Wrapping power cords and interconnects with copper foil.


Ok..not sure other people have done what I tried recently but I’ve found a night and day difference in sound quality after I wrapped my tube power amp power cord (rogue Zeus) and my cheap audio quest interconnect cables with copper foil. I even wrapped by phono cable coming out of my turntable to phono pre-amp. The detail retrieval and pin drop silence after doing this has made by jaw drop. Cost was $40 worth of foil wrap. What do you audiophiles think? Have I changed the sound signature in a negative way somehow? 

tubelvr1

Iconoclast paper

ICONOCLAST will use double ground interconnect shields and proper DCR RCA grounds.
Power Cables should also use grounds at BOTH ends if you have a proper GROUND plane
resistance such that ZERO current flows and thus you have ZERO induced voltage from
differential current.

If I understand correctly "Power Cables should also use grounds at BOTH ends" that means the shield should be connected to the EGC (Equipment Grounding Conductor) at both ends of a power cord. That’s not a good idea, IMO. Doing so puts the shield in parallel with the EGC. In the event of a Hot to chassis/EGC ground fault event a lot of current would travel on the drain wires/shield. In the event of a bolted ground fault ahead of the AC Line fuse possibly hundreds of amperes could be at play before the circuit breaker, hopefully, trips open. The EGC will carry more current because of its lower resistance/impedance but the drain wires/shield will carry far more than it is capable of handling.

From what I have read over the years the shield should be connected to the male plug end. The AC mains power source end.

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@jea48 - Are you assuming the shield is acting as the ground?  In my power cords, I always use a ground wire that is "at least" as large as the neutral/load wires, regardless of whether or not there is also a shield.  However, I have seen many balanced interconnect cables where the shield is used as the ground connection.

Shields only get connected at the source end

  In the case of a power cord the source is the wall.  The ground WIRE gets connected both ends.

Same is true for ICs.  Fyi I only use shielded power cords and fully shielded ICs.

To clarify, with shielded power cables there are up to 3 ground conductors. A foil, a small drain wire, and a equipment grounding conductor which is the same gauge as the hot or neutral.

If the shield is braided there is no separate drain wire.

In case of a foil shield the foil is nestled against the drain wire. The drain wire is there specifically to make contact with the ground pin on the plug. You don’t actually connect a foil, when present, directly to that pin. It is this drain wire which you only connect at the wall side, and leave the equipment side unconnected.

The EGC, which is insulated and green gets connected at BOTH ENDS.

In the event of an equipment short from hot to chasis, the EGC alone carries that current.

@mitch2 said:

Are you assuming the shield is acting as the ground?

Not assuming, Stating a fact... IF it is connected at both ends with the EGC, (Equipment Grounding Conductor). (Therein male plug end and IEC connector end.)  It becomes a parallel EGC.

If a closed ground fault circuit is provided current will travel in the EGC as well as the parallel connected shield. Current does not discriminate. It will take any path that is provided back to the source. In this case the Utility Power transformer.

If you DIY your own shielded power cords only connect the shield to the EGC at the male plug end. Leave the other end of the shield, at the IEC connector, floating.

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