Doing the Power Cord Thing

I have had $4000 power cords and $330 power cords. Equipment dependent ultimately, but the Anticables 3.1 Reference is so damn good...it just let’s my amp do it’s best with clarity, dynamics and extension beyond reproach plus exquisite tone. I prefer my Transparent Reference on my CDP limit noise, but for $330 the Anticables is amazing.

Finished adding red TechFlex and black adhesive lined shrink wrap today. Also took apart the female section. The Connex connector is super nice, and the individual prongs come out super easy.


I was a little worried that during conductivity testing before I had loosened them up, so I took the opportunity to tighten them again. Made a little difference on insertion. That hard rhodium plating is super smooth though, so it always feels a little too easy, or maybe the spring force is reduced due to the hardness?


In any event, the cable is reassembled, re-routed and reinserted. This would have been much much easier if I had done this all before hand though.

"So far, I've heard apologists and personal attacks. 

Either I haven't built a cable using good enough parts, or I haven't gone through the appropriate rituals (stretching, cryogenic treatment, etc). "

One needs thick skin to post on audio forums these days I'm afraid. A big problem with the sort of question the OP asks is that responses reflect each individual's experiences and we tend to think our particular audio experiences are universally relevant. After forty years in this hobby, I still am amazed at how performance expectations based prior experiences and products can be overturned in the context of new components or systems. 

FWIW, I've tried numerous DIY powder cords over the last twenty years or so. In my experience, it's impossible to make categorical statements about whether a DIY build can compete with a manufacturer's finished cable. Some think that the connector's are more important to the end result than the cable and if that's the case, that is one area where the DIY builder can gain a leg up on the price/performance ratio of ready made cables. I had surprisingly positive results using inexpensive Home Depot Carol 12/3 a/c cable off a reel combined with Furutech Fi-28 connectors when I needed an 11' foot power cable to test a system reconfiguration. I ended up using a Wireworld Eclipse a/c cable in that application in the end, but the DIY was quite close in performance. On the other hand, DIY versions of Chris VenHaus' "Flavor" cords did nothing positive for me in any application I tried at the time. Furutech's newest bulk FP-S  and DP-S cords have been well reviewed and my experiences with the FP-SO22n on sources have been very positive when compared to other Wireworld, Harmonic Technology, Shunyata, DH Labs, and Mojo Audio manufactured cords. I've built a 20 amp cable with bulk Harmonic Technology AC-11 wire, Furutech Fi-25g, and a Hubbell H320 c-19 connector that sounds very comparable to a Shunyata CX/HC Black Mamba. I do take a lot of care to strip the conductors with no nicks, clean and polish blades of connectors, and apply small amounts of Pro-Gold to mating surfaces prior to assembly. 

In my experience, it's impossible to make categorical statements about whether a DIY build can compete with a manufacturer's finished cable.

I think making categorical claims is, in general, foolhardy. Especially based on small, or single samples. I'm only working through what I can, and having fun with tools while I go along.

Kind of on a related note, I was trying to clean up my cabling, and I have several lengths and kinds of balanced IC’s, most of which I made from DH Labs pure silver wires.

I wanted to go from a 2m pair to 1m, of the same kind. When I did, the left side was just a little low. Probably less than 2 dB. I replaced them with a pair of WW Eclipse 7 Gold I wasn’t using which were the right length. I had gotten frustrated with the huge connector sizes in a previous cabinet, which led me to DIY a lot of my cables.

Anyway, the WW 7 fixed the problem, I clearly have a fault in the DIY cables.

My point is, honestly based on buyers I have seen at stores sellers convince to spend $2k on a power cord, 95% of them would never have noticed this.