Things that work are found from multiple providers and endorsed by prominent audio manufacturers and recording engineers - like aftermarket power cords.
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What crazy "pseudo-science" tweak did you feel actually works?
- Thread starter MannyE
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Justin Credible
All of them!
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Here's the thing with power cords. While on average, they are exorbitant in price, and VNTC shielded tray cable is around a $1/ft, and high quality NEMA 5/C13 connectors for less than $25, having said that, to think that the receptacle you just plugged it into, all the way back to the service entrance is also shielded, in general home construction is not the case. The very purpose of using the shielding (to stop ingress of EMI/RFI) is wasted. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying shielding in high noise environments, like commercial locations can be, isn't a good thing, it's just that typical home construction isn't geared like that, and doesn't experience that type of noise. Commercial locations, by code, have power in conduit to the panel. Now if you filter the noise out, and then used shielding from that point to the end device, that I could see as useful. But most home locations don't experience high noise from RFI, and induced EMI from noisy devices in your home cannot be removed by shielding. It's on the conductor already from the panel, and is not ingress.
Point being, diminishing returns in money invested in cables should have been better spent in proper noise filtering.
My home wiring uses standard Romex which is most certainly not shielded. Unless you think the cardboard liner serves that purpose.
Sorry, this statement is as uninformed as your last.
That's the problem with speculation. You don't even understand the problem to be solved. The villains are in the system itself including the power amp with which I use the cords!
I begin with dedicated 20A lines which is a good first step. But not the last.
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Thinking on what you said, I'm not sure it works that way. Not being an electronics guy but am a licensed electrician, there is something in that trade called voltage drop and it is accumulative over distance as well as size (cross sectional area) of wire. So with that, a relatively small segment of undersized wire won't have much of an impact providing the majority of the wire run is sized correctly for the length. I think the theory holds for speaker wire as well.
Line loss calculation
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Perhaps it does when configured the way he describes.
My cables use large spade lugs and are plated with rhodium. After fifteen years of use, they exhibit zero oxidation. I clean my cables and connectors with Deoxit at least annually and never get any crud from them.
I'm not sure what you are saying, outside of reinforcing what I just said, most home construction is not shielded. And shielding the last meter or so doesn't do anything for you. In commercial locations, the line is shielded by conduit from the panel to the receptacle.My home wiring uses standard Romex which is most certainly not shielded. Unless you think the cardboard liner serves that purpose.
No, obviously you don't seem to have an understanding. As an FCC licensed operator, I understand with great clarity the effects of RFI and EMI, especially those Part 15 devices that do create noise, even in the home environment. Shielded cables cannot negate or remove noise already on the conductor, and that is transmitted by devices in your, and your neighbors home that is transmitted through your service entrance up to and until it is filtered out, and power cables with shielding, either copper, aluminum or Z foil has no effect on that noise.
Dedicated service to the amp or rack still doesn't address the issue, it just prevents voltage sag due to other devices on that given branch. Filtering at the amp rack or amp does. Good luck.
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Indeed. I misunderstood your comments. That's why shielding is needed.
Perhaps on paper, but not in the real world.
Yes, that's why I said that was a good first step. Provide sufficient current to feed their 16A needs and isolate the AC from anything else.
Yes. That's what the Harmonic Technology and JPS Labs cords do - both actively and passively. More uninformed speculation. I do run sources through a conditioner where current delivery is unimportant.
As for me, I find empirical results more valuable.
Thanks, but *luck* is not involved. I very much enjoy the phenomenal clarity my system provides.
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This isn't a "paper" exercise, but real world experience. If you think your neighbors plasma TV or Emerson controller for their variable speed HVAC unit doesn't find it's way into you home through the service entrance on the line, or that your new high tech fridge or dryer doesn't introduce noise on the line, carried back through the panel, then you only show you've never actually examined the line voltage noise with any type of testing equipment. An oscilloscope will certainly aid you.
Actually DB, we're on the same page. Which is why I go to the lengths I do to minimize their effect on the system using multiple strategies.
My reference was that you seem to think that all aftemarket power cords (exactly which ones have you used?) don't help. They emphatically do.
I hope you enjoy your speculation as much as I do hearing added transparency.
Claims of speculation is very presumptuous of you. Ever consider, someone besides you might actually know what they are saying? You may just be reading in order to respond, and prove your position that isn't well supported, rather than reading to understand. Go back and try re-reading what I said.Actually DB, we're on the same page. Which is why I go to the lengths I do to minimize their effect on the system using multiple strategies.
My reference was that you seem to think that all aftemarket power cords (exactly which ones have you used?) don't help. They emphatically do.
I hope you enjoy your speculation as much as I do hearing added transparency.
Presumptuous? You don't have the foggiest idea what I use - much less have any experience with the various components. You look at the ceiling, rub your chin and post!
I'll ask a simple question again: To what aftermarket power cords have you used? Any? This is not a trick question.
When backed by exposure, sure. OTOH, I find many non-experiential theorists on audio boards who don't know what they don't know.
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Perhaps it does when configured the way he describes.
My cables use large spade lugs and are plated with rhodium. After fifteen years of use, they exhibit zero oxidation. I clean my cables and connectors with Deoxit at least annually and never get any crud from them.
Yes, bad corroded connections with these low voltages make a difference, probably huge and that part of Dave's analogy I agree with. What I was mainly referring to with my post was talking about small wire being the equivalent of sucking through a straw. My only point was that line loss due to relatively short pieces of small diameter wire probably isn't very much and that while it is accumulative with decreasing diameter, it is also length accumulative. Now corrosion breaks the conductivity much more than just a small wire inside an amplifier or speaker driver leads.
Understood. I was addressing both of his concerns.
Honestly, I would rather not use pin connectors myself when others like spades offer far more contact area.
Many amps provide large and firm contacts for best results.
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I listened to many. I personally don't use them. If I need one, I can easily make one from VNTC cable I have. Filtering on the other hand, that is required. Shielded cables do not filter. They shield.Presumptuous? You don't have the foggiest idea what I use - much less have any experience with the various components. You look at the ceiling, rub your chin and post!
I'll ask a simple question again: To what aftermarket power cords have you used? Any? This is not a trick question.
When backed by exposure, sure. OTOH, I find many non-experiential theorists on audio boards who don't know what they don't know.
Keep going. Which?
Your perspicacity is amazing! Your ongoing speculation, however, needs awareness that some power cords employ active networks.