Cable Costs Relative to System

Hi Carl.

..."I spent $1000 on a power cord and Wow!", it sounds like "I spent $1000 on a power cord and it sounds no different but I don't want to admit I got conned by the HiFi shop."

You're right, it does sound just like that! Some enthusiasts are so ashamed of being so duped they won't even exercise the money back policy many manufacturers and I assume some retailers offer.

We had one poor soul buy four line cords from us and after some time called us to say how awesome his system was sounding. I knew what he was really saying and I felt really bad for him so I apologized. He bought two more. Poor guy must have a real victim mentality that he thrives on.

I apologize to you too. I lied with my brief explanation. Even though a "cable" possesses resistance, inductance, capacitance, has a reactance, carries a voltage and current within a closed loop system, can have a mechanical and electrical resonance, etc., ect. an AC cord cannot be a circuit.

Therefore....

I'm sorry: there is no "evidence" that line cords can make a difference so, of course they don't. Whether by measurement or by ear, such methods of evaluation are completely useless.

Having said all that, I'm just having fun with you. Hope you're having fun too.

Kindly,
Robert
RSAD

I'm afraid I'll just have to wait for someone who does have the time to post some evidence. It must be nice to have endless funds to experiment with many different power cords "no matter how much they cost" and "custom made to my specs" as Joeyboynj does, but many of us need a little more than faith to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a power cord that may or may not do anything to an audio system.

Once again, if anyone can direct me to any research/evidence on this topic, I'll happily be educated and corrected.

Carl...

Sorry friend - no one is likely going to spend time trying to convince you. Judging the content of your responses, you already have your mind made up.

If you really and honestly wanted to know, it seems you would do what others have done to become convinced or not: Listen. If you want "Evidence", it will be in your taking the time to listen. Research or documentation is not evidence. It only predicts or explains something. Research and documentation is readily available if you took some time to search it out but I bet you'd dismiss it as some type of hype.

I said "If you consider a line cord as a type of circuit rather than wire, there lies the answer." This is true but instead of "considering" it to maybe lead to some discover for yourself, you dismissed it.

Between all the different price points of after market AC cords of good reputation and the return policies many of them come with, using your ears to provide evidence seems like a "no brainer" with no risk.

If you've listened to a few well regarded after market cords and heard no difference, then be content with your experience and go enjoy your music. Be kind to remember this though:

The universe does not revolve around your experience or only what you're willing or able to grasp.

Liver and Onions tastes bad. I can't taste anything good about it. I hear there's reports that say it's an American favorite and it's got some nutrition in it. I tastes bad. My Wife loves Liver and Onions. So I punched her in the boob and divorced her.

Best to you,
Robert
RSAD

To Ridgestreetaudio, I appreciate all your replies, and I take on board the fact that many audiophiles genuinely hear a difference with every tweak they make to their system; I recently upgraded my speaker cables and can hear a definite improvement to my system's dynamics and a crisper top end. My argument doesn't apply to speaker cables and interconnects.

I guess my issue with power cords is this:
If you look at speaker cables, these form the entire link between amplifier and speaker, and therefore their impact on the signal can be profound. A PC, on the other hand, constitutes only a fraction of the AC power "loop" that extends all the way from the power generator to your components - an extension cord, in effect - and I therefore can't see how it can possibly impact on a system's sound. Not to mention the fact that the power supplies within high end gear should be able to have a greater smoothing and calming effect on the power supply than a few feet of power cord.

However, I will endeavour to listen and compare PC's when I can and trust my ears, which is I guess all any of us can do.

Thanks for an interesting debate.

Carl Wrote:

...I will endeavour to listen and compare PC's when I can and trust my ears, which is I guess all any of us can do."

Good for you Carl.

I trust you'll hear the importance of what good AC cords can bring to the table. When you experience that, remember this that I'll share with you: First, cables are not a "tweak" as it appears you suggest. A tweak (or an accessory) is something your system can perform with or without. Equipment is stuff that your system needs in order to function. Cables are equipment. In context of that, I've firmly come to the conclusion that good AC cords are foundational to a music system. Before any other partnering cabling, they can begin to show what a given music system is capable of.

Sound crazy? Yea, I suppose so. We expect to be emotionally impacted by out system's playback. Not so much intellectually stimulated by understanding all the whys of performance. Like going to a good concert - You come away with "Man...that was Good!" Not "Boy...that was Right!" Easy enough to understand to some degree why S/Cs or I/Cs might contribute to our emotional experience without becoming an EE. Simple as they may seem, AC cords a another story. It doesn't as readily make sense that a power cord can do wonders for a system. They need to be looked at differently than S/Cs or I/Cs. Understandably, many enthusiasts don't care to know all the intellectual reasons why an AC cord can allow a system to operate more efficiently. After a ragged day at work, most of us just want to settle down with maybe a good glass of wine and be emotionally nurtured with some good music. Not come home and do more work by testing dielectrics for capacitors, write the charts of our music collection or study wire theories. We really don't care so much if we can grasp all the workings of our music system. It's more about "Is this thing making music magical to me?". Add power cords as an important means to get there.

You might get a kick out of this: Some years ago, I dismissed the importance of power cords. Hell, almost twenty years ago I dismissed wire period. Today, I place AC cords at the top of cable or system hierarchy. That's quite a turn about. As it goes on these boards sometimes, I can hear it - Perhaps one would say of cable manufacturers (us included) "Well duh!, you make yer bucks from sellin' cables. You gotta promote AC cords." That's not true - take AC cords out of a product line and, if you're good at what you do, you'd still have a business that's worth the effort and that makes a good difference for folks. I would also counter by saying that many passionate high end manufacturers produce products out of what they themselves use. Not what can I make to turn a buck. They trust their "creation" would be of value to others and offer it in the market place. The market bears whether there's any value of one's efforts and the buck takes care of itself. Win/Win for everyone.

Anyway, I hope there's a bit of insight for you here. Let us know what you find when you get to auditioning some power cords. Might be useful for others.

Cheers!

Robert
RSAD