Solid core power cords under 300$ - List of manufacturers ?

You need to be careful with solid core PC's. Too much bending can lead to wire fracture.

Here are a couple more manufacturer examples.

PS Audio PerfectWave AC 5 Power Cable
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PSPWAC5

Pangea Audio
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGAC14XL2

jea48 - I applaud your efforts, but NEITHER of those power cords have solid core conductors.  I know you were just trying to be helpful...
Zuio - there are VERY few solid conductor AC cables out there that I know of and certainly none of the 3 you asked about are solid conductors either.  Can I ask why you want solid conductors?

dill

You need to be careful with solid core PC's. Too much bending can lead to wire fracture.

Solid core for power is usually limited to permanent installations. I do not think any UL-listed component or appliance power cord is solid core.

Most aftermarket power cords we talk about in these forums are not UL listed. Years ago there where a few makers of solid core, however only one comes to mind now, Tara Labs RSC (rectangular solid core) I think they made 2 versions. There are products in the DIY market that allow one to construct ones own SC power cord.

jwpstayman
254 posts 05-09-2018 1:17pm

jea48 - I applaud your efforts, but NEITHER of those power cords have solid core conductors. I know you were just trying to be helpful...
Zuio - there are VERY few solid conductor AC cables out there that I know of and certainly none of the 3 you asked about are solid conductors either. Can I ask why you want solid conductors?

@jwpstayman

You know not what you speak of......

PS Audio PerfectWave AC 5 Power Cable
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PSPWAC5

Click on the image of the end of the conductor. Move pointer onto the picture for a close up. Do those conductors look like stranded wire to you?

Note each solid conductor is individually insulated.

As for the Pangea Audio cable what you think are stranded conductors grouped in several separate insulated coverings are Litz individually insulated conductors conductors housed inside and insulated covering.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGAC14XL2

Again click on the picture showing the raw cable. Move your pointer onto the picture to enlarge the image.

Solid core AC power cords can't be UL approved as they can be dangerous for a number of reasons.

Who cares? Have you read the reviews of their new power cords? 

jea48 - hate to digress, BUT.... the PS Audio cord is made with thicker than normal STRANDS.  Solid core would be simply 3 conductors ( one hot/one neutral/ and one ground).  Since the PS Audio has multiple conductors per leg, it is NOT a solid core conductor cable.

Even more humorous - here is the description of that power cord from PS Audio's website:" Inside the AC5 is one LCC hollow conductor for the treble region, a large LCC rectangular conductor for the midrange and multiple gauges of LCC bundled together for the bass.".  Forgive me if I am wrong, but don't power cords ONLY handle one frequency - 60 Hz?????

jwpstayman
256 posts                                                                     05-09-2018 3:56pm

jea48 - hate to digress, BUT.... the PS Audio cord is made with thicker than normal STRANDS. Solid core would be simply 3 conductors ( one hot/one neutral/ and one ground). Since the PS Audio has multiple conductors per leg, it is NOT a solid core conductor cable.

Solid core would be simply 3 conductors ( one hot/one neutral/ and one ground).

And who told you that?

Have you ever heard of parallel conductors?

jea48
@geoffkait  “Who cares!”

The subject is about SOLID CORE CONDUCTORS used in the manufacture of aftermarket power cords.

>>>>Yes, I know. I was addressing solid core conductors.

I could give a flying F about a review!

>>>>>>Whatever.

There may be something to the concerns of using solid core wire for power cords.  Note, for example, that Morrow Audio uses solid core wire for all of their cable products except their power cords.  Just sayin'. 

Uh, nobody said there wasn’t something to it. For one thing, solid core power cords can be extremely stiff and might not even work in some situations. For another thing, metal fatigue failures can occur when the power cord is bent back and forth too many times. These two issues do not usually apply to power cords with stranded conductors.

+1 atmosphere 

The reason there is an aftermarket of power cords is precisely because solid core wire is illegal for use in a power cord. Romex is extremely high performance, which is why you really don't have to worry about what's in the walls (if that is what you have), and why that last 6' of power cord can make a difference (because it has to be multi-stranded).

