@blue_collar_audio_guy - There are a few things that govern the abilities of power cables
- wire gauge
- thicker the wire the more current it can carry
- structure of the wire - i.e. solid vs. stranded
- solid wires can handle a lot more current than stranded wires
- wire type - OFC, UP-OCC Copper, and UP-OCC silver
- the wire type governs the dynamic performance of the cable
- OFC is OK, but limited
- UP-OCC copper offers the best bang for the buck
- silver UP-OCC is too expensive for many people, but the most dynamic
- insulation type
- the better the insulation the lower the noise floor
- Dielectric Constant (Dk) is the measure used to gauge insulation performance
- Teflon is 2.2
- Foamed Teflon is 1.45
- Cotton is 1.3
- bare wire inside oversized Teflon Tube is close to Air
- Air is 1.1
- Vacuum is 1.0
- Geometry
- more space between the conductors (Live, Neutral and ground) the lower the noise floor
So as you can see - to compare power cables based on their thickness is a bit like saying a red cable will perform better than a blue cable.
Unless a person undersrtands the internal structures/materials/geometry of a power cable it is next to impossible to come to a conclusion as to how well a cable might perform.
It is quite possible to construct a 14 gaue cable that will perform much better than many 10 gauge cables. So simply adopting to use a 10 gauge cable might not be allowing an amp to perform to the best of its abilties
There are few companies that make this information available on their web...
- Zavfino - perhaps the best choice for most cables
- In-Akustik - more for higher end components
- Hijiri - for the highest resolving components
So while many companies do make cables using excellent grade copper - they will not fare as well when compared to the brands mentioned above simply because their insulation and cable geometry is not as advanced.
Hope that helps - Steve