Power cord? Why?


I see a lot of posts regarding power cords. I would like to know what sonic difference they actually make. Could anybody explain this in a simple way?

Thank you
cfmartind362
Eldartford: Forget about buying parts, doing the assembly, twisting the wires, etc... There are PLENTY of mass produced cables like this on the market that you can buy for a few bucks.

Hbarrel: Glad to hear that you've got good power where you are at. You must be one of the few in the country.

My business is located in a small rural town. Until i called the local electric company and kept raising hell with them, i was experiencing severe voltage sag, massive amounts of distortion, etc... While the AC was never "good", it had continued to get worse and had finally reached a point that i was beginning to have major problems. Since i have test equipment hooked up and pay attention to the AC and how the equipment runs, i was the first to notice the problems in the area. When i talked to the other tenants in the building, they said that they were not having any noticeable problems.

Within a week, several computers went belly-up in other businesses and other problems started developing. After a half dozen more phone calls to the power company from me and other tenants beginning to call, the utility company came out and re-examined the system again. As it turns out, the pole transformer was VERY old and was not up to spec. That probably explained the voltage swings from 118 volts down to 104 - 106 in the middle of the day. Once they changed the transformer, voltage hovers at about 120 - 122 and is rock solid. There is still distortion of the 59.9 Hz sine wave, but it is FAR superior to what i was getting before.

At my house, which is inside of a highly populated City, my voltage stays pretty steady at about 123 volts. If it is REALLY hot out in the summer with every air conditioner in the city turned on, i'm down to about 118 volts or so. Regardless of the fact that we have a steady supply of power, the 59.9 Hz sine wave is always distorted. While this does clean up quite noticeably at appr 1 - 2 AM, it is still not as clean as one would think.

For the record Hbarrel, you should try looking at your AC line with a spectrum analyzer. I'm near certain it isn't as "clean" as you think it is.

As to your comments about AC cords, i've already stated that much of what these filters / line conditioners / power cords are doing is nothing more than band-aiding poorly designed gear. Nothing more, nothing less. Sean
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sean....Aw shucks. I am just beginning to get interested in this PC thing. Since the original Kenwood PC are so "crummy" I won't be wasting my time replacing them, and I will do it with multiconductor configuration that you suggest. I checked out listings for power cords, (I need 2) and it seems that your idea of a few bucks is different from mine.

If I can figure out how to send you an attachment (test plan with diagrams) with EMail I will doi it.

Thanks for your constructive comments.
Eldartford - you can buy hookup wire at: alliedelec.com

Copper quality matters, whether it's power IC's or speaker cables.
Iasi - I have had the Innersound ESL amp in my system for a couple of weeks. I know the design of this amp (by Coda Technologies) - no negative global feedback, strictly class A/B and lots of protection fuses etc.. - however, you have to be careful about removing IC's before it's fully discharged. My power cords definitely made a difference with this amp. Maybe you have not tried the right power cord yet.
Hbarrel - I will not be driving from Oregon to Akron, sorry. BTW - Power cord effectiveness has little to do with how clean the power is.... See my FAQ page at:
http://www.empiricalaudio.com