The Truth About Power Cords and there "Real" Price to Performance


This is a journey through real life experiences from you to everyone that cares to educate themselves. I must admit that I was not a believer in power cords and how they affect sound in your system. I from the camp that believed that the speaker provided 75% of the sound signature then your source then components but never the power cord. Until that magic day I along with another highly acclaimed AudioGoner who I will keep anatomist ran through a few cables in quite a few different systems and was "WOWED" at what I heard. That being said cable I know that I am not the only believer and that is why there are so many power cord/cable companies out there that range from $50 to 20-30 thousand dollars and above. So I like most of you have to scratch my head and ask where do I begin what brand and product and what should i really pay for it?

The purpose of this discussion to get some honest feed back on Price to Performance from you the end user to us here in the community.

Please fire away!


 


128x128blumartini
Talk is cheap. I design power cords. Who wants to finally get off your ass and double blind shootout ?. Lets get to the bottom of this lame ass argument that has been going on since the beginning of time. If your cable beats mine, it ,means power cords work and Ive done the industry a huge favor. We can end the conversation and move on to speaker cables, and interconnects until the whole talk is over as far as cables go.
Anyone can join the party, does not have to be other designers, you can rep your favorite designer if you like. So we can find out which cable is best I guess ...yippee,,, it will be expensive im sure. That does not matter to the marketplace as much as whose is best for the least amount of money ? I’ll bet I win this Title and if a $300 cable beats mine, then we will vote for whose cable looks the most unique and innovatiove regardless of anything else.. I got a solid foot in on that one. .. My 5 foot cord is $800. I will start here, the same thing in pure solid 5N silver within my line is $1500. If we really want to get down, Im sure I can cheapify my cable and maintain performance. Both are bargain by Audiopohile standards. No audio show shootouts as the acoustics are crappy at best. I’ll do this at my house in Atlanta GA. If nobody wants to blind test, I’ll do it with local audiophile buddies and record it with high grade microphones and post it to youtube. Its time for all us to pull up our dang panties and put this to rest by the REAL way, blind testing, I could care less if I win or not, I just dont want this damn drivel all the time around my sacred place, the HiFi Hobby. dont any of you feel like you are taking part in a whiny pissant discussion when your job is to be listening to music, discovering wonderful new styles and albums by sharing with one another your findings, and paying homage to the reason this website even exists ??? Its MUSIC ! Remember that one thing ??.. You all are off in the weeds wasting precious time and not listening to music and enjoying all the cool things it can do for us .... Wake up Audiophiles, this is MUSIC calling...
You can never record and make any analysis with microphones or YouTube. Has to be live. I am in Atlanta regularly. Count me in! 
@mikepowellaudio: Interesting marketing technique. However if you are a professional, I’d opine that you need to tone it down a bit. You really think forum members from around the world are going to stop their lives and come to your home in Atlanta just because you are hosting a test?

I get it, you know we won’t, can’t, don’t want to or just have no interest. Here’s an idea...raise your price ten times. There are forum members here who will buy for no other reason than an accessory is outlandishly expensive.
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The power cord doesn’t matter as long as the gauge is correct for your circuit.  
15A circuit = 14AWG
20A circuit = 12AWG
30A circuit = 10AWG

You can use hospital grade outlets if you want a good, solid connection from your cord to the outlet.

Spend your extra money on a power conditioner / re-generator / filter.  Those actually matter and *can* make an audible difference if you have noisy AC power.  If you have coax service (Cable TV) into your system you may have buzzing / ground loops on your sub; fiber optic/Toslink can break that ground loop, as can a nice filter on your coax.

The above information is real-world vs. all the cable voodoo nonsense I see on here.