What the heck is a power cord?


I mean I hate to be a dunce but have been around this site for an hour now and saw some for sale and saw them talked about in this forum but cannot tell exactly what they are. Are they the cord that goes from an amplifier to the 120v wall socket? If that is the case, does one open their unit and disconnect their old at the power terminals and connect these? Or are they in series? Help me out, with some plain english, thanks.
jimmymaclite
Jim, As long as your having fun with this hobby that's all that matters. I stand corrected on the receptacle please forgive me Haoleb I don't know what I was thinking:^)
Can you imagine that I had a same question before when I started to know and to listen to "High End" stuff until I really and seriously get involved. I was also not believing that AC power cords did not help any improvement of the sound but once you carefully listen to the musics you love you will be able to hear the changes. I would say all details including vocals, instruments and even the breath of a singer,etc... That is all my opinion to have upgrading the stereo or home theater systems with the power cords.
I was skeptical, too, then made dedicated lines AND DIY PCs (from Belden 83802), and am thrilled at the result. Another veil lifted, and increased low-level dynamics.
Those ACME outlets are a nice way to go too.
Have fun.
Jimmy -- I live in a very old, cheaply built house with wall outlets that can't hold onto a plug to save their lives. I replaced the one that the audio equipment is plugged into with a $7 Leviton outlet from Home Depot and the difference was startling. Not to mention that I no longer had to get up and shove the plug back in every time it fell out ;-).
Jim we also have an old farmhouse with old wiring (excepting that new dedicated audio AC line). We also have an old EE living there who would have never believed that signal cables affect sound, and in not-so-subtle ways either. This same guy would have never believed that changing an AC cord affects sound, not to mention changing the outlet. Hey I use to think that there should be no sonic differences between components either, but I've been in this hobby for a long time so I finally decided to experiment for myself & guess what *everything* matters. Even the type of wire carrying your AC source & even the saftey device (type of fuse or breaker) matters.
Now, just my cabling & accessories budget is more than my whole rig used to cost. I'm only relating this story because I used to not believe it either. Now when I make a change in the rig I intentionally don't tell "her" about it just to see what she'll notice, & how long it takes before she does (it's normally not very long either).