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How can power cords make a difference?

I am trying to understand why power cords can make a difference.

It makes sense to me that interconnects and speaker cables make a difference. They are dealing with a complex signal that contains numerous frequencies at various phases and amplitudes. Any change in these parameters should affect the sound.

A power cord is ideally dealing with only a single frequency. If the explanation is RF rejection, then an AC regeneration device like PS Audio’s should make these cords unnecessary. I suppose it could be the capacitance of these cables offering some power factor correction since the transformer is an inductive load.

The purpose of my post is not to start a war between the “I hear what I hear so it must be so” camp and the “you’re crazy and wasting your money,” advocates. I am looking for reasons. I am hoping that someone can offer some valid scientific explanations or point me toward sources of this information. Thanks.
bruce1483
sedond
1,314 posts
 
702, ewe can make yokes about it all ya want, but it still doesn't make what i say any less true. brulee is right there's potentiual here, for us to learn from yer experience, but up unti now, we have fro ewe zilch, nuttin', nada. total waste of time.

doug s.

dekay's avatar
dekay
2,959 posts
 
Doug, you forgot "zip".
no_money
565 posts
 
here is my guess.

All Levinson reference front end,
Watt Puppy 6.1 speakers
Transparent ref. xl I.C. with Opus Speaker cable
PS audio ultimate outlet feeding PS 1200 and PS 300
Way exotic power cords...

Am I close?
brulee
564 posts
 
Hi 702, could you define "proper double-blind test" for me. After hearing the ICs and speaker cable from the Sakura OTA kit I agree with 702 that the fancy special cables arent necessarily better. In fact I have yet to hear anything as good as the OTA wire. I can't help but think that I have been getting shafted by the wire MFG. for all these years. But no more. When $12,000 worth of wire gets spanked by $300 worth of OTA wire it gets me a little pissed. Live and learn I guess.
Hey Dekay, you gonna try making a PC out of the OTA? I'll be more than happy to go in on it again.
dekay's avatar
dekay
2,959 posts
 
Hi Bruce: No, I am afraid of burning the home front down with any DIY PC that I would attempt (regardless of what wire was used). I also gave most of my extra cable to a friend to use as speaker wire and just have enough left for additional IC's (never did do the second system). I think that the next experiment will be bi-passing the RCA's (on one end of the IC's) with a direct soldered connection. I just purchased a used TDS Audiophile and thought that I would try it on this. I would also like to try this with my speakers (bi-pass the binding posts), but have not built up the nerve yet. Maybe JC will want to try making up a PC, he certainly has the know how?
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