2. cables
  3. 169085-1635

If Power Cords Don't Matter...

First of all, I don’t own any high-end power cords, mostly because I can’t fit them behind my rack. Second, I am not trying to stir up controversy, as you will see from my question. I understand that the people who believe power cords make no difference argue that once the power gets into the component, the AC is converted to DC and the power supply of the component takes over completely. I think I have that right for the most part. So it that’s true, and it probably is from a traditional EE standpoint, why is it that I have not heard anyone say that power conditioners make no difference? I am not aware of anyone with a decent system ever saying that a Niagara or Triton or Audience teflon conditioner didn’t affect their sound, for good or for bad. So if the EE theory is true, wouldn’t power conditioners make no difference either? I have an Audience AR6T for almost 10 years and I think it made a big difference. BTW - I am not talking about Power Plants, which deal with voltage stabilization, which is a different topic.  Obviously, if your AC voltage is way off, it's going to cause problems.  
chayro
jonnie22
42 posts
 
millerecarbon forgot to mention the regulator, which have improved over the years (to higher speeds, like Hynes, etc)

But it’s still not an ideal situation when the rectifier is ’forcing’ the inversion DC/AC. The line is already alternating w/ caps (only) getting charged at the peak & low of the wave. Never when rising/dropping, where it spends most of its time.

Then the the noise caused by this charging process. Then the power cord trapping noise in a component (blocking path to house-ground). The problems of AC-audio are hard to enumerate...


Ag insider logo xs@2x
kingbarbuda
515 posts
 
@troidelover1499 Maybe Tammy at Audiogon Support can help you with a name change to triodelover1499?
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
Sometimes when you think about all the challenges that are stacked up against them, it's little short of miraculous that audio components work at all.
avitacom
90 posts
 
Chayro’s , miller carbon’s and willy t’s comments are on point.  Expensive power conditioners and boutique power cords will make no difference in the characteristics of the DC current delivered to the amplification devices (tubes or transistors) which is produced by the amplifiers power supply, which incorporates, usually, “filter,” capacitors.  I suspect that some of the anecdotes in posts, above, claiming improvement in SQ from such tweaks are really just descriptions of placebo effects.
boomerbillone
360 posts
 
There certainly are a great many firm opinions expressed ton the topic of power cords/conditioners. I suggest that experience beats opinion every time. For power cord doubters, there are 5 foot, 10 gauge, shielded power cords available on Amazon for $50 ish each. $50 is cheap for fancy power cords. So I tried some. They improved the transparency or clarity or "revealed micro details" on both an Elekit 8600R (300B tubes, 9 wpc) system and a system using PuriFi's glorious 200 wpc output modules (used in NAD's new power amp and integrated). Three more cords will arrive today, says Amazon. Don't you think it's worth a try? I think it's the sheilding removing ultra sonic garbage from the power lines. Whatever it is, it works in my systems. I don't need to know exactly WHY if it improves the system. $50, how can you lose?
More to discover