audiphile power cords

Hi Audiolabyrinth

It depends on your tube amplifier you want to try the tube rolling or power cord swapping with. I have a Jolida JD-502P tube amplifier and when I spoke to Jolida they told me the change that made the most difference sound wise was rolling with 12AX7 tubes. A buddy of mine who has a different amplifier found power tube rolling and a power cord change improved the sound in his system. I say call the maker of your tube amp to see and then experiment on your own.

@ Tls49, Interesting, I used the Gauge caculator link you provided, Thankyou for that, As it turns out, My power cord uses 60 runs of 10AWG, The Caculator says my power cord is 1 AWG!!!, Awsome!

If a simple power cords can improve the quality of sound to the extent that it warrants its exorbitant price tag, why would you not (as a designer and seller of amplifiers) sell your amplifier straight out of the box with such a power cord.

The problem is that there is a very good chance that the power cord will be dumped in favor of another. This is why we have always had IEC connections on our products, so it is possible to audition power cords. FWIW, on our MA-2 we actually have 2 separate AC circuits, using 2 power cords. This was done to minimize the effects of the AC wiring both inside and outside the amplifier. That feature was designed into the amp in 1990.

The power cord is never being used as a filter BTW. I can only describe that idea as mythology.

Regarding the readings that Shunyata had in that article, I think it would be very interesting to test some common cords on there, like certain models of Belden. I think that heavy gauge is usually a good place to start- install some decent connectors and you are usually well on your way. However if you think about it, just doing that and selling it at a normal markup will result in a power cord that costs at least $150.00- maybe more like $200...

The problem is that there is a very good chance that the power cord will be dumped in favor of another.

Wow, I really did not expect that as a response. In that case why supply a power cord at all with the amp? Speaker don’t come with speaker cables. Heck, why supply tubes, those will most likely be dumped too.

Regarding the mark up, I did some research and in general I would agree, it would be difficult put together a cable for less than $100. However, there are medical grade power cords available for about 20 to 25$ from brands such as Volex or Qualtek. However, they are only available in 14AWG to 18AWG with 15amp IEC connectors. 12AWG comes with 20amp connector. So for most audio components to you would be stuck with 14AWG. So it would appear that cables such as the Venom 3 probably do over a good value.