bypass outlet and hook wires directly to romex??

Stehno, your idea would certainly provide the best available performance for a Romex type run. The point that some of you may be missing is the fact that some aftermarket high performance power cords REMOVE problems when they are inserted just before the equipment.

As an experiment, I connected a standard three wire extension cord (purchased from Home Depot) and then connected the original stock cord to an Audio Research preamp.

After lengthy listening sessions, I connected a high quality aftermarket cord in place of the factory stock cord. The improvement could not have been more astounding.

Point being, even with a $4.98 Home Depot extension cord running from my expensive cryo treated hospital grade outlets, the signature and improvements of the expensive after market cord were obvious.

Whether Romex or a cheap extension cord is in play here, the benefit of the better cord as the final connection to the stereo seems to be the key. Like many things in this hobby I don't pretend to understand why.

I do know that the two other people who observed the experiment had assumed that the inclusion of the Home Depot cord would negate the effect of the experiment. Perhaps it did diminish the absolute performance, but it certainly did not suppress the benefit of the high end aftermarket cord that plugged into it.

Strange but true! Please borrow a premium cord and try this for yourself, it could convince you to make your life simple by installing a premium outlet and your favorite power cord. Certainly would be the safest route.

Albert - great post. I've done the same experiment with similar results.

Here is the solution!! Bypass the main circuit breaker and install a fuse block with a ceramic fuse. This will ensure your power comes direct from the pole. Contact your favorite high end power cord manufacturer and pay them to make you a 75' cord with an IEC on one end and exposed wires on the other.

Drill a hole in the floor next to your system - and run the power cord through the hole and under your house, up to the fuse block.

Tie your high end power cord in to the fuse block and presto!

Audiophile Nirvana!! or Nervosa??

Before performing any alterations to you electrical system contact your local Building Department. Unsafe installations, repairs or alterations can cause fires and insurance companies love to void claims because of code violations.

Signed
Your Local Building Inspector

Bwhite, sounds like in incredible solution, but... my favorite is the Purist. The Purist Dominus in 1.5 meter (single unit) is $1565.00. Wonder what a PAIR of 75 foot would be?

I anyone at this site that has the bucks to try this, I would love to read their post on the results.

Hi Albert - What do you think...??? a more realistic test might be made by taking a "lesser" or cheap interconnect and coupling it (via a female to female adapter) to your usual interconnect. Then using this creation to provide signal from your source to your preamp.

Wouldn't that be very similar to the test with the Home Depot extension cord plugged into the wall and the Purist plugged into the HD extension cord? Which resulted in insignificant differences.

My guess is that doing this with interconnects might make a bigger difference since the signal is so much weaker... but who knows.. it would be interesting to try.