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Upgraded power cords

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indyhawg

indyhawg

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I see all types of ads for upgraded power cords. Some can get rather expensive. This is something I do not understand. What is so different about a cord that costs several hundred dollars versus the stock power cord that came with the gear? Is the sound quality actually improved?
 
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I was the same skeptic as you... juice from the wall to the amps, wtf else could go wrong... now I use things that look like garden hoses... I can say from experience that they make a difference, but temper that with the fact that a $1K power cord is not going to make a $200 receiver sound $1K better...
 
Sometimes the power cord is as small as is applicable for the appliance. I noticed this on a vacuum cleaner. It had 17ga, yes, 17. The cord got hot but not hot enough so it was barely adequate.

The same can happen on audio gear that have the amplifiers, not enough copper to allow all the electrons the amp wants to move to get from the wall to the amp. I noticed this when I took the two amp I was using and plugged them into different outlets.

Since we do not know where each electron is there is a lot more science to uncover to determine the best power cables but for many units bigger can be better than stock and there are some components that are very power cord sensitive.

I've heard better power cords but haven't heard the high dollar ones, yet. There is a difference but as stated the value of the improvement is up to the listener/buyer. Small differences get more expensive the higher up you go.
 
indyhawg said:
I see all types of ads for upgraded power cords. Some can get rather expensive. This is something I do not understand. What is so different about a cord that costs several hundred dollars versus the stock power cord that came with the gear? Is the sound quality actually improved?
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Somewhere between, 'it will radically transform your existing system' and, 'it makes no difference at all' is likely to be the result.

To go further, if you have localized EM or RF problems in your room that may impact the amplifier (or whatever component upon which you are ipgrading the power cord) but not the power line in the wall leading to that outlet, a shielded cable very well might make a difference.

In the guitar world, single coil pickups (such as a Strat or a telecaster) can pick up several types of noise. Often times that can be reduced by literally pointing the pickups in a different direction. In those instances, a shielded cable can make a difference in lowering the noise floor.

Personally, I don't have an issue with the $30 to maybe $100 power cords but beyond the $300 price point, I'd like to think audio junkies would have run a couple dedicated circuits to their listening space before dropping $1,000 on a cord.

If you have super awesome wiring and have a couple dedicated circuits run, then sure... Why not have a modestly upgraded cable? Is it going to sound line you doubled the power in your amp and upgraded your speakers a couple steps? Of course not.
 
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Putting a larger gauge wire on the power cord certainly makes sense for an amplifier. Anything that draws lots of current will benefit from lower loss over the power cord. Having said that, there are many feet of wiring in your house and there are miles of wire between your house and the power company's generators that you have no control over. What I'm saying here is after you get to a large enough wire gauge so that the loss in the 6 foot cord is negligible, one would think that the effect of 6 feet of esoteric cable would be swamped by miles of non esoteric wire.
 
I've switched out 80% of my stock cords for Shunyata entry level and it's made a difference. I think it has as much to do with the RFI shielding on the cables as it does with the improved copper and connectors.
There's a lot going on behind the gear with all the crossing of wires, speaker cables, interconnects, etc. AC cable shielding should help I would think.
 
fhawk618 said:
I was the same skeptic as you... juice from the wall to the amps, wtf else could go wrong... now I use things that look like garden hoses... I can say from experience that they make a difference, but temper that with the fact that a $1K power cord is not going to make a $200 receiver sound $1K better...
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If this is true explain to me why my Luxman M 05 amps, dual mono mind you, don't have replaceable power cords? Because what they have as cords are sufficient and what is IN the amp is what counts. If power cords were that important, EVERY component would have replaceable cords. I had a Bryston 14B SST amp that was superb, and I thought, if the power cord was that important as an aftermarket item, they would of supplied none. But they spec their amp with THEIR power cord. Seems to me the power cord is like a circuit breaker; it allows more current which I AGREE makes a difference as I have 20 amp circuits dedicated to my audio which matters. But power cords? Doubt it.

If there is a way to make a more expensive accessory in audio it is allowed, as I see it. I think more would get more improvement out of 20A circuits in the wall over expensive power cords IMHO. But if I were wealthy, I would get the expensive power cords to round out the system, not necessarily because I thought them to sound better.
 
Power cords should be long enough to reach from the amp to a source of power. That's all I'm really sure of.

