What do you think of this power cord?

These abbreviations get me confused sometimes.  I read “NOS tubes” and thought “NOS must make some fine tubes — so popular they are a rare find!”   Then I see that meant “new, old tubes”.  Not a company per se.  

And when they write OFC, I wonder why a company doesn’t just spell it out for us newbies?  Could it be their defense if found that their copper is not oxygen-free, “We never said it was.  We said it was OFC . . ordinary factory cable!”   😳

I saw Maze’s woven cables also . . . $200+.  They look fancy.  Not sure I want to spend that much money on a PC (which I originally thought stood for “personal computer”).  Audio Advisor advertises Pangea power cable for about $100, but reviews are mixed.  Audioholics claims that beyond a basic level of quality, more expensive power cables are just hype and don’t matter.  Then some say to “listen, then decide”, but some say the differences are due to the “placebo effect” and only real to my imprecise mind.  Who knows?

Thanks for the information.

Thanks for the advice.  I’m going to check with an electrician and see about getting work done (but have to clean up my garage first so he can get in there)

Thank you both — I have my homework!

@amadeus888:  That is another question — the Audio Envy OE p3 cable is grounded, while the OE p2 cable is not grounded.  The site states that one cable should be grounded and the rest not grounded. I’ve not read that about any other cable.  What do you make of that?  If you have more than one such cable, do you follow this advice?

Ok, so my amp is rated at 400 watts when playing thru my 4 ohm speakers.  So double that is 800, and 2.5 times that is 2000.

Max current requirement is 2000/120 = approx. 16.6 amps.  Not sure what amps that circuit is on (can’t get to it easily due to junk in garage), but I haven’t blown anything yet.  Of course, I have other equipment on that line too.

I seldom listen to music loud; more to relax and enjoy.  So 12 AWG is fine for power cord?

Someone recommended Laspada power cables.  I found one on
e-bay that is 10 awg and costs $95.  It seems any “decent” cable is deemed to cost a lost more than that.  

Someone recommended Laspada power cables.  I found one on
e-bay that is 10 awg and costs $95.  It seems any “decent” cable is deemed to cost a lost more than that.  

I made my way to the breaker box in my garage (whew!).  The breaker for the room where my stereo system is located is a 15 amp breaker.  Most of the outlets in my house are on 15 amp breakers.

One thing I should tell you is that my house was built in the mid-50’s and had the two prong outlets without the opening for the ground.  When an electrician was doing some other work, I asked him about getting grounding receptacles in place of the original ones, so that I wouldn’t need to use those adapters.  He told me that it would be expensive to re-wire the house but that I could still install the three prong receptacles if he replaced the existing circuit breakers with appropriate breakers.  Thus, I wouldn’t have grounded outlets but it would be legal and safe to do it that way.  So we did.  Thus, I do not actually have grounded outlets.

Neither do I have a power conditioner.  I have two Furman power strips that all my equipment, including a large TV, are plugged into.  Every spot on the strips is in use and I could use more.  I could check to see how expensive it would be to have two dedicated outlets installed, if that would help given my current situation.  My understanding is that the dedicated outlets could be grounded, right?

Wow, those are good prices!  Might just have to jump on that. Thanks for link

Thanks glupson for seeing that, but is that the really good copper?  Some cables are described in more elaborate ways . . . can I remember? . . . “Oxygen free” . . . Something like “free strand” . . . “Cardas copper, the best quality copper on the planet!”    I guess I should not just want copper but some form of super-copper?

Chuck, that is probably a good suggestion, to look for used cable for sale.  I take it that cables don’t decline in performance with age? I recall your stating that cables are important and should be about 20% of the money spent on your entire system.  I only have about $7,000 in my system, and only 5% of that was cables.  To get to 20%, I would spend about $1600 on cables for a total system cost of about $8000 to get to that ratio.  I could go the DIY route to save money, but I don’t trust myself to not screw it up somehow. 

@masi61, I see you are in Dayton, OH too!  Ever been to the Hanson store in Kettering?

@cakyol:  I am interested in your comments regarding wire gage.  I was thinking that 10 gauge would be superior somehow to higher gauges, and even the inexpensive Maze cable I asked about is 10 gauge.  Then I took twoleftears’ advice and checked Cullen and Audio Envy.  Cullen has a Crossover model that is less than $200 but is only 12 gauge.  They have 10 gauge cables, Crossover II, but they are twice as expensive.  If, as you say, 12 gauge is fine, I could buy a couple of the 9 gauge cables and could spend less than $400.

Carbonmiller, those Synergist cables you recommended are good, I’m sure, but I’m not looking to spend thousands of dollars on a PC.  

Audio Envy might make good cables, but there was something about their site that didn’t seem as professional . . the wording and such.