Power cords - a BASIC question

There's an orthodoxy in the Forum that power cords are important. This is misleading for it implies that upgraded power cords are important for all systems. Power cords can make a sonic and musical difference in high resolution systems, however, unless your system is well optimized regarding the basics of sound reproduction, then power cords should be down towards the bottom of your upgrade plans. Simply put, there are more effective ways to improve a mid-level system than power cords. My problem is not whether power cords "work", but with their pricing. Cabling, whether power cord, speaker or interconnects at the high end are ridiculously priced. Just an opinion.

It can work both ways. I have auditioned power cords that actually degraded the sound of my system. I have an SET based system that is at the bottem of the of the price range when compared to most of the other posters systems at this forum. On my SET amplifier alone power cords (so far) have made very little difference as to the sound of the system. But, on the front end components and also on a spare amplifier that I also use they make a world of difference (not always good). Like any other component I would suggest that you try ones in your price range and see if you like them. I purchase power cords used at this site and then resell them if they do not work out. I have also tried some new with a 30 day return policy as well and it just ended up costing me shipping both ways. Right now I have two new power cords on order that are a bit expensive for my budget and that I have not auditioned. I have however discussed the cords in depth with other users that also have similar systems to my own. These are users that have also had similar experiences with mutualy owned/auditioned (we have both tried it) cable in their systems. These discussions for the most part were coducted outside of the forums, but some of the information that I required came from the forums as well. In other words, you came to the right place. There are quality cords that may make a difference to you available for as little as $60 new. Most of the stock cords that I received with my equipment (namely a CAL player and a Bel Canto DAC) are not even as good as the one that was supplied with our computer), yes, I A/B'd them. I have a Stealth HAC power cord that is too bright for me when used on my digital equipment, but that sounds great on my solid state amp and a Harmonic Tech cord that is just the opposite. You really have to try them and see for yourself.

Lieber Fritz,
Das sind alles gute Ratschlaege oben. I also would say to invest your money first say in good speakers. PCs, as Brulee has rightly pointed out, can make a tremendous difference and if you want to experiment, I suggest you try your preamp and/or your CD player first. Try the used market. I am sure you are familiar with wwww.highendmarkt.de, which carry lots of cables at fair prices. One caveat though, as has been rightly pointed out above, it needs a really high resolution system to hear the differences (good or bad) which PC's can make. Viel Glueck!

While I would agree that power cords seem ridiculously expensive for what you get, I would also suggest that you don't really need to have a megabuck system to get a major improvement out of power cords. I've purchased used/demo cords throught this site in the $200 range that have really changed the character of my system for the better and I'm not really using super high end equipment. I use a cord that I'm extremely happy with on both my Audiolab 8000A (purchased 12 years ago for about $275 U.S.) with phenomenal results and the same cord on a budget, very non-audiophile DVD player (I had an Arcam Alpha 8SE which I sold because I felt the DVD player to actually sound better) with excellent results. I also experimented with a number of less expensive cords and always felt that something was not right. You can also buy just one cord at a time for about $200 and it's pretty difficult to upgrade a major component for that kind of money. I guess my point is that, IMO, power cords are a very effective upgrade if chosen carefully, even with decent budget equipment.