Firstly; yes I believe that cables makes a difference. All cables. I don’t want a discussion with ”non believers”.
I use a power strip (Wireworld Matrix 2) which is connected to the wall socket with a Furutech Empire. But now I need a little longer power cable and I thought; does the power cable from the wall socket to the power strip really matter? I mean, all the way to my wall socket it’s just ordinary wire, so why should the part to the power strip matter. It’s just the last bit to the devices that matters, I’ve been told. Or…?
What are your thoughts about this?
My first step (when addressing power to my system) was to replace the 14 AWG, that fed most of my upstairs rooms, with a 20A dedicated line (two twisted together, 10/2 runs of Romex*), on it's own breaker and the bus bar of the Main, with nothing but one side of the 230V, HVAC power on it (I got lucky, there).
The HVAC stays turned off, during listening sessions.
*My listening room's 120' from the mains box.
Although I don't doubt that better outlets would improve things, somewhat: I used Hubbell, Extra Heavy Duty, Hospital Grade receptacles.
That was almost 30 years ago and they still grip like a gorilla, so...
An Audio Magic Stealth feeds everything but the Main Mono Amps and VPI SDS, in my actively bi-amped system.
Though the purifier is there to do just that (purify), making it's job as easy as possible has been my goal in PC selection.
Bear with me a minute, in my folly, far as a possibility on why a power cord might make a difference.
Based on some of the theories on how electricity works, simplified:
The conductor acts as a waveguide for the signal/voltage.
Within the conductor: when excited by an AC current, electrons oscillate, generating photons/electromagnetic waves that travel, always from the source, to the load.
Keep in mind: all signals (ie: music, AC) are sinusoidal waves
Those photons/electromagnetic waves travel through and outside the dielectric, which (according to it's permittivity/Poynting vectors) will have various effects on those waves. One of the most obvious, is the dielectric's effect on the speed of the signal.
The better designers of printed circuit boards, even take the above into account, when choosing materials for their products.
I posted a link on the first page, that included data on the manufacture of semiconductor chips and what was observed when materials were cryo'd, during process. Short version: better contact/lowered resistance between layers.
Under the scanning microscope: much smoother surfaces observed.
I would hope, by now, it's a given that various cable constructions, twists, braids, etc, can make for a cleaner transmission of signals (ie: Litz, etc).
Just seems to me (a hypothesis): given the above (some theories and some things established/measured/proven), it's not a big stretch to believe a power cord, built of the best conductor (Ohno CC silver), wrapped in a very low dielectric coefficient dielectric (ie: Teflon), cryo'd for the smoothest transfer of those photons/magnetic waves and twisted in some crazy way, might not smooth out some of perturbations/noise, from the crap an AC waveform had to go through, back to it's generator. (run-on, much?)
I haven't tested this, actually comparing two circuits, but: it wouldn't surprise me, if a power supply that used a choke, would be less affected by a better power cord, as the former can eliminate a lot of the high freq garbage, etc, that's either created by, or makes it through all the big converting/filtering stuff, before.
Never thought about PCs before the good stuff hit the market, but: the Physics/QED made sense.
I tried 'em, I like 'em and the science makes my head feel better.
OH, and: it takes some time for the dielectric to form, take a charge, polarize, or however one chooses to define the process, when a dielectric is subjected to electromagnetic waves, which affects the Poynting vectors, measurably/predictably.
The lower the material’s dielectric constant: the longer that takes.
You can’t go wrong with Hubbell Hospital grade receptacles. They are built like a tank. Luckily, we have all 12 gauge Romex for every receptacle/circuit in our home with 20 amp breakers. Normally, you will find 15 amp receptacles on a 20 amp circuit. Since our media room is on its own circuit, I swapped our the outlet for my audio equipment and used a 20 amp Hubbell. The rest of the receptacles are standard 15 amp and only used for lamps. Using a Hubbell receptacle is an affordable option that should be considered when setting up your system. Just one person’s opinion.
'And here come the cable deniers, lol. Saving the world... '
'So old. So obnoxious. '
Candyman, Bloody Mary, Beetlejuice, and the local Cargo Cult... WELL: those last ones can't even wait for their names to be spoken three times any longer: CAN THEY(snicker)?
A dealer friend on this forum is currently making custom power cables and sold one to me specifically for wall-to-conditioner which serves line preamp, DAC, streamer and subs. Current cable is 10 already AWG, but dealer says his will sound more open and give more convincing bass slam. Silver plated copper strands and rhodium connectors. Waiting for that to arrive today for trial. If it makes a noticeable difference, I will ask him to build another for wall-to-power amp.
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