But the liability of making a power cord out of romex is profound, so no-one actually does it.

So, in short (pun intended) there is no such thing as a power cord made of solid core wire.

Then how come Audioquest describes their new super power cords’ conductors as “solid.” For example, the Hurricane high current power cord, much reviewed recently by Fremer at Stereophile and by several right here on Audiogon, is described as follows on the Audioquest web page. Is the Audioquest dude going to jail?

Solid Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) Conductors
Uncompressed High-Current Transfer
Ground Noise Dissipation Technology (US Patent # 9,373,439)
Zero Characteristic Impedance (50Hz – 1MHz)
72VDC Dielectric Bias System (US Patent #7,126,055)
Directionally Controlled Conductors

The Dragon high current power cord:

Solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS)/Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) Conductors
Uncompressed High-Current Transfer
Ground Noise Dissipation Technology (US Patent # 9,373,439)
Zero Characteristic Impedance (50Hz – 1MHz)
Dielectric-Bias System with Radio Frequency Noise Trap
Directionally Controlled Conductors

When was the last time anyone has read a thread where someone said their solid core wire power cord failed? There is a ton of them out there. Anybody ever heard of a failure? I guess if a person deliberately tried to make a connection fail they could cause it to fail. Of course the same would be true even with stranded wire conductors if abused to the point of failure. How often do you guys over bend back and forth you power cables at the connector ends?

It’s a power cord. It’s not a drop cord. It is not designed to be used as a drop cord.

Solid wire power cord.
Lets keep it simple. Here is a Link to an older AudioQuest AC12 power cord. Just going from memory it was first introduced in the early 1990s.
https://www.google.com/search?q=audioquest+ac-12+power+cord&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&am...:
Note the 8 solid copper #18 gauge insulated conductors. 4 white conductors and 4 black conductors. The equipment ground is the green #12 stranded copper wire located in the center of the 8 insulated #18 solid copper wires.

The 4 white insulated #18 solid wires are wired in parallel making it the neutral conductor. The equivalent wire gauge is #12awg.

The 4 black insulated #18 solid wires are wired in parallel making it the Hot conductor. The equivalent wire gauge is #12awg.

Combined wire gauge calculator.
https://www.wirebarn.com/Combined-Wire-Gauge-Calculator_ep_42.html


As for some law that says a power cord must be safety tested and Listed, I don’t know of one. In fact I don’t of any law that says audio equipment must be Listed.

Listed = NRTL , UL is just one example.
.

Listed = NRTL , UL is just one example.

While there are other testing laboratories, they're going to test the product  for compliance with UL Standards, as compliance with UL safety standards is what allows you to buy product liability insurance.

That pesky liability! Say'n!

Well, at least we’ve ratchet down from illegal to just liable. I’m pretty sure real audiophiles don’t care. Full steam ahead, damn the torpedoes! 

Virtual dynamics david 2.0 is a nice solid core power cord

If you want much of the benefits of solid core, but with flexibility?   Litz wire would give you that benefit.  Pangea combines solid core with litz.... both worlds in one cord.

Litz wire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litz_wire

Usually only wire under 18 gauge max diameter is solid.  Heavier that that in a solid wire is likely fixed location like hookup wire in a circuit or fixed AC wiring in your wall.  Many cable outfits call things solid copper core, meaning it is copper not an alloy, but not single strands of a heavy wire gauge. 

billshenefelt
Usually only wire under 18 gauge max diameter is solid. Heavier that that in a solid wire is likely fixed location like hookup wire in a circuit or fixed AC wiring in your wall. Many cable outfits call things solid copper core, meaning it is copper not an alloy, but not single strands of a heavy wire gauge.

