Does a Good 20 amp cable Make a Difference

I'll echo the sentiments of many of the above posters - but will add...
- yes - a good power cable on the power filter is a must
- a heavier gauge may or may not yield better results
- an advanced cable architecture, like the Shunyata Venom will probably yield better results.

I have tried many different cable geometries over the last couple of years and the top performers have been ...
- Braided Geometries, such as used by Anti Cables, which are pretty good from what I have read here
- Spiral Geometries, which the Shunyata Venom appears to be, which might provide the best overall performance.

I will add that I have not tried the cables mentioned above, simply because I build my own cables from scratch, but I have experimented with those very same geometries.

Gauge should only a factor if you have
- many source components plugged into the filter, or
- the power cable is used for high current draw amps

My system uses a NAIM 5i 50 watt amp and for that 12AWG is ample, but for 100watts or higher 10 awg and even 7 awg for 250 watts might need to be considered

As proof of the effectiveness of the more advanced geometries - a friend brought one of his conventional power cables over, which I then rebuilt in a braided geometry. So, same conductors, same connectors - just a different way of positioning the individual conductors...
- The results were a noticeably quieter noise floor, improved dynamic performance and wider and more detailed image when used on the very same source component - his words, not mine.

Personally - I make my own PC's in the Spiral Design and have compared and prefer them to cables using silver/copper alloys costing as much as $1500 for a 5ft cable. (see my "System" link below for details)

As for the exotic materials - all of my power cables are copper - no fancy alloys or silver - just some very good quality copper from Furutech and DH Labs

Hope this helps

yes, but little to nothing.

Czarivey - if your comments pertain to my post, then I guess the point I was trying to make is...
- simply moving up to a larger gauge will often do little to improve performance unless you are dealing with a high current draw devices.
- however, based on my experiences, my investing in a different geometry resulted in significantly better overall system performance.

Shuyata Venom and Anti-cables are two that I know of that are reasonably priced and incorporate a more advanced geometry which results in a lower noise floor, providing better clarity and dynamics.

They "should" provide better performance, but like anything else in this hobby - ya never know until you try them.

One cable that I have tried and believe may provide better performance over the Shuyata Diamond Back is the Signal Cable Silver Revelation - it is a very competent performer considering it's modest price - beating out my Furutech 10 gauge performance for dynamics, image and clarity.

I hope you all find this post more useful

My previous post was a bit verbose and more geared to DIY brethren :-)

Apologies for that ;-)

Williewonka, my comments pertain to general and not only to your post. ROI in power cable is always worst.

Cz - your statement "ROI in power cable is always worst"

In general, I would agree with that, since many companies still utilize a more standard cable architecture and use pretty poor connectors, especially in their entry-mid level products.

But having experimented with several different architectures and materials on my own DIY Power Cables over the last couple of years I now believe that there are a few companies that utilize either braided or spiral architectures such as Anti Cables and Shunyata which would possibly provide a significantly better ROI.

For example - one experiment I tried involved braiding the conductors of a Signal Cable Silver Resolution PC - this change alone resulted in it providing faster dynamic performance, deeper bass with more control, more clarity and wider/deeper image.

Another thing that I tried that did provide more details and punch was my choice of connectors...
- Vanguard Connectors with Gold Plated Copper contacts - were pretty good to start with
- But Sonar Quest connectors with silver plated copper contacts were noticeably better and now my only choice.

Both can be obtained from Ebay for a reasonable price and even when placed on the Silver Resolution power cable provided an audible improvement again.

Other members have found the Furutech/Oyaide brands provide very good improvements, but I'm all about "bang for the buck" and they are just too rich for my wallet :-)

Replacing the wall outlets with Pass and Seymour MRI grade outlets provided surprising improvements to dynamics and image.

So - combining improvements to power cable architecture + connectors + MRI outlets has resulted in a significantly better audio performance - i.e. from just the "power side" of my system - and as it turns out - it had a pretty good ROI to boot :-)

I do concede that my DIY approach does give me an advantage in that I can build to a specific geometry with select parts, but there are some companies out there that do provide very high quality leading edge power cable designs that perform to a very high level for a pretty reasonable price.

Regards...