Power Cord for Power Conditioner

Lacee: I think perhaps that it would be more correct to say that it is beyond the realm of science available to the audio industry. Keep in mind that science costs money. If you have a couple million bucks and a climate controlled facility (few million more) you can measure several hundred channels of information down to the pico/femto level at many gigahertz. Problem is that this costs more than the small/medium guys can afford and the big players like Sony dont want to spend the money for such a limited use. Now that said these test machine vendors only spec the gauge of power cord (large, to handle 480 3-phase -most of them that is) and not the vendor or characteristics. Implies that either the cord does not matter or that the power systems are designed to make the cord not matter. The latter would explain much of the hear vs. not hear argument. Personally I'm open. I thought speaker cables were bunk until I tried one with a good recording. I thought usb cables were bunk until I got to try several on a really good system. Now I'm gonna keep my mouth shut because I dont know as much as I thought!

Paulsax - not only that science to measure does not exist but also that current science cannot be trusted. Amplifier, for instance, that has the best specifications most likely will sound the worst.

To answer the OP's question, I thought the same thing but in two instances using power cords from the same company as the power conditioner actually sounded worse than a cord from a diff manufacturer. I think there are other variables involved

In skimming the detailed arguments about power cords, I have not noticed anyone addressing the issue of the quality of the power line behind the electrical outlet. One might spend hundreds on a nifty power cable, but its merits may be moot if the AC feed in the wall is insufficient or degraded.

Having re-wired several photo studios and my own 99-year-old house, I can comfortably warn you folks that you MAY be wasting money on a limp piece of 6-foot cable, when you should be putting your dough into upgrading the line from the service panel to your listening area. I am not denying that some people can hear differences in cables: I'm simply suggesting there might be other ways to upgrade before you jump into wasting money on power cables.

For starters, upgrading the service panel itself may improve things. Beyond that, we are all at the mercy of our local power companies who control the size and quality of lines between the ultimate source - which might by miles away - and our buildings.

Numerous things can degrade the quality and integrity of power between the service panel and the listening room outlet: cable age, cable size, length of cable run, cable kinks, additional loads between the service panel and your listening room (anything with motors, such as wine coolers and dehumidifiers play havoc), proximity to aberrant and spurious radio frequency signals, even the quality of connectors within junction boxes and the grade of the outlet itself.

I've not even addressed the problem of hum-induced polarity amongst various components - but that's for another forum.

Only after you have looked into these issues and eliminated possible causes of power degradation should you begin to consider putting 10% of your equipment budget into a stupid power cable! Once you fix any problems mentioned, you might find a generic power cable works just fine, so long as its rating matches that of your conditioner and equipment.

Tarjin, No question, for those that are able to have over-rated dedicated lines installed that should always be the priority, before power distribution or after-market power cords are considered. Having two separate 20A dedicated lines is a great base-line because you increase current availability for the system from 15A or 20A to 40A and you can isolate high-current (amps) from low-current electronics on separate lines. Ground loop hum can be avoided by making sure each AC line is of equal distance going back to the panel (this avoids impedance to ground differential that causes hum). For those with dedicated lines, the benefits of decent power-ditribution and AC cords becomes even more noticeable than for those without. This can be explained.

Regardless of whether there are dedicated lines installed or not, whatever the available peak-current measurement is at your wall outlet, you will lose in the neighborhood of 50% of peak current and voltage going through a cheap 14,16 or 18 gauge power cord. There are several reasons for this. Primary among them are the way molded cords are terminated and their insufficient gauge.

Stock AC cords are not crimped or soldered at either end. The blades behind the AC pins in molded cords merely cut through the insulation and scarcely make contact with the wire. This is fine if you are powering a toaster or a light, but AV electronic power supplies pull power dynamically off the peak and trough of the wave-form. Contact integrity at the initial outward AC junctions of an amp for instance, is of paramount importance to preserving peak-current availability to the rectifiers. The longer the rectifiers stay open in order to fill storage caps, the greater potential for high-frequency noise contamination to the power supply (that part is educated theory).

AC delivery to AV gear is a dynamic, two-way process. Components don't sit at the end of a power hose. They represent the inception of an electrical interface. Therefore, near field contact integrity matters as much as contact points and over-rated AC mains downstream from the system.

Large amounts of money need not be spent to make power cord connections with electronics better. There are less expensive DIY options using good connectors and 12 gauge or better wire. There are also less expensive commercial power cords available that don't cost "hundreds of dollars" from any number of companies. This isn't to say that the only purpose of a better power cord is to improve peak-current transfer, but because stock cords are SO poor at this one aspect, it is a fundamental reason people report hearing improvements when using them.

None of this is meant to infer that after-market cords are more critical than dedicated lines; they are not. However, if you consider AC delivery from a "system" approach, power cords are the first outward link in your AC chain, not the last. Whatever sits behind your wall, whatever it might be, is what it is. Better to have a decent cord to the amp (at least) than to measurably lose 50% of whatever peak-current you have available at your outlet. By the way, that is also a reason to spend $25 on a Hubbel 5362 spec grade outlet than the el-cheapo hardware-store special. Huge difference in metal to metal contact area eliminates still more points of near-field resistance.

Hope that clears up more of the "mystery"

Regards,

Grant
Shunyata