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Power Cords

I am considering changing out my stock PCs. I don't want to spend a mint on them though. But I do think that upgrading to an adequate guage and having them in the correct lengths should be an upgrade for my system (MA 6500, Hydra 6, ML Vantages, Marantz BD 7003, Vidikron VL-52, and to come a Cambridge 840C).

I am considering Signal Cables, Zebra Cables, Pangea, PS Audio Jewels, and Element Cables. They are all around $50-$60 each and are within my price range. Also, I am considering just buying some Volex 17604s. They are less than $10 a piece and seem to be highly regarded.

Have any of you used these diffent PCs and can you comment on their sound? I've also thought of Shunyata Diamondbacks. But the cost is at least 2X as much.

Any comments or direction are appreciated.
pokey77
mintzar
65 posts
 
There are some chinese pieces of gear that are really nice. For the amp I built I use pure copper unplated binding posts that I sourced from china.

Really the only way to tell if something is a knockoff is to open it up. Or you can always ask where the guy purchased it!

I used the PS-audio stuff, it was decent, but fairly colored like most of the PSA stuff.
slaw's avatar
slaw
22,096 posts
 
I use a Grover Huffman PC on my EAR 834P and it opened up in 3-D bigtime. I've order two more PC, set speakers cables and phono interconnects (those were another one of those WOW! moments I had recently.
roblanger
117 posts
 
I can't offer much in the way of power cord recommendations, but I swapped the stock PC on my 840C with a VH Audio Flavor 1 and have had good results.
rhassle
6 posts
 
A big part of the benefit of replacing your stock power cords, aside from the larger gauge that you usually get, is the better shielding. cheap power cords spew out tons of 60 cycle garbage into your other cables. Just buy a cheap power sniffer and you will easily see this. Even nice fat stock power cords sometimes have terrible shielding. Sometimes thinner cables have better.

PS Audio has great shielding in their cables and their attention to the details that matter, connectors..., is obvious. Even the Jewels benefit from these improvements.

Cleaning up my cable routing and getting better (non-leaky_ power cords made a profound improvement in my system's sound.
hifisoundguy
630 posts
 
If you want better shielding just tightly wrap three coatings of teflon tape around the whole power cable you have now!
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