Are upgraded power cables for subwoofers worth it?


I recently have been filling in all of the holes in my secondary system.  Recently picked up a shunyata power conditioner, upgraded speaker cables, and power cable for my amplifier.

My question is, is it worth running higher end audiophile power cables with subwoofers, considering distortion is not as apparent to the human ear in the sub bass range?  I use a high end receiver for my DAC in this system with a normal power cable as well.  Would I get better performance increase from upgrading sub cables or my DAC(receiver w pre outs) power cable?

Any specific suggestions for sub power cables, or DAC power cables that are inexpensive (sub 200 or even $100)

Thanks for your time!

128x128jrareform

My speakers have powered woofers and I use a pair of Shunyata power cords into a Shunyata Hydra 4 plugged into a dedicated Shunyata wall outlet. Not sure if there is that great a difference but I had all of these things hanging around so why not use it?  When I asked Sandy Gross about it he said that if he already had those cables and PC at home, he would definitely use them on the speakers.  

@sns I’m well acquainted with placebo effect, been around the block a time or two over the decades....How one can conclude PC don’t affect dynamics which I could also define as current delivery, just as it does with pre’s, amps, sources is illogical to my way of thinking. I suppose some just aren’t as sensitive to these things as others.

I wasn’t suggesting you didn’t know about the placebo effect! lol. As you mention, a lot of factors are at work bringing your subs together (your special design PC, a 20 amp 10 AWG circuit, placement, crossover settings, high-level REL connectors.) I will take you at your word that the PC’s you’ve designed are playing a significant role among those ingredients. (In other words, if you swapped them out with all those other things in place, the quality would suffer.)

In my case, after doing a bunch of work, I have not had any persistent problems with placement, crossover settings, or other things. My subs, with all those pieces in place, are seamlessly integrated and tight. They measure well. When I experimented with power cords, there was no improvement. So, for me, the argument of "no difference" from a PC is based on personal experience, plus REL saying there’s no reason they can see for it to make a difference in theory nor in their trials.

P.S. I just want to add that, of course, in all cases the cord has to be large enough to meet the current demands of the device, and that a sub will tend to draw more current. That's why, to my understanding a 12ga cord makes sense. A 10ga can be used, but with a 20 amp circuit, the wall wire is 12ga. Still, 10ga won't hurt though it will cost more.

I have a Martin Logan BalancedForce 210 which has a 850-watt class-D switching amplifier. I was feeding it with a power cable from Signal Cable, when I read a reviewer on PosFeed dicuss what an improvement an aftermarket power cable made to his sub, in the bass, but also in the midrange.  I value good midrange and have ML CLXs, which are pretty revealing.  So I bought a Sunyata Alpha NR for the sub (I have multiple Alphas and Sigmas in my system).  Shockingly, it had a dramatic effect on cleaning up my midrange, and the impact on the bass was positive, but not to the same extent.  I hypothesize that this is happening from the NR power cord suppressing any "back flow" of switching noise from the class-D sub amp from getting back into my system's "grid" and hence the other components.  But, who knows?  I just know that I would not go back.

Then I decided to upgrade my cables from my ARC REFSE to the sub from average grade to sub specific (and balanced).  I was shocked again ... they hardly made a difference.  Not sure they made any improvement.

I am a n of 1, but that's my data point ...

-docknow

 

I have three dedicated line, all are 10AWG wiring from same phase on 20amp breakers to AC outlets, never want any possibility of current limitations on any of the dedicated outlets. Power conditioner with any number of components connected on one circuit may draw much current. Amp/subs on their own dedicated circuit, no power conditioning, amps, subs on same circuit so no chance for ground loops. I've tried many power conditioners with any number of amps via lending library at Cablecompany, every one of them impacted transients to some degree, even with outlets dedicated for amps, while these may bypass some of the pathway of other outlets, they still pass through who knows what. Its my experience amps/subs like direct connection to breakers, I can just imagine 10AWG direct wired  no power cords, fuse, IEC, AC outlets.

@billstevenson - my system is also transparent high quality so am considering REL. Thanks for the tip.