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I have been a stickler about keeping power cables away from signal cables...on equipment ?

What I am finding very interesting, and to some extent, disturbing, is how close the power IEC inlet or power cable, is designed so close to the speaker or input / output terminals of amplifiers / gear. Many of my Hafler, Bryston and Citation amplifiers had / have this arrangement, and many of these newer and smaller chassis class d amplifiers have this arrangement. I have actually rewired ( or had rewired by a tech ) a different path separating the power line to the audio line within the chassis, and hearing a cleaner background when listening to music through these products afterwards. I am finding this to be the case, looking at photos of some other gear as well. I also believe, power switches and it's wiring, should be designed at the rear of a component, for the reduction of ac related noise, even though it might be an inconvenience with it's daily operation. Just as an aside.....I keep my gear on 24 / 7, unless I am on an out of town trip. Your thought ? Enjoy, be well and stay safe. Always, MrD.
mrdecibel
audio2design
1,351 posts
 
When you have a neutral and live wire running side by side, the electrical fields are opposing and cancel out if the noise is what is called "differential", i.e. what we think of as current powering our equipment. Those fields because the wires are close dissipate really quickly.

There are other currents, common mode, which travel the same direction on both cables. That gets in via ground connections, through RFI etc.  That does not cancel out and can hence create a field that has a impact at larger distances. 


Good equipment will include circuitry to filter out both types of noise. It also depends on the signal levels close by. All digital circuitry will be more immune than line level signal, which will be more immune than a phono input.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I have my power cable, AES3 cable and ethernet cable all running parallel and strapped together from my speakers to where they separate and go to their particular device, streamer, switch and surge protector/ power conditioner. I kept them apart for awhile going back and forth never noticed a difference so I keep them neatly tucked together now.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
Just for kicks, I looked at the backs of my components to see how far away the mains plugs are from the interconnect terminals.  All three -- my Mytek Brooklyn BB, my Primaluna Integrated and my Sony CD/SACD player -- have the power connection on the far left, with the component connections as far to the right as reasonably possible.  All this leads me to believe that keeping the mains supply as far as possible from the other connections is accepted practice.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I also believe, power switches and it's wiring, should be designed at the rear of a component, for the reduction of ac related noise, even though it might be an inconvenience with it's daily operation.

My Herron VTPH2A power switch is on the back right corner, right next to the iec. It is a bit of a hassle. But for all the right reasons.

davidkesner's avatar
davidkesner
11 posts
 
Jeff Smith from Silversmith Audio offered this on another discussion group concerning his Fidelium ribbon speaker cables: he said to wrap them around power cord and hook them up to your speakers and see if you can hear ANY noise without running a source signal through it. He says you will not and therefor the proximity of his cables and power cords do not matter.
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