The fallacy of ac treatment

When I first heard of the power cord controversy, I was likewise skeptical as you are. Based on your assumptions, what differences could there be? The problem lies with your assumptions: 1. The power supply is where filtering of your power occurs. How does an amplifier know what to amplify? The answer is that it doesn't. It will attempt to amplify all signals presented to it. That includes an entire spectrum of radio frequency signals below and above it's normal operating range. Do you follow AudioAsylum? If not, perhaps you should. There is significant material on this issue. One "inmate" who like myself has Acoustat electrostatic speakers complained that something was causing his amplifier to shut down. He speculated that there was a malfunction within the high voltage Acoustat transformers. He later discovered that the villain was his old Monster speaker cable which had oxidized. It was now conducting high frequency hash which the amplifier doggedly attempted to amplify and overheated in the process. After hearing this, I examined the internal wiring of my transformers. Though my main speaker cable is new DH Labs silver wire, the Acoustat transformer has 15" of Monster cable internally. I discovered the same horribly oxidized wire. Once I replaced it, I was amazed at the difference in signal clarity. From Sade to Saint Saens and Madonna to Mozart, I am how hearing more inner detail. Similarly, a power cord can be quite effective at radiating RF energy. Better cords posess shielding that minimize this effect. 2. Manufacturers always install cords of sufficient gauge. Not. All wire loses signal to an extent. All components with anything less than 14 gauge cord is sacrificing power transfer. I will refer you to this more studious explanation: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cables/messages/13538.html Finally, one must consider one's point of reference. A casual listener will likely never hear any differences. Or someone who has a typical $2000 mid-fi system. The differences are readily heard by those who listen to music more regularly and those who have access to better equipment. Does your frame of reference include hearing what a $200,000 system can sound like on your music? It is both enlightening and frustrating at the same time. There is so much detail on discs most folks will never experience. Though my system costs something less than 10% of that amount, both speaker and power cords do make a difference. BTW, I don't (yet) have any $500 designer cords in my system. I have replaced four with industrial grade Belden 14 gauge shielded cable with quality Leviton plugs. Cost? About $15 each. I have dedicated power outlets for my system. Additionally, I use a Monster Cable HTS-1000 power conditioner on my front end components. The results are a cleaner, quieter background allowing more detail to be revealed and more powerful dynamics. Try it. You'll like it.

You bring up some good points that I did not consider but I am still the skeptic. I whole heartedly agree that the larger the power cable you use, the better off you are! It is safe to say at our relatively low voltages of 110 vac or 220 vac the larger the conductor the less opposition to current flow or resistance (at much higher potentials you deal with the skin effect where current flows on the outside of the conductor only). If we look at Ohm's law, a current flowing through resistance will cause a voltage drop. The amount of voltage dropped is dependant on the electrical resistance (or impedance with alternating current) and the current flow. Any drop of voltage across the power cord is detremental to system performance and frankly dangerous due to heat generated in the power cord itself (remember Power(heat)= V (voltage drop in the cord)x I (the current flowing). The second point I agree with you is on EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference). There are 2 types of EMI we must deal with: Radiated and Induced. The sources of these type of interferences are common to our everyday life from vacuum cleaners to our television sets. Unfortunately the best power cord in the world will not help with induced EMI as the interference is induced on the power source itself. This is the case for a dedicated outlet for yours audio system. There are caveats with this also. If one chooses to use a dedicated outlet the ground at the outlet is the most important consideration. I propose that the ground wire that is enclosed in the piece of romex feeding your outlet may not suffient depending on how far the outlet is from your breaker panel (remember what I mentioned about wire size and resistance). This can be checked by by measureing the neutral to ground voltage under load at your outlet. It should be almost zero volts. If it is not there is a voltage drop and this could be a cause of noise in you system. Radiated EMI is quite another story though. This (in my opinion) has more to do with good design in your component than a very good power cord. Shielding, ground planes on circuit cards etc. have more effect on this than the power cord. The only rule of thumb here is to keep everything as short as possible. If the EMI is higher in frequency, shorter leads make a poor antenna to pick up this. Remember that if the interference is 1 MHz or less a sufficient antenna would have to be over 100 feet long. A power conditioner may help with some of these problems but I submit as an electrical engineer that fancy power cords and power conditioners are not a good substitute for good electrical design and a little thought. Thanks for the reply. Audio sometimes becomes an emotional issue, and it is my pleasure to correspond with someone who is willing to talk about some of the scientific principles behind these issues.

Gmkowal - let us hope audio is an emotional issue for all of us. You may be right that we should not fix AC noise problems with better power cords, but only buy equipment that deals with these problems (more effectively) internally. But if having bought the best sounding component I can reasonably afford, and then I find that $400 on a power cord significantly improves the sound - what am I to do? Refuse to buy the power cord on the basis that I am pissed with the component designer for not designing his product competently? That seems to be self-defeating. Complain to the component's manufacturer? Somehow I don't think they would listen. Perhaps you believe I am deluded about what I hear with power cords? But I have many years of experience with this hobby, and so if I am deluded about power cords then I must be deluded about most other choices I have made in audio, since I apply the same listening tests to those other decisions too. Since the delusion has led to countless hours of joy through bringing me closer to the music, I will take my delusion any day over your apparent blind faith that your theory explains everything. It is one thing to wonder about the reason why people report hearing a difference, and another to state that there cannot be a difference because your belief in some theories is inconsistent with it. I am a scientist too, but more freely acknowledge that scientific theories are blunt instruments.

Hey Redkiwi, I guess I am delusional too. Aint it great.

Gentlemen, I do not want to you to think that I think ill of anyone who would purchase that $400 power cord. I merely point these facts out to alert those who are considering the purchase of such an item as to the cause and effect some of the problems for which one may consider purchasing such an item. I merely wish to point out that before you spend your $400 please make sure that that $400 will remedy the problem. Some of the problems I have pointed out, can not not be solved by a power cord at any price. If it makes you happy to spend $400 on a power cord, God bless you. But would'nt it be sad, if one spent the money on the $400 power cord and the new power did nothing to solve the problem because it was a grounding or EMI problem. My point is simply this: try understand what you are trying to remedy and why. It could save alot of time and money and maybe buy you a better designed amplifier.