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... abit confused: how does a power cord affect the presentation of sound...

Hello to all...

I was shifting around components in my system, trying to squeeze out better controlled bass, more definition within the soundstage, and better define the "voice/midrange" presentation...

I presently have a tube preamp (hardwired with a wall wart) into an HT Receiver; source is a Marantz SA-8001 CD Player

Swapped out a Yamaha HTR -5550 (hardwired) for a Parasound HCA-750A (which needs a power cord).

CD Player is powered with a PS Audio Statement SC power cord, so I went in my closet and pulled out another PS AUDIO Statement SC power cord, hooked it up and expect to give it at least 5 days continuous re-break-in before serious listening.

Took a minute to lookup reviews about this power cord - and I read some rather confusing reviews: some luved 'um, some liked 'um, but some thought them " ...slow... " (?), and giving a veiled presentation...

I'm gonna listen and decide myself - but I'm abit confused: how does a power cord affect the presentation of sound - I know that interconnects and speaker cables would/could/Do affect sound presentation - but how could a power cord?

Explanation/thoughts please...
insearchofprat
andy2
1,545 posts
 
Interesting point. Considering how all that current has to flow through a ’tiny’ fuse, yet a big honking power cord can still make a change to the overall sound still boggles my mind.
Richard Feynman once said if anyone thinks he understands quantum physics, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

How electrons and currents are not as intuitive as one thinks. There are still things that can’t be relied on "common sense".

There are people who think as long as the power cord is big enough, then that’s all you need. I actually have some power cords that are more than thick enough but they sound a bit "slow". How they are constructed also affects the sound.


madcow
42 posts
 
This is my first time posting. I thought I join in the fun. I’m no electrical engineer but here are my thoughts:

1. The miles of cables before the wall outlets have no bearing on the quality of the sound just like the miles of dirty river water before our faucets. It’s the purity of the signal before entering the electronics that matters.

2. In audio, it’s all about vibration. It’s about the vibration of the electrons in the cable to the vibration of the particles in the air. If the electrons can vibrate in perfect sync, we get perfect sound. The quest of the cable makers is to reach this perfection. The differences in characteristics of the vibration of the electrons in the cable define the sound we hear.

My 2 cents.
fastfreight
767 posts
 
Personally, I would keep a large pot of boiling snake oil on my component rack if it made things sound better.

Instead, I use nice power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables because they DO make things sound better.  Many compare stock to relatively inexpensive upgrades.  I tried this and noticed little improvement.  Tried Audience AU24SX and noticed nice improvement.
Not worth arguing why.  They just sound better to me and are thus worth it to me.  Ken.
decibell
69 posts
 
If you are somewhat handy I encourage you to experiment building your own power cable. Solid core dead soft silver wire (riogrande.com) placed in cotton tubing (ebay) with heat shrink tubing on outside for safe insulation. Ground can be solid copper but needs to be thicker gauge to achieve lower resistance compared to same length silver. Techflex on outside. Terminate with high quality pure silver plugs. Silver is the best conductor. Cotton minimizes power storage. I was not able to find a scientific explanation why power cords have an impact on sound. But all components in my system benefited from this power cord upgrade (even turntable!) - with most noticeable improvement on CD player and preamp.
danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
The more you spend on wires, the greater the placebo effect.
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