What size power cable?


How “big” does a power cable need to be for upstream components?  I get that amps can benefit from a large cable to carry plenty of current, e.g. 8-11 awg.  Although my preamp and phono preamp have robust power supplies, they can’t possibly benefit from such capacity, can they?  Extreme overkill is the norm in hi end, but is there any benefit to more than 12 or 14 awg on a preamp or phono preamp?  Much less digital components.

128x128lloydc

Most of the posts are listing to use heavy gage wires. 

The wires from your circuit breaker to your outlet are most likely Romex 14-2.

These are solid copper. 

We use stranded power cords because they are flexible,  not because they are better. 

 

Your amplifier will only momentarily require high power at real high sound passages.  You most likely have 100,000Mf of storage inside of your amplifier to handle these. 

 

 

@williewonka 

It’s not really the gauge that dictates how well a power cables performs on any specific components, but the type of copper, the gauge and type of the wire, the insulation and the cable geometry.

^^^This. You must demo cables. A large gauge cable will not necessarily sound better than a smaller gauge cable on an amp or DAC or anything, the reverse of course applies too.

Thanks for the responses.  

I made a cable using Furutech's DPS 4.1 (11 awg) and plugs, and it sounds very nice. It's hard to imagine how much better a power cable could be, but I'll never be in the market for anything like a Nordost Odin 2, Shunyata Omega.   Not quite as easy to make as in the instructional video, there was a learning curve (and some tools to buy; the crimper took some practice; and a Hagerman FryBaby), but I eventually got it perfect (with do-overs, it came out a few inches shorter than planned.)