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Advice needed on power cables, wall warts, conditioning, electrical outlet

Hi everyone,

I would appreciate any advice on power cables, wall warts, power conditioning, better electrical outlet,  etc. 

If I have a power conditioner, with all of my equipment plugged into it with their stock cables, would upgrading the individual components’ power cable, wall wart etc. really help to improve the sound quality?  If yes, in what order of priority would you suggest?  Looking to make some low/moderate cost "tweaks" where it makes sense.

FWIW, here’s my setup:

  • 15 amp dedicated electrical circuit with standard home grade grounded electrical outlet.
  • Furman PL Plus-C power conditioner (repurposed from my music equipment studio rack) plugged into this AC outlet.  (Furman has a hardwired power cable, so I cannot easily swap it out)
  • All of my audio equipment plugs into the Furman: e.g. integrated tube amp, DAC, Sound Expander, ethernet to optical converter, Sonore Optical Rendu (feeds the DAC via USB), and Small Green Computer Roon server.
  • All components have their respective manufacturers’ standard issue power cord or wall wart.  (Sonore Optical Rendu with their Small Green Computer standard LPS).
  • TrendNet ethernet switch, not on the conditioner and uses wall wart.  CAT 8 to upstairs to my Asus router also wall wart and not on conditioner.
  • Asus router to Verizon FIOS ONT via CAT 8 ethernet.

Any advice and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

bogbeat
fiesta75
1,378 posts
 

No on Rhodium outlets, the Acme Audio 20 amp silver outlet is much better than Rhodium anything. Silver has the lowest resistance and the 20A grips like hospital grade for much less. I'm not a fan of Furman, Audioquest is much better. What I've learned is all connectors are the weakest link, so get the best for everything including interconnects and power cords. Remember solid silver has the lowest resistance/impedance.

mrskeptic
262 posts
 

You'll need to replace all the wiring in your home with 99.99999999% OFC, then do the same for the wiring from where ever it is that provides your house's power all the way to your house. Then replace the wiring in any component and speaker with the exact same wire since those manufacturers use the cheapest wiring they can to save money. Only then will you have the best sounding music possible. 

 

*facepalm*

cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 

@terry9 

you have about the only believable post on this subject. And since the isolation transformer provides a good low impedance supply, you see the better transient improvement. 
 

Power cords, unless they are thinner than your house romex, will NOT make an improvement. 
 

terry9
2,341 posts
 

@cakyol 

Thank you. I sometimes feel a bit lonely when trying to help someone who genuinely wants to learn.

adversam
73 posts
 

@terry9 

Thank you so much for your post, that's the kind of information that rewards hours and hours spent on audiophile's forums. I will definitely try an isolation transformer, never thought about that before:) 

Do you recommend any in particular?

Last thing, do you use to connect all your gears to it or just amp/preamp?

 

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