Sheilded/Unsheilded Power Cords

No technical reason to shield power cords or speaker cables. These are low-impedance output drivers, so crosstalk is not really a concern. The only advantage might be if you wnat to run power cords side-by-side with unshielded interconnects. Then the power cord may crosstalk to the interconnects. This is fairly easy to avoid with minimal spacing however. Shielding just adds unwanted capacitance.

I might be over taking too simple of an approach here, but I took one of the little pen things that detect current/voltage(hot leads) and went around my system with the supplied(careful wording here...) and it went nuts.

With my DIY adventure, the pen no longer goes off, as much. It is pretty hard to shield a tv....:)

I think I was thinking of a more "global" approach, basically reducing the junk jumping into the RCA ic's.

I am not wanting to start a gripe thread... But I have no choice but to use single ended ic's on some equipment. Simaudio Stellar to the Simaudio Attraction can only be hooked up in one of two ways... Digital coax or RCA's. No balanced inputs on the Attraction.

The field an unshielded pc give off seems to be large, at least 12 inches.

Thanks all
Marty

Hi Marty: Good question! As with IC's there is a division regarding the necessity of sheilding and to what degree/method of sheilding is best. As always, ensure that all cords are FULLY burned-in. Even when fully settled (burned-in), when the cord (IC, speaker wire, PC --any cord) is physically moved, I would give it 1/2 hour to re-settle, so-to-speak. It may sound strange, but listening sessions over many years confirms/supports these recommendations. I wish I could state firmly what the best approach is, but it's difficult (at times)to confirm a particular manufacturer's design/sheilding and therefor deduce what exactly makes one PC sound better/or different than another. The desired PC (like all other components) is simply a matter of taste and what characteristic(s) one desires most.
As IC's, PC's do contribute significantly to a component's performance capability. Give a few a listen (bearing in mind the above caveats)and you'll discover one that suits your tastes and defintion of a marked improvement.

peter jasz

Marty, your "DIY research" has exposed more "truths" than many manufacturers / engineers will ever come to realize in a lifetime. The reason for this is that you can't find the "hands-on" results that you experienced first hand in a text book sitting at a desk or bench. This is NOT a poke at Steve aka Audioengr but a generic comment. I hope that he understands this and does not take it personally. I know that Steve is working very hard to do the best he can and does so with both hands-on testing and using very high grade test equipment. Quite honestly, i know first-hand that Steve has more advanced test equipment than most of the other cable manufacturers out there and knows how to use it. I am not endorsing his products as i have never used them, but i don't doubt that they perform well based on REAL scientific research and listening tests. Sean
>

David Blair at Custom Power Cord Co. in Skokie IL uses heavy liberal shielding for all of his AC cords with great results; evidence that this can in fact be done to good effect when properly engineered.
Now take another look at shielding from a somewhat radical perspective: specifically, the Synergistic Research "active shielding" approach. The applied DC voltage potential on their cable shields (which are out of the signal path) is said to saturate the insulation dielectric such that it won't leach electrons from the signal carrying conductors. I admit to healthy skepticism when I first read about this unique shielding system, & was still rather doubtful regarding its benefits when I first auditioned it with some decidedly mid-fi componentry. Yes I heard an improvement with the active shielding power supply energized, but not enough difference was perceived to justify the expense.
Later on, after significantly upgrading my rig to better quality components, I decided to incorporate the active shielding system. Now I could really hear a significant difference between the active shielding vs. passive shielding; this system really does work. Proof that this effect is not just psycho-acoustic came to me a few months later, when the rig was shut down during a storm. Wife had powered the system back on the following day, but had neglected to turn on the shielding power supply (they call it a Master Control Center - but it really doesn't control anything). I came home from work & even casual listening revealed a deficiency, but I couldn't quite quantify the actual problem. Bass was lacking, dynamics were softened, highs just weren't what they should be, staging was constricted. I suspected the disc that she was playing, until other more familiar material didn't measure up either. Sitting in the living room, I was gazing at the rack & then realized that the tiny blue LED AC power indicator for Master Control Center was not turned on. Turned on the power switch & everything fell right back into place. That's proof enough for me; I'm not "imagining" these effects.
Synergistic has since incorporated active shielding into their AC cords & even speaker cables. Currently, only my Synergistic interconnects have the active shielding, but I now plan to retrofit my AC cords. I don't use their speaker cable so I can't really comment on that; however I remain convinced.