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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
unfairlane's avatar
unfairlane
140 posts
 

turnbowm72 posts11-14-2019 8:11pm"I have investigated cables for many years and power cable improvement seems differ with the component to which they are attached.
- components with "less-capable" power supplies tend to exhibit more of an improvement
- compared to the same cable when used on amps with massive power supplies, which tend to exhibit less of an improvement"

Williewonka,

That ihas been my experience as well. I have a Bryston Int. Amp that doesn't seem to care what PC I use to feed it with. Other Bryston Amp owners have voiced the same experience. Robustness in power supply design is an important factor.
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Some but not too much thruth in this. The problem here as with other hifi-cables is that they mostly are junk. Mybe a bit better than a standard cable but not much. If you want to wake up your Bryston, give it a minimum 12awg solid core pc
audiozenology
362 posts
 
Compared to the transformer itself, diode, etc. it has not much effect inline electrically. Other issues at hand perhaps, but actual conduction of electricity not so much. Many high end power cords are effectively 12awg or less.


mitch2
4,041 posts
 
@unfairlane 
If you want to wake up your Bryston, give it a minimum 12awg solid core pc
Are we back to the gauge being the primary factor affecting power cable performance on amplifiers?  I have a hard time getting away from wire gauge, noise-cancelling geometry, shielding, and adequate plugs/iec being the most important aspects affecting PC performance.  All the other stuff espoused by the manufacturers of expensive cables seems relatively benign in comparison. 
unfairlane's avatar
unfairlane
140 posts
 
Well  the gauge is crucial all the way, and not only the gauge, it must be solid conductors to get a clean dynamic signal. A problem or challenge here is the fact that allmost no audio-designers are aware of this and they seems to design the layouts based on max continous power while they should multiply with 10 (yeah!) not to risk limiting dynamic output.

Good plugs are off course what everything relies on, but the male plug at the end of a pc is not where I would put my money.The female walloutlet is the one that might makes the difference. 



audiozenology
362 posts
 
A large gauge power cord does not change what's in the wall between the panel and your outlet, so if not upgraded large grade on line/neutral does not do a lot.


I think your arguments for solid core are just conjecture. I don't think there is any good engineering or listening to back that up.
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