Can You Expalin Why Power Cables Do This?

Blindjim, I appreciate you man! There are definitely sonic changes going on with the sound of my system after reinserting a power cord. I am equally sure that it's not just me as some here would imply. I know the sonics of my speakers way to well! IMO any variable that impacts the delivery or quality of the AC power to a component is going to affect the sonic presentation of the system.

How come the variability of the listener is never considered? Changes in hormone levels, sleep patterns, stress levels, diet, amount of physical activity (or lack of), illnesses, exposure to noise, emotional stability, blood pressure, recent sexual activity, etc. all could have as much effect on the sound of a high quality music reproduction system as the break-in phenomena with a power cord. But that would shift the focus away from the equipment onto the self. You can always buy another power cord, but it's a lot harder to "upgrade" your own self.

Onhwy61, you make valid points. I agree with you that it's very likely that there are human and physical variables affecting mine and others hearing at certain intervals in the listening experience. But each time I add in a power cord that was out of duty I hear it affect the system sound which does not stabilize for a time lasting generally more than a day or 2. This occurrence has been consistent. I have had over 20 aftermarket power cords at one time or another over the past 5 years.

Every wire acts like an antenna introducing emf/rfi, power cables through their shielding try to avoid this. Also I am sure antivibration is also important as everything that vibrates produces static.

I know it's difficult to accept for some people that power cables can't possibly have the impact on components that some people think they hear, but there's every indication that power cables, of sufficient gauge so as not to cause a voltage drop, are completely without an audible signature.

For any audio component, as soon as the electrical current reaches the power transformer it will be changed, altering the voltage level. (Mostly, up for tubes, down for transistors.) Then the 60hz AC is rectified to direct current (~0hz), and passed through one or more large capacitors, which have their own effects on the current. (One capacitor effect is that they act as little short-term batteries, so even if the rise-time of power cables varied a lot like that web page pointed to above implies - and they don't - the power filter capacitors would make up the difference on most amps.) At this point the current drives the output stage of some amplifier function, with gain factors that vary from 0db (for a line stage pre-amp) to ~30db (for a very powerful amplifier).

So what you folks that believe in audible differences are trying to tell us, is that specific audio consequences, such as frequency response differences or sound stage artifacts, can be designed into power cables, that have the current they carry so vastly changed before it affects the speakers in any way, and the only tools the cable manufacturers can use are variations in conductor material, strategies for winding the conductors, and the insulation material. To me, that is akin to saying you can build a computer from some baling wire, duct tape, and paper clips.

It just fails the believability test.