I just finished testing a Carver M1.5t, good for someplace north of 350 watts/channel into 8 ohms. More into 4, in fact my 15 amp breaker popped when some other stuff got turned on. After a few minutes at high power, not only were my load resistors hot, the tiny power cord to the amp was limp from the heat. Why they put a tiny permanently installed 2-wire power cord on an amp of that power level is beyond me. Though not a believer in exotic power cords, I think that amp would benefit from something more substantial. Or, is the cord resistance protecting the triac switched primary circuit? Do I want to find out? Not really.
 
blackfly said:
If this is true explain to me why my Luxman M 05 amps, dual mono mind you, don't have replaceable power cords? Because what they have as cords are sufficient and what is IN the amp is what counts. If power cords were that important, EVERY component would have replaceable cords.
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I don't believe that replaceable power cords is an indication that it is important. First your Luxman should have TWO, yes 2 power cords for a 105 wpc amplifier, not what is usually seen on an amp of such low power.

Luxman and many others did upgrade the size of power cords for higher powered gear but the inclusion of the replaceable power cord is more probably related to the use of the IEC standard for power cords. I know the cord on my Luxman C-1000 for the US had a normal power cord strain relieved into a panel that fits over a hole in the chassis that one can mount a standard IEC, which I have done. Since the US cord was not grounded, the IEC is not grounded, either.

There are also country of sale differences in the power cords for the gear. That probably Japanese market C-1000 has a two prong male socket to accept a power cord just like the MB-3045 amps I have. There are pics of this on the web so maybe Luxman thought that the power cord should be an upgradeable item? I doubt it.

Making power cords replaceable is a nice feature and I doubt has anything to do with the need to get a better one. Your amps would for sure be able to resolve the difference if you were to do as Urizen recommends, give it a try and report back.
 
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The only advantage a specialised power lead could impart is the reduction of AC hum, assuming the power lead is shielded, and if the cord is laying amongst your interconnects. A better and cheaper solution is to arrange the cables at the rear of your system betterm by making sure ICs and speaker leads cross any power lead at 90deg, and do not let them run parallel and close to each other.

Unless you have gone to some piddly baby gauge wire, any normal power lead, including the one that comes with your equipment (be it a separate lead or built in) will deliver the necessary power to run the device. An exotic lead will not give you more volts or amps over a standard power lead.

There is no significant.. or even insignificant.. loss of power when comparing a normal power lead to an exotic one - unless you have a 50foot or longer run between the power point and the amp. The short distance from power point to equipment, on your standard power lead, introduces no loss (well, it may be a millivolt or two, and even if it was a bit more it is still well within the power supply requirements).

Copper in cables is 99.999% oxygen free, so going for that extra .0009% is going to make squat-all difference. This oxygen-free marketing hype is something that sucks in a lot of people.

And, I'm the same as blackfly... if I were very very wealthy I'd buy some exotic power cables, not for any improvement in sound, but for looks and 'cos I can. :)
 
river25 said:
The only advantage a specialised power lead could impart is the reduction of AC hum, assuming the power lead is shielded, and if the cord is laying amongst your interconnects. A better and cheaper solution is to arrange the cables at the rear of your system betterm by making sure ICs and speaker leads cross any power lead at 90deg, and do not let them run parallel and close to each other.

Unless you have gone to some piddly baby gauge wire, any normal power lead, including the one that comes with your equipment (be it a separate lead or built in) will deliver the necessary power to run the device. An exotic lead will not give you more volts or amps over a standard power lead.

There is no significant.. or even insignificant.. loss of power when comparing a normal power lead to an exotic one - unless you have a 50foot or longer run between the power point and the amp. The short distance from power point to equipment, on your standard power lead, introduces no loss (well, it may be a millivolt or two, and even if it was a bit more it is still well within the power supply requirements).

Copper in cables is 99.999% oxygen free, so going for that extra .0009% is going to make squat-all difference. This oxygen-free marketing hype is something that sucks in a lot of people.

And, I'm the same as blackfly... if I were very very wealthy I'd buy some exotic power cables, not for any improvement in sound, but for looks and 'cos I can. :)
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See post number 2.
 
I am more than convinced the designer of the amp would know what would be adequate for the amp they themselves designed .
 
zebra03 said:
So who would know more than the person that designed the amp ?
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Well, if the guy that designed the amp also owns the company and is the primary financial decision maker, then probably nobody.

Having said that, do you really think every decision that's ever been made about every product ever designed and distributed was made by the engineering staff alone?

That's just not how it works, fella.
 
indyhawg said:
I see all types of ads for upgraded power cords. Some can get rather expensive. This is something I do not understand. What is so different about a cord that costs several hundred dollars versus the stock power cord that came with the gear? Is the sound quality actually improved?
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Way more improvement can be had with speaker placement and that is much cheaper . Get the right speakers and all the rest of the equipment perfected . The power cord is a miniscule detail . And I have played with all kinds of cords and inter-connects . I don't need to chase anymore .
 
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