Come again? 😳

Nice to see a thread about solid core conductor power cords - I find they make a worthwhile difference compared to stranded conductors, insofar I'm able to tell with the testing and comparisons I've done. Mine are DIY 12/15AWG installation wires bought at the local "Home Depot"-style warehouse (Bauhaus). I stripped the individual (and insulated) solid core wires from the outer sleeves, and then twisted the lead and return wires with some 3 twists per 4" (ground wire, where it may be used, is twisted in the opposite direction), and terminated each end with IeGO 8055 pure copper connectors. The twisting itself should act as a mild electrical shield, and I use no further insulation or shielding. The installation wires are quite cheap (usually sold with 3 or 5 conductors under two outer sleeves), but use high quality, very pure copper - at least here in Denmark, but I suspect the same applies in other countries. I wanted to avoid alloys in the connectors, and therefore opted for the IeGO pure copper plugs both for the wall outlet and components. The sound through my setup with these power cords seems dynamically uninhibited, pure and with very little inherent signature. Try them out cheaply without dedicated connectors to begin with, and see whether they're to your liking. 

I saw that silver solid core power cords from crystal cable and cabledyne have no ground wire.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having no ground cable?

I thought about DIY too - a CAT7 ethernet cable with 8 22AWG OFC solid core conductors, shielded. They are arranged in 4x 2 twisted pairs. I could use a twisted pair for Live/ground or Neutral/ground and get AWG19 effectively or use the shield as ground conductor and use all wires for live/neutral only and get AWG16 effectively.

Any recommendation?

My components draw less than 1 Ampere only and I would use that wire only for the low power components. For the power cord that feeds the distributor block i would use a 13AWG Audioquest NRG-2.

This is the cable description :
http://shop.sommercable.com/en/Cables/Bulk-Cables-Fiber-LAN-CAT/Cat-7a-SC-MERCATOR-CAT-7a-CPR-Versio...
And the picture:
https://www.ebay.at/itm/Sommer-Cable-580-0417F-SC-MERCATOR-CAT-7a-Fiber-LAN-CAT-Cable-Computer-Medie...

I saw that silver solid core power cords from crystal cable and cabledyne have no ground wire.  ... 

zuio -  Cabledyne does have a ground wire.  It uses a 3 conductor design.  It is the Inconel sheath that is not grounded.  Don't know about Crystal cable.

http://www.cabledyne.com/premier-silver-mains-cable.html

The Cabledy�ne synergy power cord doesn't.

I saw that silver solid core power cords from crystal cable and cabledyne have no ground wire.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having no ground cable?

If the piece of equipment, that the power cord will be connected to, requires an equipment grounding conductor then the power cord must have an equipment grounding conductor. (The IEC male inlet on the equipment will have 3 pins. Hot, Neutral, and equipment ground.)

If the piece of equipment is Class ll Listed (Has internal double insulated AC power wiring) and does not use the equipment grounding conductor, (the IEC AC mains inlet connector is only 2 wire), then the power cord, AC plug, and female IEC connector, only needs to be 2 wire.

I thought about DIY too - a CAT7 ethernet cable with 8 22AWG OFC solid core conductors, shielded. They are arranged in 4x 2 twisted pairs. I could use a twisted pair for Live/ground or Neutral/ground and get AWG19 effectively or use the shield as ground conductor and use all wires for live/neutral only and get AWG16 effectively.

You cannot use Ethernet data cable. The voltage rating of the insulation covering the conductors of the wires is not rated for 230V.
Just a guess for your country, Austria, the minimum required voltage rating is 300 volts.
.

A 22AWG neotech hook up wire is rated 600V and 5.4 Ampere. Its not rocketsience. I dont see why a 22 AWG wire should not be sufficient for 240V and 1 Ampere. I know its not rated, but as i am an expat who lives in 3rd world countries I dont have to worry...

"The Cabledyne synergy power cord doesn't."

zuio
Yes it does.  The site description again refers to the sheath which is not connected to earth ground.

I contacted the manufacturer who confirmed that it is a 3 wire design. He has clarified this on the site.

A 22AWG neotech hook up wire is rated 600V and 5.4 Ampere. Its not rocketsience. I dont see why a 22 AWG wire should not be sufficient for 240V and 1 Ampere. I know its not rated, but as i am an expat who lives in 3rd world countries I dont have to worry...

Has nothing to with the current. It has to do with the insulation breaking down under the 230V higher voltage.

Are electrical fires different in Austria than in the rest of the world?

