very, thick metal on both sides of the receptical that is 20 amps, this can handle 30 amps that will not melt or get to hot, this will result with pure current flow, with NO interruption of Electricity, It is not plated!
Kacz, remember that copper oxide is a terrible conductor while silver oxide is pretty good. Most of everything else you say is simplistic if not also wrong.
Man, those cryo treated outlets are so darned important at that last location. We all know, the secret it out, the hundreds or thousands of connections between the power plant and your outlet were all cry treated before installation. So it can be all thrown away if you don't do it too. Your power panel connections too. The main breaker and the individual breakers.
Now, be sure to do the connection to the amp, the connections to the transformer, the screws on the power supply caps.....And luckily, there is NO PLATING on any of those connections.
You can really, really hear it when you do it, I mean, "jaws hit the floor", you'll sit "slack jawed", it's "blow away", it's "transcendent", it makes the prior sound seem "broken", it's an "order of magnitude" better, thousands of "veils are lifted", and throw in all the other audiophiie superlatives I forgot.
Kiddman, we do what we can. Some of us probably have the skills and resources to do just what you refer to.
Whether they will or will not have the effects you speculate about remains to be proven, but only when someone actually does the heavey lifting, which I am afraid will never be you,since even replacing a cheap one buck wall receptacle is too much effort for a suspected upgrade in performance.
You can scoff at what the results are that I and others report,but sadly you'll never know, and that's a shame.
But it's only a shame if you really are moved by good sounding music.
If you are quite happy with dreck, then ejoy it as it is. And we will enjoy the lifting of veils and all the other audiophile superlatives reported by those who have gone the distance and are quite happy with the results.
We don't ask that you must do as we do, join us in our lunacy(as you must think it is)nor do we say you must do any of this stuff or spend a single dollar more than you already have.
We only state these things so that other folks who may be interested in improving their sound try some of the things that myself and others ,have found to make an improvement in our systems.
And I don't know or have heard any other person paricipating in this threads audio system.
Yet our findings seem to be pretty much the same, even though our systems are all different.
I think those who are serious about this hobby get it, and those who aren't ,don't.
Thankyou gentleman, I know with exsperience that non plated is better than plated with recepticals, I assume kiddman was making a joke out of what I said, cryo treated two metals to me infuses them better to work as a whole, in my opinion, results better sound, whether minute or not, it's a cheap improvement that helps!
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