The best powercable for power amps?

Sd2005gt, here is what I posted on another thread:

I use a variety of PCs based on their cost/performance attributes in certain locations in my system. The three products I'm using are:

Aural Thrills (3) Silver Big One for it's high energy transfer (10 AWG conductor size) but where I'm not terribly concerned about it picking up RFI, or broadcasting it (I wouldn't use it with digital gear for instance, because it's not shielded.) In my system, it is used to power two Martin Logan CLS IIz electrostats and a Martin Logan Depth subwoofer. These are applications that call for quick power response (energy transfer) but would not benefit from certain fancier attributes such as shielding and/or mechanical shock resistance.

Audio Metallurgy (3) Gold 9 14 AWG gold alloy cord which I use to power two Mark Levinson outboard power supplies for phono preamp and preamp. The power supplies basically require minimal current so the smaller conductors are OK. A third cord powers the TT, tuner, and cassette deck. They are not shielded. Main advantage is stable and faithful current delivery (gold alloy) with equipment that is on 24/7. As with all cords for my source equipment, the power comes from a balanced power unit, so shielding is not really necessary since any noise would be self cancelling.

Purist Audio Design Venustas on my CDT and DAC. !O AWG shielded. DACs and CDPs or CDTs seem to benefit from cords that have big conductors. Nobody has explained why -- they're not high current devices. Shielding is always necessary with any kind of digital equipment (even using balanced power) to keep the equipment from broadcasting RFI into the air, It's also good to have the digital equipment plugged into a filtered outlet on your power conditioner, or if you're not using one, than a separate wall circuit to prevent digital hash from getting into other equipment thru the AC supply.

Purist Audio Design Dominus for main amp. Best energy transfer, best shielding and mechanical shock resistance, most expensive. Allows the amp to be all it can be. And I use a second one for the Exactpower regenerator.

Sd2005gt.
I have a 2 piece system .As Simple as you can get. AA Capitole MKII cdp and AA 'Trans Trac' 40 watt Tube amp that uses transistors in tandem with EL34 power tubes.Draws a fair bit of current.Seems to produce more than the 40 watts it advertises.About 75% of my A'gon Transactions have been power cords and I was looking for the "One cord to rule them all".So far anyways It'll stay a long while.
Peter

It seems Peter and I have reached that point of contentment that I think we all hope to reach with our systems (or at least as regards our power cords ;~)) And like me, Peter has apparently tried quite a few. The fact that we have both settled on the same one though, doesn't mean it's "the best on earth" or even that we both made our decisions for the same reason(s).

What our stories and comments (and those of many others) should tell you is this: The ones with which you are likely to find an "endpoint" product so to speak, come from a very, very short list. Maybe half a dozen. And the reason they're on that list has to do (mostly) with their designs, including topology (conductor number and layout) materials (dielectrics and metals) and construction techniques (especially how the conductors are connected to the hardware.) And those designs allow all of them to meet the same group of performance criteria -- also about a half dozen things. How they each do that (electrically/mechanically) is pretty much the same (believe it or not) though they may look somewhat different physically (I'm thinking right now of the Virtual Dynamics 3-cord monster ;~)) and though they may each tout different qualities in their advertising claims in their effort to set themselves apart.

So, do your "due diligence" (a fancy term for "research') and make your own short list of cords to try. Here are a few points to help you do that (it might take a little while too, because it's a bit like following stock prices):

1.) Watch for the brands (and models) which seem to flood the used market vs. the ones you only see listed occasionally (and always at 50% or more of their new prices ;~))

2.) Limit your choices to 10 AWG cords (check w/ mfr. if necessary,) for all applications but preamps, TT, tuners etc.

3.) Limit your choices (for most applications, see my previous post) to cords w/ some way of dealing w/ RFI and EMI. (I prefer a floating shield design, but there are other effective techniques like active shielding and exterior counter spiral wires, or woven/braided conductors.)

4.) Make sure the cord provides for some degree of mechanical shock resistance (usually means it's gonna be fat!)

And most important, before you start messin' around, make sure the rest of your system is performing optimally. Because you CAN hear the differences in ICs and speaker cables while still using all stock PCs. But you'll NOT hear obvious differences (and they're there!) between PCs if the rest of your cabling is sub par.

Nsgarch,
Perfectly put.

Hey: I'll chime in on the powercord issue. Marigo Ultra 4 cords in "K" or "T" tuning types. Tonally, fundamentally, musically, the best I've heard-and they really piss-me-off cause they should not whomp the Shunyata King Cobras V2's I use (but they do!). Anyone, and I mean anyone whom is auditioning super-HI-end power cords should audition these in their system.