I thought about DIY too - a CAT7 ethernet cable with 8 22AWG OFC solid core conductors, shielded. They are arranged in 4x 2 twisted pairs.

DON'T DO IT! You could burn your house down.
.

Yes it does. The site description again refers to the sheath which is not connected to earth ground.

I contacted the manufacturer who confirmed that it is a 3 wire design. He

has clarified this on the site.

True, my bad

Has nothing to with the current. It has to do with the insulation breaking down under the 230V higher voltage. 

Are electrical fires different in Austria than in the rest of the world? 

Thank you for the warning!
What makes the insulation withstand 230 Volt? the thickness?
For clarification: Austria is not a 3rd world country, and I dont live there currently.

Tice Infinite Speed. Best solid core power cable of all time!

solid core PCs are illegal unless someone knows otherwise

yping"solid core PCs are illegal unless someone knows otherwise"

Well they are either legal or not legal and the fact of whether they are legal is fully independent of any awareness on the part of any individual as to the legality of using solid core wire in this particular application but I am not aware of any law that would forbid they’re use in such a use however not every stupid idea is illegal and this would be one example of that.

elizabeth

4,835 posts                                                                      05-15-2018 10:52am

I bought a used AudioQuest power cord, very early one. It had solid core conductors.
It was no better sounding then, than any OEM powercord.
(but at that time I did not own the $$$$ equipment I do now)
I threw it away years ago. as it had be bent and folded many times, and could have easily become unsafe.
For personal use I see no reason to avoid solid core AC wires. As long as one understands the dangers of overbending the wires used. 05-15-2018 10:52am

Aren’t you using Pangea Audio power cables? Note the solid core individually insulated copper conductors. Also note the Litz solid core wires/conductors encased inside an insulated covering.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGAC14XL2

Long time ago, I had a conversation with Mr. Chang of Lightspeed. 

His opinion was romex was the best. Makes sense when considering that's what is (often) in the wall, which he also mentioned. 

I made many, worked great. Sometimes a little improvement, sometimes none, but never seemed worse. Not like having a PLC, with often is major improvement. 

Not saying here that fancy power cords can't make an improvement. Naturally, once a plug in in the chain, it changes anyway. Just made more sense to me to spend more on the PLC side and use romex than spend on the cord.

Regarding the safety of using romex:

Solid wire made for electricity can take bending, and we DO bend it quite a bit installing it when we build, but obviously, it eventually would break. Wouldn't use it for say, a guitar amp that gets constantly plugged and unplugged. When in doubt, make a new one. 

Fire danger comes from the terminations-that's where the heat will be if and when they are overloaded. Insulation won't save  you or change that, but the quality or suitability of the connectors will. Using the right connectors will make it so any fire or heat will be in the plugs and NOT in the connectors. And the right connectors should say what gauge they are intended for. 

Thus, while making a cord isn't proper code, you have essentially made your own electricity built to code. the risk may be the same, but it's now YOUR risk. 

Just a reminder.
The OP said nothing about using Romex cable.

Solid core power cords under 300$ - List of manufacturers ?

I would like to try a 2nd hand solid core power cord under 300$

What are my options?

I know following manufacturers:

Audioquest (Copper)
Cabledyne (Silver)
Nordost (Silver plated copper)

DIY is also an option for me.
(my devices draw 15 watts only (1 streamer, 2 mono blocks ))

None of the above manufacturers use Romex cable in the manufacture of their power cords. None of the above manufacturers use a solid core wire larger than #18awg. Many use a combination of LITZ small diameter awg solid core wires bundled together under an insulated covering combined with a few #18 solid core insulated wire/conductors.
Example. Look at the picture of the cable.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGAC14XL2 .

DIY was brought up as an option, and romex was also brought up by at least one other...mainly, because romex IS an option. And definitely solid-core. 

As far as that goes, options would also be buying AC wire (same as in romex, just not in the extra bundling sheath), or, even stranded. Seems bulk was also brought up/used in this thread as well. 

To the point, buying bulk isn't just cheap, but one could easily make the same cable in stranded or solid and see if they hear a difference. 

One might experiment with different plugs as well.