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Power Cords - Shielding or No Shielding

I have been researching power cords (PC) this past week and I must say, I find this far more frustrating than researching any other part of the audio system.

It may be a false hope, but I desire to purchase a "generic", if you will, PC that works well everywhere, I can't say now what piece of gear it will be on and even if I did, that piece may change at some point. I suspect some will say that just like other gear plan on changing as necessary; I am hoping not to do so. Anyway, I am getting off topic.

Most PC's I read about have shielding, but Audience claims on their Web site that they do not use any on their PowerChord stating, "The powerChord by audience is not shielded. We have found that shielding power cords can be sonically detrimental." More can be read here.

What is the collective thought on this?

As if the cost of interconnects and speaker cables weren't out of control (IMO), PC's are right there with them. I have already doubled the price I started out to spend and it's going up!
brianmgrarcom
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Ernie, you may want to change your moniker to subaruandcableguru. A question, I have picked up some large gauge OCC power cord, about 35 feet of it. Along with 4 OCC IEC plugs.

Is there anything you recommend me wrapping the outside of this cable with, for shielding purposes or otherwise? I have noticed that when playing with some Lowther drivers, I am picking up some noise, but haven't spent enough time with it to be sure where. My goal is to make sure that the power cords are not adding any noise to my system. They will potentially be used anywhere in the system, for digital, preamp, or power amp.

Also, I have some brass plated hospital grade AC mains plugs, but they don't look to be up to the same level as the other two components, which plug do you recommend, if you would be so kind?

Thanks so much,
Joe
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
If you have an old house with BX wire, your power is shielded, up to the wall plug. Maybe people who like shielded power cords ought to use BX instead of Romex wire when they install dedicated lines.
subaruguru
1,375 posts
 
Eldartford, it's nice if the shielding is NON-MAGNETIC, though...I really like the Belden 83803 over ANY BX....
Hi Joe! If you send me a foot or so of it I can better comment. RSVP personally. Re Plugs my favorite cost-effective plug is the all-black industrial Leviton that I use in my PC Kits. Its "open air" architecture has lower dielectric involvement than 52/366 or 82/315 types, and said access to BOTH sides of each terminal's screw-clamp head means you can torque down multiple leads evenly instead of squishing all the copper down on one side of the screw-heads. Truly a fine plug. OTOH I use a Hubbell 5266 and Hubbell Hospital 8315 true 20a for those who like the traditional black & white look and/or want the cache or are spec'ing a 20a IEC for a Krell or something. Cheers. Ern
dvvilkins
10 posts
 

How would I know if my power cable is shielded or not? It’s the stock one that came from McIntosh with my MA6900.

Just tryin’ to keep this thread alive for another decade...

dvvilkins
10 posts
 

Just received a response back from McIntosh that the MA6900 power cable is unshielded. In their words, "A well designed power supply will not get noise induced into the power cord..."

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