Power Cords: A Skeptic Looking to Dabble...

12-06-13: Mceljo
Jmcgrogan2 - In theory, if the goal of audio equipment is to reproduce the original signal as close to the original as is possible then it would be expected that as the various pieces of equipment get better and better the resulting sound should become more and more the same among different pieces of gear. A well designed pieces of gear where no expense was spared should have less room for improvement than a middle of the road piece of gear would.

Whatever dude, however your engineering, scientific mind wants to rationalize it. I just know through my experiences, that lower priced, less resolving gear has a more difficult time exposing differences in tweaks (cables, cords, etc.), than higher priced, higher resolution gear. As with all things in this hobby though, YMMV.

It sounds as if you are looking for reasons NOT to try a power cord. I would say by all means then, don't try them. If you like what you have now, don't tread any further. Just listen to the music and be happy. Many folks wish that they HADN'T heard differences. LOL! This hobby is MUCH cheaper if you do not hear differences, or better yet, you don't even attempt to hear differences. LOL!!

Mceljo - high-end components are able to reveal details that more modestly priced components are unable to.

Therefore, other posters are correct in their assertion that being able to hear the effect of "cable changes" is easier with hi-end gear - if you are listening for those details.

On a system that is unable to resolve this level of detail - you would have to listen for some other indicator of improvement.

However, even today's modestly priced systems are capable of revealing so much more detail if they are allowed to perform to their full potential - and this is where getting the right cables come into play

E.g. I have a Cambridge Audio 651p phono stage - cost $225
- it came with a wal-wart power supply
- it performed as good as it could - with that supply
- some people might upgrade to improve performance
- I built a power supply with quality cables and much better transformer
- the performance is now equivelent phono stages several times it price point and it reveals details never before heard.

However, it wasn't only the power supply & cables that allowed me to hear the improvements - it was everrthing else in the signal path
- interconnects, amp, speaker cables, connectors...

Even changing the RCA's on the interconnects allowed the micro details now being conveyed buy the phono stage to be heard.

So power cables are just one part of the puzzle

If you were to change a power cable and you didn't hear a change - it might not be the power cable - it might be the interconnect, or the speaker cable or one of the other components in the signal path

My first higher quality cable I installed was my speaker cable - at the time I didn't realize just how good it was - since that time I have replaced every component and every other cable in my system and each time the speaker cable has revealed the improvements of each of those changes

My cables and connectors have revealed details I did not know my system was capable of and I consider them the single best investment in my system - without them it would sound like - a stereo :-)

It's the hobby that just keeps on taking :-)

TLS49 - My interest in checking out power cords is too potentially improve the sound of my system, but the driving force that motivates me is curiosity to find out if I can actually hear a difference in my system rather than any unhappiness with the current sound.

Mceljo, then just get a power cord and see what happens. It may or may not make a difference. My point is that dedicated lines will definitely make a difference, and with dedicated lines, the power cord has a much greater probability to make a difference, and that difference itself to be greater.

As I said, good luck.