2. misc-audio
  3. 973062414

The fallacy of ac treatment

I see a lot of threads related to managing and tweaking the ac powerout end of electronic systems. Much has been said about dedicated wiring, termination and even the right kind of extension cords to use. I work for an electric utility; and that's the extent of my credibilty here. The majority of you will no doubt be far more erudite wrt music hardware. Just a thought, though: domestic ac distribution goes thus: power station-step up-city-step down-subdivision-final step down. As far as the utility is concerned, you and all your neigbours are collectively the load for the step down tranformer. Any inductance/capacitance created by your neigbour running motors/tubelights, etc is felt by the lot of you. Additionally, the voltage frequency will almost always move around a tolerance from 50hz as the whole country turns on the air, off the lights - changes all the time as peaker plants ramp up etc. Nothing can change that- the frequency of the grid supplying your city is the frequency in the mains at your house. So what's my point? Well only that how much difference can the last 10 feet of cabling, etc make when the other hundreds of miles are outside of your control? And more importantly, frequency is one of the most imp parameters for measuring electricity quality (your expensive hand-coiled toroids are entirely subject to the f in the primaries) and nothing other than running an f generator can shield you from that. Methinks all the improvements you see from ac cord treatments are pyschosomatic. But that's cool.
snobgoblinf669
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
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.
brulee
564 posts
 
Hey Redkiwi, I guess I am delusional too. Aint it great.
gmkowal5c1a
91 posts
 
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.
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
I think I see your point Gmkowal, that theory can help us in focussing on a remedy for the most appropriate source of a problem. But I have not come across any universal theory that works repeatedly in distinguishing between the many options we audiophiles must choose between. Without a reliable universal theory, then any individual theory tends to tell only part of the story. For example, I can postulate a theory that explains why using a sorbothane footer ought to be beneficial. But I can use another theory to postulate that using a cone ought to be beneficial too. Yet I know of no theory that tells me that a cone will be better than a sorbothane footer, that cannot be countered by a theory that tells the reverse story. Only listening removes the ambiguity, or reveals the nature of the trade-off. From listening I tend to develop my own theories of course - like, that if there are two compliant materials in a system the result is awful - therefore use only one, and use rigid coupling for any other support interfaces. Of course I can use conventional theory to explain that this is due to correlation effects, but only my ears can tell me whether the issue is relevant and significant. My ears tell me that the choice of power cord is very relevant and very beneficial - I have said it before, on a par with changing speaker cables.
gmkowal5c1a
91 posts
 
Redkiwi, thank you for your post. I quite agree that the only true test of whether something has improved your system or not, is your EARS. I have also have done some things with my system that some may consider excessive. I am lucky enough to have the room that I listen in, fairly close to my electric meter and circuit breaker box. I installed a dedicated outlet for my system and ran a pair of #10 wires to my breaker box (hot and neutral only) and a single, very large piece of wire braid directly to the ground rod that sits next to my electric meter. I did not want to depend on the ground system in my house. I float each piece in my system and tie all of the chassis grounds to the ground braid at a single point. I bought some Litz wire on Ebay and made my own power cord to float the equipment. While I really can't say I have improved the quality of sound in my system, I can tell you that I can't hear the ham radio operator next door talking through my system anymore. I was fortunate enough to get my grubby hands on some high quality #6 wire at work and use it between my Audio Research Classic 60 and Theil CS 3.6's, but I did purchase some MIT interconnects to go between my Oracle and preamp (Yeah, I am still a record fan). It all sounds great to me and I am happy :-)
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