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Power cords: does length matter?

This is a serious question, however if you don’t believe that anything about power cords matter, and you feel the need to make a joke out of the question, feel free.

Anyway: I have noted that all the stock power cords that have been provided by the manufacturers for my equipment are about six feet long. After looking at various aftermarket power cords on the internet, I note that they can be ordered in various lengths from one meter on up.

I would think that the shortest possible power cord in any given application would be desirable (meaning one meter if it would work), but I find that a lot of notions I had about things like this are often wrong (such as what I very recently posted on misc about manually tripping breakers to protect components). So am I also mistaken about selecting lengths of power cords?

TIA for any and all legitimate consideration and answers to this question, and to all others, enjoy the laughs.

immatthewj
lanx0003
935 posts
 

So, basically, dealer (Nordost) said "2m works the best for it to really filter." As much as I like the optimal design, I just think whoever states the "fact" he think it is also bears the burden of proof.

I really do not want to get into the "both cords must be same length for time alignment" statement he also made subsequently. Not even worth the time to comment.

ghdprentice
7,363 posts
 

Absolutely. Two meters is preferred. I experimented with an Audio Quest Hurricane one meter and two meter power cord on my Audio Research Reference 160s. The two meter power cord provided much better sound, doing more of what the one meter did. The rule of thumb is all cords should be two meter.

 

When I brought this observation up to my dealer, he said, “Yep, longer length, more power conditioning.”

ghdprentice
7,363 posts
 

@tattooedtrackman 

 

So, did you have two 1m and two 2m power cords and compare them? Because I can’t imagine anyone would be able to tell the difference between a blended soundstage and different length cords. But I have no doubt the difference would be very obvious on your system between two 1m Dragons and two 2m Dragons.

lanx0003
935 posts
 

And people do not find the sound difference bet. 1m and 2m pc is simply because their system is not revealing enough, right?  Learn something new every day!

The proof I would like to see if how much difference in noise filtering capability can actually be measured due to that 1 m difference. 

jlbkmb1958
28 posts
 

Seems like just adjusting the tube bias based on whatever voltage you end up with is the easy answer. The line power goes through an input transformer and a rectifier before it’s actually used. I assume solid state amps do something analogous?

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