Doing the Power Cord Thing

@Erik_squires - I do not have a conditioner - i run straight into the wall outlet. But I do notice a considerable improvement over some very well respected commercial cable products.

I have to ask - how did you come to the conclusion that the helix cables were both high inductance and high capacitance? Normally it's either one or the other.

The reason I ask is that a fellow DIYer actually measured the Helix interconnect cables and found them to be very low capacitance, so I would have to guess the power cable is also low capacitance.

As for the inductance - I might agree with you IF the helix coil was used for the live conductor, but it is the neutral conductor and therefore connected to the ground (basically), so the actual voltage in the coil is very close to zero volts and therefore the current flowing is very very low, which would minimize the inductive effect - wouldn’t it?

All reports of the performance of the helix Interconnect and speaker cables from other DIYers highlights the neutrality and natural sound of the helix cables, which might be another idicator of the low inductance and capacitance characteristics of the Helix cables.

If you should know how to measure inductance and capacitance of these cables easily please let me know, because I would like to determine the actual values to share with others. It’s a question that comes up from time to time and I do not have a difnitive answer as yet.

Many Thanks - steve

@Erik_squires - I forgot mention that I had tried a couple of entry level power conditioners a while back, but found them to compress the sound and made little to no difference in the noise in the system.

Since they had better outlets, there were some improvements in their clamping of the mains plugs.

My power is pretty clean, so I really had no need for them

Regards

Well, no way to actually know without measuring. :) And AFAIK, you can be both.

I run a Furman Elite 15i, so there's a lot of cruft it should take out first for me.

@Erik_squires - I use a Panamax M4300 conditioner on my A/V gear. But I could not tell you if it is "effective" in any way - I use it more to isolate (i.e. turn off) the system when away on vacation :-) 

FYI: I recently built a 14 gauge helix power cable for the TV, which resulted in darker shadows, with more noticeable details and a brighter, more vibrant picture. 

I initially used the Panamax on my audio system at the old house, but found it provided no benefits once I built a power distribution box with high quality outlets and an internal power bus (i.e. it's like a mini distribution panel)

See the end of this page for construction details if interested...
http://image99.net/blog/files/category-002ayou-need-a-good-power-supply.html

Fortunately, my new house seems to be very well wired and I do not experience any noise from the HVAC system, water heater, fridge/freezers/etc..

I did have a house-wide surge supressor fitter to the breaker panel, but that was for protection purposes in the event of blackouts and I did not notice any improvements in system performance once installed

Regards - Steve

Hi Willie :

I have those Panamax units too. If you ever get a chance to, try the Furman units.

They actually filter noise down to 3 kHz and are some of the few that do. I've opened them up, they are built like a high current low pass filter.

This may have something to do with why I'm not hearing much of a benefit in my apartment. :)


Whole house surge protectors are nice to have. ;)