@millercarbon In your experience, have cable elevators made a difference for all lengths of speaker cable? Did it make a bigger difference for longer or short cable? Thanks.
In term of construction, what's the difference between cheap vs. expensive power cables
When it comes to interconnects and speaker cables, it is easier to understand the justification for the costs of these cables. But when it comes to power cables, it is a little difficult to understand.
Some believe that as long as the power cable has enough gauge the that's all you need. I've used some cheap power cables vs. some high price cables and there are clearly differences in sound, so the "gauge" of the cables is not the ONLY thing and it's a little bit more complicated than that.
In speaker cables design, you can adjust the R/L/C parameters to achieve a certain kind of sound and it's easy to visual how these parameters will affect the sound. For example too much C then the sound will lack leading edge. Too much L then the sound will be brittle. If too much R then the sound will lack dynamic. Or if the cable has too much jitter, then the transparency will be affected.
But the power cable main job is to establish a DC source, it's not too clear how the R/L/C parameters will affect the sound the same way these parameters will affect the sound of the speaker cable. Also I am not sure how jitter would affect a power cable either
So the bottom line is what's actually inside a power cable that make them so expensive? Do they use fancy dielectric? How about construction geometry?
For a designer, I mean how do you fine-tune your power cable. How do you know your power cable will sound good?
Some believe that as long as the power cable has enough gauge the that's all you need. I've used some cheap power cables vs. some high price cables and there are clearly differences in sound, so the "gauge" of the cables is not the ONLY thing and it's a little bit more complicated than that.
In speaker cables design, you can adjust the R/L/C parameters to achieve a certain kind of sound and it's easy to visual how these parameters will affect the sound. For example too much C then the sound will lack leading edge. Too much L then the sound will be brittle. If too much R then the sound will lack dynamic. Or if the cable has too much jitter, then the transparency will be affected.
But the power cable main job is to establish a DC source, it's not too clear how the R/L/C parameters will affect the sound the same way these parameters will affect the sound of the speaker cable. Also I am not sure how jitter would affect a power cable either
So the bottom line is what's actually inside a power cable that make them so expensive? Do they use fancy dielectric? How about construction geometry?
For a designer, I mean how do you fine-tune your power cable. How do you know your power cable will sound good?
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- 61 posts total
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@harrypaul - RE: How does having space between conductors improve cable performance? Especially power cable?It’s called proximity effect - google "proximity effect in cables" and you’ll find this link Proximity effect (electromagnetism) - Wikipedia It occurs in ALL cables and actually creates noise within the cables themselves.- power cables generate the most noise, then speaker and finally interconnects. However, both the signal and noise in Interconnects is amplified, so the impact is very noticeable Using a geometry that allows for space between the conductors reduces that noise. But - INSULATION is another source of noise
That noise permeates throughout any connected circuit and impacts the performance of those circuits, which introduces distortions into the signal However, let’s not forget we have left and right channels to consider, The distortions in each channel are more of a "random nature" so each channel is impacted differently. This "random noise" impacts the phase between the signals in both L & R channels, resulting in
Other articles you might find interesting... https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-1/ https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-2/ https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-3/ Hope that helps - Steve |
Power is 50 or 60 hz and filled with high frequencies dirty stray voltages. Good power chords provide an additional path to ground (capacitance of the cable) and / or additional resistance (inductance of the cable, ferrite cores) to clean the dirty fraction of the electricity. A good PC provides additional filtering, a further drop or bucket in the pool of good sound! |
And...How does having space between conductors improve cable performance? Especially power cable? There needs to be adequate space between conductors because everyone knows that noise is introduced when free-range electrons get to close together. Unless your power supply has a filter in front of it to keep them out the best way is keeping them far apart. Since electronics generate more of these rascals than would ever leak in from the outside I believe that's why UL and CE won't give certification to electronics that don't meet requirements for filtering free- range electrons from leaking out of the component into the mains. |
- 61 posts total