Should All Power Cables be Alike?

toddverrone - my house was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake in Santa Cruz, CA. I rebuilt and had a dedicated 20amp line placed in the walls where I planned to place my system. The contractor put 15amp AC outlets on the 20amp wire ... thus my questions about putting in 20amp AC outlets. My amp is an ARC REF 75SE ... 20 amps, I believe. It's taken me a long time to recover my stereo equipment - earthquakes have a way of doing that to your personal possessions. So, now I'm upgrading cables and the AC outlets feeding my system.

lowrider 57 - I see ... my PS Audio is 15 amp. But I've recently replaced my amp with an ARC REF 75SE, which I believe is a 20 amp device. So, it came upon me to consider putting a 20 amp cable on the REF 75SE and install a 20 amp AC outlet connector to the 20 amp wire in my wall. Which also brings up the matter of connecting the ARC amp to/through the PS Audio (?). The ARC owner's manual says not use a conditioner or re-generator, but connect the amp directly to the AC outlet: PS Audio disagrees.

williewonka ... all stock power cables should be changed? Hmm ... that's what I was wondering about. That means every device should have its AC cords upgraded to a higher quality cable? Now, that could be pricey if I go to something like Nordost AC cables.

wylmars - you don’t have to buy Nordost - there are many other brands that will provide benefits. Pangea, Signal Cables and Anticables come to mind.

A very good step up from those are PC products from KLE Innovations

Building your own is cost effective and provides great results.

You do not have to build the Helix cables identified in the links I sent in my last post either.

Simply braiding the conductors will provide better results than the standard bulk cable..

For a very good performing cable you could...
- buy DH Labs Power Plus bulk cable
- remove the outer sleeve
- tightly braid the three conductors
- attach silver plated copper Sonar Quest or Vanguard IEC/Mains connectors from Ebay
- insert in some expandable nylon sleeve for a professional look

NOTE: buy 20% more cable than required - braiding shortens the finished cable

A 5 ft cable would cost around $100 in parts and some of your time - and perform better than many of the cables out there.

As a starting point - replace the cables on your least expensive components - I’ve found that adding good cables to them makes the most difference - probably because many manufacturers design their power supplies on budget components to a price point.
e.g.
- my Naim amp has a large high quality toroid transformer - the improvements are less noticeable
- but my Node 2 streamer, being more budget oriented, has a much smaller power supply, so a quality power cord allows it to operate at a higher level - the improvements were immediately noticeble

I have also had great results from a $300 mini system - simply by replacing the power cable

I even replaced the cable on my TV - I did not notice any difference - but on watching the TV my wife asked what had i dome to the TV - she noticed the improvement immediately

I used to plug the amp into the wall outlet, but the new house required a 9ft extension cable. I used the Helix design for the extension with a an outlet box on the System end and I can honestly say there is NO degradation in sound quality.

Hope that Helps - Steve

You'll have no problem upgrading the outlets to 20 amp. You'll still need 15 amp PCs to mate with the IEC inlet on your amps.

I've made two of Williewonka's DIY helix design with the sonarquest connectors and yarbo cable with great results over earlier, braided designs using silver plated Teflon insulated milspec wire. Worth the time if you're even remotely interested in DIY.