Very few audiophile cables made today use stranded wire.
@jea48 Just so you know, solid core wire for a power cord is illegal and for a good reason! On that account, I'm pretty sure your statement above isn't correct.
Question for Atma-sphere, will expensive power cables improve your amplifiers?
The reason I am asking is I feel manufacturers of high quality components include all that is ever needed, power cable wise. Sure, some people buy power cables because they need special lengths or have some out of the ordinary "noise" issues that need extra insulation. Some even like the visual aspect of the aftermarket cables. I’m just curious why many spend thousands of dollars on such when the manufacturer has taken the power cable into account when producing the product. I cannot see a High-quality audiophile component maker (especially some that sell volume) pass on a few dollars for a better sounding power cable if indeed the cable improved their product. I cannot see a person buying that $7000 amp is not going to balk if the product was introduced at $7100 (with the better cable).
I wonder if Luxman, Accuphase, McIntosh, Gryphon...you name it "dressed" their power cables up to look like expensive aftermarket cables, owners would be so quick to "upgrade"?
I’d be curious to hear Ralph’s opinion on the subject
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Yes, a single solid core #14awg or a single solid core #12awg wire, or a #10awg solid core wire would not meet electrical safety code for a power cord. Several smaller gauge solid core wires individually insulated grouped in parallel together for the Hot and neural conductors, for use in a power cord, will/does meet NRTL safety testing. AudioQuest was making power cords back in the 1980s paralleling multiple small gauge solid core insulated wires together to make a combined equivalent single gauge conductor for the Hot and neutral conductors. I sill have a couple of non shielded AudioQuest AC-12 power cords. It’s equal to a 12awg X 3 cable using four separate solid core 18awg cu OFHC insulated wires conductors for the Hot conductor and four for the neutral conductor. A 12awg stranded green insulated wire is used for the EGC, Equipment Grounding Conductor. The conductors were assembled together in what AQ called a "Hyperlitz design". The individually insulated eight #18awg solid core wire conductors were placed surrounding the #12awg stranded insulated EGC. That design had to be the EE in Bill Lowe. It cancels out the EM fields from the hot and neutral current carrying conductors from inducing a voltage onto the EGC. Fast forward to today high end audiophile power cords manufacturers are still using AQ’s use of using individually insulated solid core wire conductors. Though the wire gauge size of insulated solid wire varies in the design. I’ve read where some will have a mix of 18awg and smaller solid core individually insulated wires, and some add Lintz (insulation) wire in the mix. The geometry construction of the power cord has greatly changed as well since the 1980s. And most of the building of the cable is done by had, from my understanding. . |
This info on Neotech's NEP 3200G includes a good image of the construction showing the type of solid core construction that @jea48 is referring to. Scroll through the pictures in this next link to see a similar image of the construction of their flagship Grand Power Cable, which uses rectangular conductors. |
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