Power Cord for Power Conditioner

Hi all ! Lacee , you have made a great effort to convince Jeff that power cords change the sound . If he cannot hear it , he cannot hear it. I was buying some tubes the other day from an old radio collector , he assured me that all tubes sound the same . I paid my $20 , thanked him for the tubes and hit the door. Arguing with them is a waste of time .

I can't believe this tread an issue are still raging on.
In the end there is only one real answer to the Op's question, Bring home a well designed cord on evaluation, ( most dealers have loaners ) if it makes an improvement keep it, if it doesn't take it back.

Happy New Year and here we go again.

I doubt there's anything new that I can add, but I have some spare time and this is also a good way to re-ignite my brain cells.

Anyway here goes.

I would agree that there would likely be little differences in sound using power cords that were identical in construction , length and materials.

It's when you start fooling around with the design and materials that things get interesting.

I may not be an electrical engineer( I have several friends who are and who use upgraded wires)but I beleive it's been accepted in the scientific community that some metals are better than others at conducting electricity.

They tell me they even have tables and charts to refer to.
How very comforting that is.

So, believing in this, I can now understand why some cables can sound better than others, and that they all don't sound the same.

But then I like to tinker and experiment, and what I found out a long time ago was that I could never make a power cord sound the same as the last one did, if I changed the connectors, or changed the type of wire I used or the way I braided the wires.

What I noticed was that each variation changed the sonics of the sound of the system.
My source component was a single power amp to keep things controlled, I only fooled around with it's power cord.

Now what I heard was a change in certain frequencies within the music.
Some instruments were clearer, sometimes the bass improved, sometimes it was thinner.
Sometimes the cymbals had more shimmer, sometimes they were tinny.
At other times you could hear the sound of wood hitting brass, not rain on a tin roof.
You could hear individual handclaps also,again, you knew it wasn't rainfall that the recording was giving you.

But what I couldn't do was tell what type of wood sticks were used nor the make of the cymbals.

This kind of information I have not been able to retrieve, try as I may,so in this regard the stock power cord is no better or worse than any other power cord.

So,perhaps some folk's expectations of what a high end power cord should do are tilted towards the extreme.

Or perhaps they don't listen for the things that I listen for when I make changes in my system.

Some changes are subtle, but if they clear away some of the mud, then they are doing something better than what was there before.

And if that is found to be the case, then perhaps someonelse can do it better than me.

And I found out that there are several such companies that make power cords that are much better than what I ever made.

And I never found any that sounded the same as mine or the same as the stock cord that came with the amp.

If I adhere to any "belief", it is my belief that some folks can hear differences and some folks can't.

I don't need to seek out validation or proof that what I am hearing is real.
The differences are real to my ears,so no need for proof of their existence.

The ones who can't hear the differences do, however seek validation that such things can't exist, it makes them feel better I suppose, and not so left out of all the fun some of us are having.

And having fun in this hobby is what it's about.

Having fun discovering things that make improvements and let me enjoy my hobby more.

This is the road I've travelled for almost 40 years in this hobby, and if it's all been a delusion, then it's a happy one.
And I don't need measurements or blind test results to validate those feelings.
They are real to me.

Sorry I was doing some catch up reading on this thread and a page back someone asked about demagging cd's and lps'.

I do both and yes the effect is the same if you use a MC or MM cartridge.
The better the cartridge the better the effect.

Demagging , to my ears, take the jumble out of the music and re-aligns things, sort of does some house cleaning.

No one has ever said they couldn't hear the improvement, regular earred folks and the golden ears, young and old male or female, they all notice that the sound became clearer.

Why it works is really of no concern to me.There are explanations out there for folks who are serious enough to find an answer.I figure it's up to those folks to seek it out not for me to spoon feed them.
But of course they would have to be serious about this.

But as nice as it is to read about power cords and demagging etc,it's necessary to listen for yourself and then come to a conclusion.

I can no more say that you will hear the difference as I can say that you can not.

It's something you have to be willing to experience, and for some folks that's asking too much.

It's so much easier and simpler to take it out of the box plug it into the wall with the attached wires, and play some tunes.
Ahh the simpler times, I was there.
Enjoyed the music.

Now my system is more complex.I had to invest time and money into it.

And what I found out was that the music I was listening to was also more complex and filled with detail I didn't know was even missing before.