The Truth About Power Cords and there "Real" Price to Performance

Oh, I don’t know, I think this high cost for certain audiophile products is a little bit irrelevant. There are $650,000 speakers, $16,000 cartridges, $120,000 turntables. So what? It doesn’t necessarily advance the science OR the performance to go all out on money. And who can do it? 1/2 of 1%?  As I said somewhere earlier even One Million Dollar systems can oft go awry. I would say it’s hard to prove the value of things, generally, but especially when the cost is astronomical. Money can’t buy me love. 

blumartini-

Sorry man your thread has been hijacked. In the museum of What is wrong with Audiophiles geoffkait has a whole wing, three basement levels, and a Raider's of the Lost Ark warehouse. Like a bad accident, best just look the other way.

Everyone has your same ideas about power cords, and cables in general, as being mere conductors of electricity. As you now know from listening your ears are telling you there has to be a lot more to it than that.

Which I am not about to tell you what that is. Because unlike everyone else I know that I don't know. Truth is no one knows. That's why there's so many different ones. That's why they all sound so different. If it was all just transmitting electricity they'd all have been commoditized long ago, and they'd all be cheap as dirt. Like the wall outlets at Home Depot.

So you're excited because you just discovered this which is crazy but true for a lot of audiophiles. What makes it crazy is this is something that has been known for upwards of 30 years, and probably more like 50. Fifty if you go back to J Gordon Holt who founded Stereophile and the whole "the ears are the arbiters of sound" movement, 30 if you go back to Ted Denney who founded Synergistic Research and came out with the first really commercially successful Master Coupler power cord.

Now there's been a zillion power cords before and since, but the reason I say the Master Coupler was the first really commercially successful power cord is both because it came out early in the 1990's AND is still widely considered a quality power cord that retains its value in the used market even to this day. The Master Coupler is in effect the Gold Standard of power cords and at about $150-300 is hard to beat especially for someone with upgrades in mind. As the hijackers have pointed out you can very easily spend a whole lot more. What I am saying is it is nowhere near as easy to do a whole lot better.

Or as someone else said last time I recommended the Master Coupler, "A thousand dollar cable for $250. What's not to like?"

Now understand I am not putting it out there as the best or even the only. I am putting it out there as a benchmark or standard. Because you asked about value. Which value is what I am all about. So yes of course you can do better. But if you want to do better AND keep the budget reasonable then you need a solid standard of value. And this is it.

Hi millercarbon,

Thanks for jumping right into the meat of the matter and shedding some light on the subject! To clarify, this is not new to me but I like many others out there are not like geoffkait or I hope not at least in this regard lol. The purpose of the thread is more for awareness vs marketing for those not wanting 3 basement levels of bad accidents. Sorry man but that was hilarious!!!

I am sure that most people reading this thread will want to hear more about The Master Coupler power cable. Can you share its characteristics from your experiences with us,

Thanks!

at what point does the cost of a power cord outweigh the cost of building your own power generation facility, $75k for a power cord ? I could build my own dedicated power generation system for that kind of money. 

I hereby recuse myself from this conversation as I do not use power cords any more. I also apologize for bringing down the average cost for power cords. And good luck to everybody. 🤗