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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
audiozenology
362 posts
 
I have rarely seen audiophiles with anything better than 12 awg Romex dedicated line or not.
mitch2
3,972 posts
 
The reasons power cords are not made from solid core wire are safety and ease of use. Have you ever tried to bend a 12 awg wire....10 awg? I believe the safety thing is the concern that frequent bending of a single solid core wire could lead to fatigue cracking and a higher incidence of wire failure.  Romex in the wall is fixed and not subject to repeated bending.  One of the manufacturers who posts here, has said Romex would actually make a high performing power cord but it would not meet electrical codes for that purpose.

I have made a couple of 7 awg unshielded power cables using six strands of old stock WE 10 awg wire (the same stuff used by TWL in their American series). I use them from two dedicated 20A circuits (wired with 10 awg Romex) to 300 wpc Class A monoblocks and the DIY 7 awg cords sound every bit as good as expensive IsoClean or Furutech power cables I also have here.

Some day I will try the Romex thing.

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Act-tu-ally, the best power cords are solid core. Audioquest Hurricane et al. Hel-loo! Always remember to respect the directionality of your power cord and it will respect you.
delkal
110 posts
 

Mitch2-
One of the manufacturers who posts here, has said Romex would actually make a high performing power cord but it would not meet electrical codes for that purpose.

We talked about this some in the Romex to your Amp thread. here is what I posted there. It still applies here.
Electronics and power cords do not need to be UL listed. Certification is an optional process that costs $5,000-15,000 of dollars per model and is only good for 5 years. The only reason large manufacturers do this is because many retailers and contracts specify certified products only. Clearly very few (if any) boutique power cables and audio components are certified.
There is nothing wrong or illegal about solid core power cables.


audiozenology
362 posts
 
Can't say you want low loss high frequency dielectrics in one sentence and then low frequency wire in the next. One would almost think people are just guessing and speaking in conjecture.
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