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

JS:  Unearned money can be from a number of sources...inheritance for instance.

MAM says:

I began with the CD (OPPO-105) connected to my power conditioner using the stock cord. The sound was unlistenable.

I have an OPPO-105 and I use the stork cord.  I have never, not even once, thought it put out audio that was unlistenable.  At one time the 105 was the most popular disc player on the market...tested with a stock cord.  My, your ears must be very picky....or a fan of high dollar accessories.  Confirmation bias?

The entire setup with the Pass XS gear feeding the GT Audioworks speakers were all Triode Wire Labs obsession power chords on the amps and TWL speaker cables and interconnects - this resulted in the best sound at show- don’t believe me read Herb Reichert’s review on Stereophile  where he said that this system can go toe to toe with cost no object systems. Thanks Pete great product at an unbeatable value in all of high-end audio.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/gt-audioworks-loudspeakers-pass-laboratories-eletronics-basis-au...

Of course, that had nothing to do with the GT audioworks speakers working reasonably well in typically awful trade-show rooms, nor the designer undertstanding how to get the most out of his speakers in that situation .. nor all the other good quality components? 

Best of show is like having a least ugly dog show. You have different grades of awful and best sound is far more indicative of a particular speakers interaction with a room, and/or how much effort the exhibitor is willing to put into ad-hoc room treatments. I have heard $250K+ systems sound awful at shows, and $20K systems sound stunning.

dimora,
Did you know the instaneous voltage drop on a 50 foot run of 12awg can reach 3-4 volts when you get the 30+ amp peaks of some power amplifiers?  You had not mentioned whether you were discussing cords or house wiring at that point as well, and you have brought up the other wire as well. 


More critical to the gauge of the wire in the cords would be quality of the equipment to equipment ground connections. There has also been real evidence of noise on AC lines coupling into signal lines in "typical" audio setups, so shielding also makes sense.

You will note I have not said either way that cords can or cannot produce audible differences, but long runs of Romex can in amplifiers depending on how well their power supplies are designed, and it is a poor assumption that boutique audio amplifiers and other equipment is well designed.

@atdavid...
Yessir. It’s ~ 3.18 volts @ 50 feet for 120VAC with a 20A load.

If you want to do your own calculations you can go here:

https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?material=copper&wiresize=5.211&voltage=120&phase=ac&noofconductor=1&distance=50&distanceunit=feet&amperes=20&x=49&y=21

We’re talking cords AND house wiring - as they are all part of the same feed line into one’s gear - unless you use batteries or other gear as I previously mentioned (like a power conditioner, caps, batteries, transformers, chokes, etc.)

Most people cannot control the house wiring. Most folks are running their systems on a 15A circuit with ~50 feet of 14AWG Romex copper. That same circuit for most also powers a bunch of lights, ceiling fans and AC outlets that your significant other might plug a vacuum cleaner into.

I have dedicated 12AWG Romex runs to all of my audio gear with 20A breakers (modern code requires AFCI and GFCI, so I run CAFCI (AFCI/GFCI all-in-one).

So do any of you think that a 99.999% pure silver braided, shielded, twisted, cold-press or silver soldered-in-an-argon-chamber, oxygen free / techflex-skinned, 3M heatshrink covered cable on elevators made from African Panke-baobab-wood harvested by bearded millennial vegan artisans from 2400 year-old trees is going to make an audible difference going that last 6-10 feet from your A/C wall outlet into your gear’s IEC port?