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The last 6 feet - is it important?

The question I've see many times on several forums is....

When you have 50 ft of Romex from the breaker panel to the outlet, why is the last 6ft of power cable important?

So I started looking at how some of the better performing power cables are constructed and one thing stood out - many of them had lots of individually insulated wires for each conductor.

When you construct something in that manner it normally increases the capacitance.

We know excessive capacitance is not the best thing to have in an Interconnect and in some cases in speaker cables because of the "stored energy"

But if a power cable could "store energy" then it would improve it's ability to satisfy transient demands.

So knowing Kimber cable uses multi strand conductors for their speaker cables resulting in a higher capacitance than many other brands - I decided to build a power cable out of Kimber 4PR.

The 4PR was used for the live and neutral conductors (approximately 10 gauge) and a plain old piece of multi strand copper wire was used for ground.

Each conductor had shrink sleeve added to compress the strands and add extra insulation and finished off with nylon cable sleeve. I braided the conductors to aid with RF rejection. Total cost with connectors $100 for a 5ft cable

I installed the cable on my DAC which had a Furutech FP-3TS762 20 amp 10 gauge cable with silver plated copper connectors.

It took about 5 minutes to appreciate the improvement - even before being burned in...
- vast improvement in image - deeper and wider
- much improved clarity
- much improved details
- much improved dynamics

Now I don't know for sure whether it's "Stored Energy" due to capacitance that's making the difference here. But the quality of the copper in both cables is very similar, the gauge is practically identical and the quality of the connectors are also very similar.

All I know is what I am hearing is much nicer than with the Furutech cable.

Now before you start slamming the Furutech cable - the DAC is plugged into a DIY power distribution box and the cable connecting that to the outlet is the very same Furutech 10 gauge cable.

Now I've see some manufacturer of power cables mention that they recommend a minimum of 5-6ft of cable be used for best results - increasing the length would increase the cable's capacitance, improving it's ability to store energy and provide better performance. Or is it just to get you to spend more

SO - does anyone else have an alternate theory as to why the last six feet is important?

Would like to hear an explanation :-)
williewonka
williewonka OP
3,082 posts
 
Samac - You remind me of me :-)

Never realised how much difference power cables actually made - then voila!

It really is an epipheny isn't it !

:-)
samac's avatar
samac
499 posts
 
I've wanted to try upgraded power cords but for years I had captive power cords on my equipment. With the integrated I have now I was able to try different cords.

I put a 14g shielded Belden on and it was such a profound improvement a couple of weeks later a added the Stratus.

Yes, it was an exciting discovery.:-) Makes me wonder why manufactures don't offer or suggest upgraded power cords more often. It makes such a difference. I believe Rega recently started offering one.

If you try a WW PC please keep me posted. I wont be swapping any PCs and I'd like to get your take on comparisons. Thanks.

Cheers,

Scott
williewonka OP
3,082 posts
 
UPDATE: Since making the 4TC power cord mentioned above, I have been
looking at some other designs on the market and those which appear to
work very well use a braided design.

I had tried Braided romex in the past and it worked quite well, but it was
very stiff, so I figured I'd try a more flexible cable.

I went to Lowe's (the hardware store) and purchased a 25ft 12 gauge
extension cord - nothing fancy - cost $35. I then cut off about 6 ft and
striped the outer sheathing from the cable to leave me with the three
conductors.

Using a simple braiding technique I make up the power cable and attached
some crimped spades and some fairly affordable IEC/mains connectors
($20 for the two)

Total Cost for a 5-6 ft cable about $35

What happened next left me gob-smacked - it performed almost as well as
the 4TC braided power cable - which is made from superior copper and has
much better connectors.

Since the Furutech power cable I have has very good quality copper
conductors I performed the same process - removing the sheathing and
shielding - leaving me with the three conductors. Again I applied the
crimped spade and IEC connectors to the braided cable.

The result was again quite astonishing - it performed better than the more
expensive Kimber 4TC power cable, with better control across the board
and a deeper image.

So if you are thinking of upgrading your power cords but don't want to
spend megabucks - try the inexpensive braided version made from a 12
gauge power cable - it really is very good

If you want something between the cheapie and the Furutech, then try the
Power Plus power cable from DH Labs and braid as above. It shou.d
perform very close to the Furutech for about 1/3 the cost

Regards

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