Here are a few other DIY power cord options.
1. Western Electric Wire: Triode Wire Labs is known for good-sounding power cables at reasonable prices. Based on what I have read about the wire they use, I believe their 10-plus and 7-plus American Series cables are made from NOS
vintage Western Electric 10awg wire. I believe well-regarded power cords that were formerly made by
Mojo Audio
were also constructed using this wire. I suggest starting with the WE 10awg wire, and either braiding it (as done by TWL) or twisting it, and then connecting it to the very good Furutech FI-11 (Cu) plugs and iecs. Of course, you can experiment with different plugs but the Furutech plugs and iecs are the best sounding I have used (including Oyaide) and the FI-11 copper plugs/iecs are synergistic with the NOS WE wire. I suggest using 4 of the 10awg wires (twisted, or braided like the TWL 7-plus cable) for power amps and two 10awg wires (twisted like the TWL 10-plus) for source components. If you twist the 4 wires, I suggest connecting the positive and negative in a star-quad configuration where the opposite wires in the twist are connected to each other. The ground wire should be wrapped/spiraled around the primary conductors
in the opposite direction of the twist used for those conductor wires. If a shield is desired (highly recommended for source components and preamps) use a tinned copper braid shield placed directly over the primary conductors and then wrap/spiral the ground wire around the assembly, outside of the braid shield. I would connect the braid shield to ground only at the source end. Of course, connect the ground wire at both ends. To be clear, I am not suggesting the end result will be exactly like the TWL cables, because they also treat their cables using aCryoProcessDeep that cryogenically treats the cables with a Helium immersion that is said to "represent the highest state of the art of cryogenic processing." They also employ something called
passive ground plane technology that is claimed to "ensure exceptional passive noise suppression and RFI/EMI rejection."
2. New Furutech Wire: A manufacturer I occasionally communicate with informed me about new wire being made by Furutech. These include FP-S022/032/055N, which are
Nano Power cables in 15, 12 and 10awg, that are impregnated with the Furutech Nano fluid (i.e., "We’ve combined our legendary Alpha-OFC conductors, which are treated cryogenically and demagnetized in a patented two-step process, with a new transmission enhancer known as Nano Liquid. The molecules in Nano Liquid are so small (approximately 8 nanometers in diameter, or 8/1,000,000th of a millimeter) that they finely “coat” the Alpha-OFC and smooth out all microscopic surface irregularities that can affect both signal transfer and impedance. That means, quite simply, that there is a greater contact area for the conductor." Furutech also has new FP-TCS21/31/35 PC-TripleC Power Cable, which uses a fixed angle, continuous transport, forged conductor. I cannot say which of these cables are better, the Nano or the TripleC cables, but I can say the manufacturer I speak with likes the Nano cables better than the already very good FP-Alpha 3 and I will be receiving some of the Nano cable in 10awg next week so will be able to try it out myself.
3. Furutech makes 12awg OCC bulk stranded wire in PVC (UL-SJT) that should be suitable for power cables and is nicely flexible. I suspect this would sound good and would be a good starting point for some "from scratch" DIY power cables. I would like to hear it in a four-wire, star-quad or braided configuration (aggregate 9awg) similar to that discussed above in option 1.
With any DIY, and particularly power cables, do your research and make sure you are confident in the materials and construction because these will not be UL approved so the end result will be used at your own risk.
