DIY power cable questions

If all you want is to get electricity from the wall to the component then go for it. But if sound quality is even a small concern then search around and buy something used. Whatever amount of money you plan on spending on DIY, spend it on something already built instead. Because it will be better than anything you can make for that amount of money- and not by a little. A lot better.

Sorry, but this is the best advice I can give: don't.

This is the voice of experience. This is the voice of the one with this system. Read the description, then read the comments. Do yourself a favor- forget about it.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367

I do not agree, homemade cables can perform incredibly well.  I use Furutech cable, including their TOTL DPS-4.1 cable and NCF connectors.  You will need the right tools, nimble fingers and some serious patience but they can be built and sound incredible.  If you are not patient or dexterous then I suggest you simply buy built cables.  Good luck

Don’t pay bloated prices as many manufacturers’ profit margins are greater than 70% and up.  Cable manufacturers don’t have any secret sauce in their cables that aren’t available to you and me.  Also, many of the the cables being sold and their ‘technology’ are truly snake oil.

Making a homemade cable or buying bulk Furutech I don’t think is the same thing. Agree making a truly homemade cable will probably be a waste of time. Buy bulk cable and terminate your own and maybe save a little money. Check out VH Audio as Chris has a nice selection of cabling and plugs.

@indyvw - I have No experience with the - NEMA 5-15P

Here’s a C17 that I am using and find very good
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Viborg-Figure-8-IEC-C7-Gold-Plated-Mains-Power-Plug-Female-Copper-Connector/...

If you are simply adding plugs to a piece of bulk cable then buy DH Labs bulk wire and get the Sonarquest silver plated copper connectors

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/SONAR-QUEST-CRYO-Ag-Audio-Grade-Silver-plated-IEC-plug-US-main-plug-sonarque...

If you want a power cable that blows the doors of most commercial products take a look at this link

http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-002a002athe-helix-image-power-cable.html

If you have any questions regarding these power cables - ask away.

I’ve spent over 5 years developing power cables that actually work very well.

Regards - Steve

sorry, but I totally disagree with millercarbon.  If you know what you're doing, a DIY cable can match or beat other manufactured power cables equal or even more expensive.

That being said, nobody really answered indyvw's question.  I see williewonka answered, but seems to have confusion between a C7 and a C17 connector.  The C7 is a 2-pole mini-plug that is found on many smaller devices, such as some bluray players among other things.  In this case, Furutech makes very good connectors.

The C17, on the other hand, is the same thing as a standard C13/C15, but without the ground conductor.  This is for equipment that has a floating ground circuit.  It is common in things such as receivers and sometimes bluray players and even amps.  The idea is to "float" the ground so that you don't have ground loop hum problems.  In this situation, you can just use a standard IEC connector.  Even if the power cord/connector uses all 3 conductors, the equipment it's plugged into will not use the ground conductor.  All is good.

auxinput1,976 posts03-22-2020 12:36pm


Even if the power cord/connector uses all 3 conductors, the equipment it's plugged into will not use the ground conductor. All is good.

 A question on floating grounds?? 

I have a two 1200 watt DSP plate amps from PE, the same thing you just mentioned. How does it get a ground? Floating? There is ZERO floor noise. I haven't had any problems, but could I? I was gonna make up a good PC for the two, plate amps. There is no safety issue? Mixing grounded with a floating ground? Can there be issues? Hope I'm not off topic.

How do you weave a cable with no ground wire, to eliminate noise, I understand how "IT" works, just wondering what to do in lue off it?

Regards The OldHvyMec..

well, the neutral wire is basically the same thing as ground.  At your main junction box or circuit breaker box, neutral is wired into the ground anyways (wired to a rod stuck into the earth).  The neutral wire is almost like a "drain" for the hot wire, since you need a return wire for A/C or even DC voltage.  You can actually get shocked if you touch a neutral wire that has current flowing through it (i.e. it's connected to a device that's using "HOT" current).   However, the third ground wire will never usually have current flowing through it (or at least a lot of current). 

When making a power cord for an equipment that doesn't use ground, you could just use two conductors if you wanted and everything will be fine.  Or you could build or use a true 3-conductor power cord.  In this situation, the ground conductor is not connected to anything in the equipment.  But the ground conductor is still connected to ground at the outlet.  If you do this, the ground wire can act as an additional shielding or EMI capture (since it allows any EMI or voltage to be shunted to ground.

There is no safety issue here.  You can safely use a 3-conductor power cord on a plate amp that only has 2-conductor floating ground circuit.

You might want to google "floating ground".  It can relate to the ground plane within an electronic equipment where all extraneous voltages are shared.  This includes the ground plan shared between equipment through the ground shield of interconnects.

You might want to google "floating ground".

You know I did, I need to look a little closer. Thanks for the info..
Pretty short, said something about floating voltage too.
Safe is always a concern. thanks

Regards

I appreciate everyone’s feedback. 
auxinput, 
Thank you very much for answering my question. After doing a little more research I came to the same conclusion as what you suggested but it’s nice to hear it again for confirmation. Your post was spot on. ;)  

 I`ve done simple (minimum)12awg shielded solid core pc`s since the 90`s. Outperforms anything else no matter of price. None of my cables are flexible, flat, twisted or in fancy colours. They just sound perfect.