After Market Power Cables - Gold or Snake Oil?

If you have about a year of extra time, read through all the threads on A'gon. I think with everything, you need to have an open mind and experience for yourself. I do and am glad for it, my system thanks me everyday.

Matty

I agree, after market power cords have made a great improvement in my system. If you are skeptical, as you always should be, start off with some used low-cost cords here on Audiogon at about half retail. The sellers are ususally upgrading to more expensive cords anyway. You may be pleasantly surprised... and addicted!

Ncarv, I love the analogy you made to water/filtered water!
Good job.

Former PC Skeptic

A few months ago I bought a pair of VTL 300 deluxe mono block here on the gon. They came with 18 awg, computer type power cords. After using the amps for a while, I felt the PC’s and they were kinda warm. Not a good sign. Needing bigger PC’s I did the following.

I bought female Watt plugs from partsexpress.com. Then went to Home Depot and bought three sizes of CAROL Industrial power cord and Industrial Grade male plugs. The sizes were 16/3, 14/3 and 12/3. All the materials, including the Watt plugs cost around $100.00. Over a weekend I used each size cord for a few hours. There was an audible difference with each size. Power Cords do made a difference. I preferred the 14/3 cords.

Note: I have a dedicated 20 amp outlet.

A look at the archive will turn up the following two things:

1. The GREATEST benefits are obtained by running dedicated line to your audio equipment.

2. The benefits of after market power cords are much more readily apparent in systems with dedicated lines.