Power Cables

@wmarkhall - as stated in my first post - components with large, well designed cords do not show as much in the way of improvements, compared to those components with smaller power supplies, such as source components.

WRT ...

explain to us how this makes a single iota of difference when in an amplifier’s linear power supply the current through the mains is only directly in use 5 to 10% of the time since the power supply system’s inherent design is to fill capacitors that provide smoothed and constant direct current for the supply rails that ultimately amplify the signal.

Alas I do not have the equipment that would allow me to ascertain an exact reason why...
- but I have observed that even an amp with a well designed and built power supply, such as Ayre and Gryphon, will show some improvement, but the improvements will be more subtle in nature
- I found that the acosutics of recording venue in live concerts sound more realistic and more noticeable and the image was bigger and more open.
.
I have tried the helix and braided power cables on amps from $350 - $10,000. The brands vary - Yamaha, NAIM, AYRE and Gryphon as well as a couple of tube amps and they all yeilded improvements in sound quality.

I will add that the improvements were more noticeable when the entire system uses the Helic IC’s and speaker cables also.

As @geoffkait said...

It all seems ludicrous until you try it and hear it yourself.

As for me - I can only pass on what I and others have observed and try to make some sense of it.

Improvements in sound quality on every system that employed these cables were reported by their owners.

But even after lots of threads dicussing this topic on Audiogon we are left with three "camps" ...
- Those that have observed improvements
- Those that have not observed improvements
- Those that choose to believe that quality, well designed cables make no difference

I have no issues with peole from any of those groups - I’m just passing on some of my observations and thoughts.

Take them or leave them - we all have our own beliefs AND a forum to share them on - thanks Audiogon :-)

Regards - Steve

@dmance...

  I think we just don’t know enough about electricity 

Interestingly - I believe you are not wrong.

I spoke with an "electronics technician" that repaired a friends solid state amp which "self destructed" due to the speaker cables he had used.

He had never heard of amps being driven to a state of oscilation due to the use of high capacitance speaker cables.

That's someone on the technical side of the industry not being aware of, what I consider, a basic design "consideration". 

So what other things are people in the industry not aware of ???

I shudder to think :-)

Regards - Steve

No shirt, Sherlock? How about power cords, fuses, isolation, directionality of wire, contact enhancer, to name a few?

"the mains is only directly in use 5 to 10% of the time since the power supply system’s inherent design is to fill capacitors that provide smoothed and constant direct current for the supply rails that ultimately amplify the signal"

Then, once the BFCap's are charged to peak voltage, only a "trickle" charge is needed to sustain my 150Watt amplifier? Are you folks nutz? At very low volume level my Adcom 545II breaks-up into heavy distortion and dies completely in only one or two seconds after switching off power.
The only ones "not knowing enough about electricity" are those buying-in to concepts like this!

P.S. The power cable can not "assist" in delivering more AC current than the amplifier’s power transformer is capable of delivering once its iron core is magnetically ’saturated’ and the reservoir capacitors are sagging!

Yes, that's how it works. I'll provide a link. If an amplifier is correctly designed, "sagging capacitors" amounts to a cable marketing blurb. If you think any substantial amount of juice for your volume control is coming directly from the cable you paid a lot of $ for then you're not following the design topology and you're listening to music with your wallet.

http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/power-management/linear-power-supply-psu/basics-tutorial.php