The last 6 feet - is it important?
When you have 50 ft of Romex from the breaker panel to the outlet, why is the last 6ft of power cable important?
UPDATE - Ive since constructed a second cable from Kimber 4TC - a better quality cable. Their was a discernable improvement in micro-details, dynamics and a slightlly deeper image. The difference in price was an additional $60 for a five foot cable. Was it worth it? - if the component you intend to use it on is capable of higher resolution - the it definately is :-) But the cable made from Kimber 4PR is a very capable performer. Regards. |
Bifwynne - it's the quality of the copper used in the TC range - "hyper pure copper"- it probably has higher IACS conductivity rating, but they don't publish that. I've found that all cables with higher quality copper - or better still silver -have better dynamics and bass response - but you then need quality connectors like Furez otherwise the improvements are reduced significantly Hope that makes sense Regards |
Bif - no such thing as a dumb question. International Annealed Copper Standard: Its a measure of the conductivity of various metals relative to Pure Copper having a rating of 100%, a standard developed for copper wire producers. For Complete Definition See: IACC Definition For values of different metals/alloys see: IACC Table What I have discovered over the last little while is that conductors (i.e. wires and connectors) with higher IACS rating tend to be more dynamic in their presentation. The TC line of Kimber cables allow for noticeably faster dynamics with more detail. However - if high value conductors, like the 4TC, is used with with lower valued Brass Bananas or spades you are definitely not getting the most out of the cables. If you think about it - the electrons flying down the high purity copper highway and hitting a brass toll booth :-) I have Silver interconnect cables rated round 106% with copper alloy RCA's rated around 80%. They sounded pretty nice and quite detailed, but not what I would call smoooooth. Upgrading the RCA's to a solid silver RCA made a very big difference and improved clarity and dynamics with a definite mellowing of the high frequencies - without loosing details. I also applied a similar upgrade to my speaker cables, which were already silver coated high purity copper. Adding silver coated high conductive copper FUREZ Bananas improved overall clarity and dynamics. Hope this clarifies things :-) |
I uderstand that the filter analogy might help lower the noise floor and bring the details out - but how does it help with dynamics ? You really need instantaneous power "reserves" to improve dynamics don't you? Simply putting in good copper didn't bring the dynamics to the level I'm now experiencing. And using a silver alloy power cable didn't do the trick either. One last thing - the 6.5 ft cable is more dynamic than the 5ft cable - could it be it stores even more energy? Any other theories :-) |
UPDATE: Since making the 4TC power cord mentioned above, I have been looking at some other designs on the market and those which appear to work very well use a braided design. I had tried Braided romex in the past and it worked quite well, but it was very stiff, so I figured I'd try a more flexible cable. I went to Lowe's (the hardware store) and purchased a 25ft 12 gauge extension cord - nothing fancy - cost $35. I then cut off about 6 ft and striped the outer sheathing from the cable to leave me with the three conductors. Using a simple braiding technique I make up the power cable and attached some crimped spades and some fairly affordable IEC/mains connectors ($20 for the two) Total Cost for a 5-6 ft cable about $35 What happened next left me gob-smacked - it performed almost as well as the 4TC braided power cable - which is made from superior copper and has much better connectors. Since the Furutech power cable I have has very good quality copper conductors I performed the same process - removing the sheathing and shielding - leaving me with the three conductors. Again I applied the crimped spade and IEC connectors to the braided cable. The result was again quite astonishing - it performed better than the more expensive Kimber 4TC power cable, with better control across the board and a deeper image. So if you are thinking of upgrading your power cords but don't want to spend megabucks - try the inexpensive braided version made from a 12 gauge power cable - it really is very good If you want something between the cheapie and the Furutech, then try the Power Plus power cable from DH Labs and braid as above. It shou.d perform very close to the Furutech for about 1/3 the cost Regards |
