Sdcampbell, being an Audiogon member that has always read your posts during the last two years ( I began in 1999), I am surprised by your comments.
You built your system with quality audiophile gear and yet you report that power cords provide very little if any improvement in your system.
This completely baffles me, as my results are so opposite from yours. You may have read about the extremes I have gone to make my electrical system the best it can be. Including but not limited to: Private transformer, 220 Volt three phase electrical drop, 750 Amp commercial bypass meter box, 16 dedicated runs exclusive to the stereo, separation of phase between digital and analog, and dedicated 12 gauge copper star grounding for each component.
With all this work, I cannot imagine music without a high quality power cord. I choose Purist Dominus power cords for my system, and the effect is so drastic, that an entire room of people laugh out loud when a stock cord is substituted. The difference is literally that big.
Do I remember you live outside of the USA? Maybe that is part of our different results. |
Sdcampbell... Now that you are accustomed to your system's sound; ALL AT ONCE without listening; replace all of your cords with the typical black 18awg cords that come with most gear and computers. Then play your favorite most listened to recording. Does it really sound the same?? If you replaced the cords over a long period one at a time, you may not have noticed any change, since it was gradual. |
It's true that some components are designed to be invariant of the power-line voltage. Some Linn equipment is like this, particularly when switching power supplies are used. However, in most amps, the linear power supply is not even regulated, and the capacitor bank is not infinite and the inductance from the cap bank to the output transistors is not zero, so they are sensitive to the line voltage, particualrly during high-current high-frequency transients. |
Guys, if installing a supposedly high-quality power cord is actually producing audible differences in your system, then the power cord is not just passing the power without further distortion -- it's changing something. If your electric power supply is so bad that it needs to be filtered, then a power cord is NOT the way to achieve that objective -- you need a power regeneration system, such as those made by Richard Gray, PS Audio, Monster, etc. After you get the regenerator, THEN go for the good quality power cord.
(For the record, I also have high-quality power cords installed on most of my gear. These cords are probably the only "tweak" I've acquired that provided very little -- if any -- improvement in my system.) |
Systems reproduce upstream content using upstream power sources (except some battery powered phono pre-amps). In that regard we spend ridiculous amounts of money. But our systems are (hopefully) designed to do the best job possible with the presented content and power source. So we spend our money to minimize changing, or losing, the content and to doing the best it can using the power available. But I'm in the camp which says that with my upmarket equipment the equipment designers have designed their equipment based on the known vagries of the power source (one of the design decisions requires overspec-ed transformers for example). So what the hell. Let the equipment do the job it's designed to do.
Having said that I've upgraded my PCs ! Just in case. If nothing else I get a better connection to the romex. Sad really. |
I always thought hospital grade just meant that it was designed not to produce any arcing when a plug is placed into the receptacle because of flammable gases that could be present in a hospital room? |
Even though the cord is short, it still contributes to the overall inductance. ROMEX has up to 10 times the inductance of good after market power cords. If the the last 6 feet of a 20 foot run to the panel is an after-market cord, it will add very little to the inductance of the first 14 feet. |
"Hospital" grade sais it all. Would you feel safe, if the high tech respirator keeping you alive had a lamp cord and was plugged into a $5 power strip from Walmart? Hospital gear comes with big fat cords and plugs (plus conditioning) because they don't dare skip a beat (no pun intended). Your gear won't skip a musical beat either. |
This is an excellent question but that 6 foot high-end power cord can make an audible improvement. This similar to using high-end speaker cables. Most internal speaker wiring is tin-plated copper yet one can hear an improvement. There are many claims of how power cords achieve this sonic improvement by filtering, shielding, and lower inductance. Of course there are many so called high-end cords that make no improvement at all (IMO) so be careful in your selection. |
I was skeptical too... had some "pretty good" power cords that were made for me by a local cable deigner; better than stock cords but certainly not current state of the art. I had heard them compared to stock cords and could CLEARLY hear an improvement. That was 7 or 8 years ago. I have upgraded components since then, and got the system settled down... then began to audition new power cords. Some were no better, some were worse (even expensive ones). The ones that I settled on were again, clearly better in my system. It doesn't make scientific sense to me, but it happens. I tried making a bunch of PCs. I used romex all the way to the component; hard and hashy sounding. I tried a few different kinds of braided wire too; conclusion, this guy cannot make a PC that sounds as good as what the Power Cord magicians are making. Go figure? MG |
The same could be said anytime you're trying to purify "garbage" : poor recordings, poor source, bad room. I, too, used to be a skeptic. I was espically skeptical of all cables and even most CD players. most recording travel down a $16 XLR microphone cable somewhere during the recording process. Since that is the weak link, why should I bother using a better cable than that? (rhetorical)
Auditioning interconnects a couple years ago opened my mind to that. And recently contructing several DIY power cables have opened my mind that sometimes, a power cable can make a SMALL difference. Even with the junk in the walls.
