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

This is a journey through real life experiences from you to everyone that cares to educate themselves. I must admit that I was not a believer in power cords and how they affect sound in your system. I from the camp that believed that the speaker provided 75% of the sound signature then your source then components but never the power cord. Until that magic day I along with another highly acclaimed AudioGoner who I will keep anatomist ran through a few cables in quite a few different systems and was "WOWED" at what I heard. That being said cable I know that I am not the only believer and that is why there are so many power cord/cable companies out there that range from $50 to 20-30 thousand dollars and above. So I like most of you have to scratch my head and ask where do I begin what brand and product and what should i really pay for it?

The purpose of this discussion to get some honest feed back on Price to Performance from you the end user to us here in the community.

Please fire away!


 


128x128blumartini
atdavid
736 posts
 
Very good shielding primarily on interconnects, and a properly connected shield and good connectors to ensure a proper connection. With the exception of a decade plus ago on a cable that intentionally colored the sound, I have never detected capacitance that would be impactful to sound in my components. As capacitance is so low, dielectric absorption becomes a non-issue, and since interconnects are no impedance matched, not worried about that either.

For speakers, heavy gauge with intertwined connectors mainly for shielding, though I have never perceived an issue. Again, not really worried about inductance as any cable inductance is buried in the noise floor of component values in the speaker. I did accidentally make a speaker cable with wickedly high capacitance that made an amplifier unstable, but that would not have been considered normal construction.

Now about those values of capacitance and inductance where they become an issue?

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turnbowm
353 posts
 
"Now about those values of capacitance and inductance where they become an issue?"  

atdavid,

There are no specific values/limits for inductance and capacitance because of variables in the application. Your experience with amplifier instability using high capacitance speaker cables is a perfect example.

My preference for low inductance in speaker cables and low capacitance in interconnects is based on numerous listening sessions. There are other considerations, but these are my primary ones.
andy2
1,555 posts
 
Your experience with amplifier instability using high capacitance speaker cables is a perfect example.
Also in the analog world, amp does not go from "working perfectly" to "instability" just like that like 1's and 0's.  There is a transitional curve and during being on this curve, the amp sound quality will change before instability sets in.  So by simple logic, the amp + speaker combination will affect the sound as the cable capacitance gradually changes.  It's not something that happens abruptly, like a 90 degree cliff.  

atdavid
736 posts
 
andy2,

An instability does not mean it has to oscillate, it could simply mean a settling issue, and to your point, an impact on the sound.

And no, turnbowm, my experience accidentally making more of a capacitor than a cable is not a perfect example. Kimber cable is typically 30-100pf/foot, I think the higher Cardas is close to 500pF/ft. I was close to 100nF for a 12 foot length.


turnbown, if there are no specific values for inductance/capacitance, then how do you know you were comparing cables with higher/lower values?


There are no specific values/limits for inductance and capacitance because of variables in the application. Your experience with amplifier instability using high capacitance speaker cables is a perfect example.



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