Why does an audiophile grade power cord matter?

If you think it does not matter don't buy one!!

No doubt in my mind that a PC makes a difference. You must have good plugs too AND replace that cheap contractor grade outlet.

For your Memorial Day enjoyment.....

One day there will be a measurement that will explain why power cords "can" change the sound (theories have sprouted). It will come as a surprise and there will still be disbelievers.

Similar to the distortion spec race back in the 70's.....

Amps, back when, had 1% distortion. Now that's High Fidelity!!!!!
Better amps came along that had half that, then a tenth of a % and life was good. Of course an amp with 10 times less distortion is going to sound better. Right??? :-)

Then, with gobs of "negative feedback" (the circuit, not the reputation, smile), we now have amps with .005%. They are the best of course because they have a thousand times less distortion. :-)

But then life got confusing when tube amps made a comeback and sounded better (some think) yet had 100 times "more" distortion. WTF??? Then a Civil War broke out (well, not so civil) between the "spec" believers and the "ear" believers.

"But" (the pause, not the pa-donka-donk one) then a new measurement came along that showed us amounts of odd and even ordered distortion and, as it turns out, the dreaded "higher order" distortion.

It didn't end the war but a lot of middle ground was formed. We still have polar opposite extremists, I suppose to keep the force in balance (you don't mess with the force!). Like the icecaps, they seem to be shrinking in size though.

Open mind = nice.
Fertile mind = not so much.

I also have a 1U Furman Elite 15 I bought back in 2004 which all these pc's are plugged into.

My Bryston owner's manual says to plug the amp directly into the wall that one of these power filter/conditioners will not improve the sound?

Photonman,

I would tend to agree with Bryston about plugging your amp directly into the wall. Amps have some pretty good filtering already BUT there is always a chance that "your" electricity and/or environment may be so bad the it "could" benefit by being in the Furman. I really doubt it but you can't damage anything by trying both ways and see/hear what's best.

The Pangea 9 is a 7 gauge cable and very heavy. Make sure that both ends are not going to strain what they are plugged into.