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Power Cords Snake Oil ??

Having been a long time audiophile living with countless high end compnents I have to wonder about the theory and practicality of high end power cords.

I have yet to hear the difference a power cord makes. Ive owned, synergistic, Shunyata, BMI and cardas. I in no way can detect any sonic signature or change. Give me a pair of interconnects and I imeadiately notice a difference somewhere in the sonic spectrum. Not the PC though. I have accomplished 4 blind tests with my friends. 3 out of the 4 they did not know their cord was replaced. All 4 were using a stock factory supplied cord. Each of the 4 tests were done on different components. Amp, CDP, Preamp & dac.

My electrical backround tells me that provided you supply the component with its required voltage bet 110vac or 220/240vac its happy. Now, change the incoming frequency from 60hz to say 53hz and watch how quickly your soundstage collapses.! This is often the case during the summer months when home air conditioners are in use and the utility company power output is taxed to the max. A really good power conditioner should however take care of the frequency fluctuations. But 110vac is still 110vac regardless of the conductor it passes through as long as its remains 110vac when it reaches the intended circuit. Does your 8k amp or preamp know the difference of the path the voltage took to reach it ? Many an audiophile will use a dedicated 20amp circut for their equipment.That is a good idea as voltage & frequency fluctuations will occur in the home circuit to to other loads on the main breaker panel but again, A power cord simply is the means of transporting the voltage from the wall to the component. IF there is a clean 110vac @ 60hz at the wall socket, no matter what the medium is to go from the socket to the component, it will still be 110vac @60hz.

Could somebody expand on this a bit more. I just dont understand it. ??
128x128jetmek
flex
292 posts
 
My point above is not at all combative.

It would be a real accomplishment in this high end field if a testbed created by one designer could become useful to other designers working on ideas - even radical ideas. It might even end the snake oil era, perish the thought.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Corona: "What string theory is asserting is that all revolves around resonance" - that's a cute analogy, but neither you nor anyone else has designed anything based upon employing the equations involved in string theory. (No, I'm not a physicist or EE, just normally endowed with common sense.) This is no knock on your cables (I haven't even bothered to see what company you represent, and whatever it is I assume I haven't heard your product anyway), it's just an observation that if electrical engineering principles were scientifically employed in the design of your cables, then they were the same textbook principles available to be employed by all cable designers. If you've paid more attention to resonance than some, that's great, but as you say you've been doing this for a decade, and I'll take it on faith that you didn't wake up one morning, read something about the emergence of string theory, and go back to the drawing board to radically redesign your cables. Quite the contrary to Flex's hope that some unification theory breakthrough - should it ever come and be verified - might "end the era of snake oil" in cable design, I view this claiming of string theory as a basis or validation for a method of designing and building a cable is just that: the selling of snake oil. Color me unimpressed, and also just that much more unlikely to ever want to check out your product, as I'm congenitally allergic to overweening hyperbole. If your cables sound great, then that'll be my loss, but it still wouldn't convince me that you were somehow operating on a completely different physical plane from all others toiling in the cable field.
flex
292 posts
 
Zaikesman, no I wasn't expecting a unification of all cable design based on string theory (aargh). Why is email so difficult?

The point of testbeds is that they can prove and DISPROVE ideas, and they lead in theory to an exchange of ideas. This is the way it would be done if high end ever entered the realm of science/engineering (!) (Maybe we could progress from a proliferation of diy/artisan cable designers and on to something like power supply redesign, for example.) Nah, its more fun to buy $2500 cables.

The issue here isn't string theory, by the way. It is resonance, and how much resonance has to do with cable response. I have my own strong opinions, and so do both Audioengr and Corona, but those two have data and I don't. That is where a testbed fits in.
s23chang
619 posts
 
Zaikesman,
Here is the equation for resonance
The nth harmonic has frequency fn = v/ln = nv/2L = nf1
You need to figure out how to apply it based on the physical property of the material.
It is not snake oil but rather how you derrive your product based on the basic equation. That's each manufacture's secret ( Assuming if they did design the cables themselves and not buying some finished cable and terminated them togather.)
Just look around you and you'll find at least one thing was designed based on the same theory. This not only apply to audio, it also applies to communication technology industries.
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drubin
3,274 posts
 
Z: "...I'm congenitally allergic to overweening hyperbole."

Alex, you are a treasure!
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