Try some. You won't hear differences in all systems. This is like the last 0.00001% tweak of your system. But in some systems you will. Maybe yours isn't tuned that well. Or perhaps your ears aren't? Or perhaps you have the wrong power cord? Generally, if you can't heara difference - you have some other gross inadequacy in you system - that may or may not be due to the romex in the walls.
I would fathom of the increased (or reduced losses ;-) ) of better power_cords/outlets/iec_sockets tend to be a result of the improved grabbing ability of the connections in making a solid connection. "Hospital Grade" stuff in known for that. That's why we use stuff like that. Better connections.
And you're right. After power cords. You'll start playing with power condititioners. Then you'll start replacing outlets (might as well, <$10). Next you'll run a dedicated line, one each, for - analog, amplifers, digital gear. Heheheh. |
No offence Boros as I was once a power cord skeptic myself-- but I get the impression that you haven't actually auditioned any PCs yourself.
Audiogon should have a regulation that no one can ask this question unless they have auditioned at least five decent power cords in their own system, IMO of course. I auditioned seven in a week and it cost me nothing but shipping. Do a search and read the interminable comments. Cheers. Craig |
The logic of some above would make the use of fuel filters in
the car you drive.....well, stupid....ie: the gas you get is
so dirty..why try to clean it.
Or...the fruits, etc., you buy travel so many miles...why
wash them before you eat them?
Listen up guys........saying the cables you use in the last
link of the chain doesn't matter is like saying that the
signal broadcast by your local FM station is all there is..and that there is no difference in tuners......
Any link in a chain can be improved...and part of the high-
end is the fine tuning... This is what high-end wines, cars
and many other "things" in life are all about, that last
% of performance....without this pursuit by some very, very
good people..we could all be loving the sound of our 8-track
tapes. |
BECAUSE there is a low grade cable behind your outlet and because it works. You don't question why a water filter works after your tap water travels 100 miles through some nasty pipe, it is similar with good power cords although not exactly analagous. Some people think that the power cord is the same as adding a few feet of pipe to an existing pipe, but such a pipe simply would not impede water flow, whereas a power cord can improve signal flow, filter grunge, lower distortion due to better grade materials. Just try one under $200 that can be easily resold if you don't like it. One audition beats a hundred debates in the posts. SD I respectfully disagree based upon personal experience, having been skeptical myself. |
I believe Sdcampbell is correct. At least to a good extent. I had a demo'ed a few power cords and owned a Cardas Reference power cord which came with my amp and is/was a decent middle of the road.
I ended up demo'ing and then buying three (one for each component) used Foundation Research in line power conditioners, LC-1's and an LC-2. These in-line power conditioners replace the power cord and IMO do far more to lower the noise floor, enhance 3D soundstaging, and sibilants and cost about the same as some good power cords.
That would be my recommended route. |
I agree with Sdcampbell wholeheartedly. |
This is an old subject. Just try a high grade power cord, borrow one from a friend or dealer. If you can hear the difference, great, if not, fine. I heard, and hear a major difference, major. There are many on the gon' that can give you theory about this. I simply tried it and was blown away. |
Boros: You have just put your finger squarely on the issue that many audiophiles with expensive power cables really don't want to admit: why invest a lot of money in a power cable when the electricity coming from the wall has just travelled hundreds miles, maybe even a thousand, through commercial power transmission facilities, been through umpteen transformers, and then traversed home wiring on the other side of the wall plug that is, at best, barely adequate? Unless you upgrade your home wiring with a high quality dedicated line, "gilding" the last 3-6 feet of the wiring with a $250 (or more) power cord doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, does it? About the only rationale for doing this is to get a power cord with shielding/RFI filters to minimize RF interference, assuming you have such a problem. |
