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What Bryston says about power cord...

for their amps and preamps...

It's the email response I got after inquiring about power cord I lost while moving.

"In general, Bryston has seen no reason to use anything other than a high-quality AWG 14 cord with an IEC connector and three-prong plug. We can supply these (which are original equipment) for $15 each + a small shipping charge.

Some customers seem absolutely determined to spend insane amounts of money on "special" power cords; after spending that money, can their assessment of what they gained be trusted?

If you can't find AWG 14 standard cords in your area, contact us to order them."

Also, REL manual says 'Only use the power cord supplied'.

When you buy a power cord for a equipment, do you actually check with the equipment manufacturer first? or just do it.

Following was my email question,
-----------------------------------
Hi

I'm using 3B SST and 5B ST for stereo and HT.

While moving, I lost the power cords supplied by
Bryston, so I'm currently using some cheap unknown
power cords. I was thinking about getting some nice
aftermarket power cords, so I didn't bother to find it
hard.

I know from the manual that you recommend not using
power line conditioners, but what about power cords?

What do you reccomend?

The one I'm considering is PS Audio Prelude.
http://www.psaudio.com/products/xstream_power_prelude.asp

Will using good after market power cords imporve or
reduce the amp performance?

Is the power cord supplied by Bryston supposed to
perform the best for the amp? Should I try to get
power cords from Bryston if they are lost?

Thanks.
eandylee

Showing 3 responses by nsgarch

nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
George, as a matter of fact, a number of equipment manufacturers (notably power conditioners, I don't know why those but...) offer optional power cord upgrades . . . . either of their own or others manufacture. But these come at a (usually significant) price increase. If they offered these cords standard, they would price their equipment out of the market, so they just can't do it.

Another thing I learned recently, was that in order to obtain UL approval of their equipment, any shielded PC (either detachable or hardwired) supplied with the equipment must have the shield attached to ground at both ends, a configuration that often creates more hum problems than it eliminates.

So the manufacturers are in a sort of a damned if we do or don't situation.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Almost all manufacturers say the same thing as Bryston and REL. I mean, think about it: What if they said something like "Using a high quality aftermarket power cord may improve the performance of your new XXXX"

Besides begging the question "Well why didn't you supply a better PC in the first place?" (money, stupid!) Also, recommending you use only the supplied cord limits the manufacturer's liability: If anything happened to your unit while using an aftermarket product recommended by the manufacturer, they would still be responsible for damage or injury (even if the cord wasn't the problem.)

So you have to read between the (legal) lines of such statements.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
PCs and power amps: I have found that power amps don't show much benefit from even the fanciest PCs UNLESS they have at least 10 AWG conductors.

In fact if you just make a PC from plain ole Carol 3 cond. 10AWG avail. from Home Depot and stick it on your power amp, you'll probably get 90% of the benefit of a more expensive cord. It's all about energy transfer with power amps. 12 AWG is the largest size stock PC I've seen supplied with a power amp, but they're usually 14 AWG.
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