2. cables
  3. 132000-81298

A better lamp cord for my stereo equipment?

A lot of space goes to the 14, 12, 10 gauge, monster-sized, plug in, power cables.  Rightfully so.   I have my favorite power cables in place on my amps and also on some of my source equipment. But, some of us have older pieces in our systems and many of these older pieces do not have the plug in, switchable cords. I have a few pieces that were built with the old, permanent, lamp cords.
I've alwys wondered about those cords, but I never see any posts about them. Service people don't like the idea of drilling out the cord opening in older equipment to allow for thicker gauge wires, so we seem to be stuck with similar sized cords.
Have any of you ever upgraded/replaced your cords on older equipment?  Do you know of a better grade of lamp cord out there?  Would just replacing the plug help?
toolbox149
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
jea48 wrote,

"Things that can influence an aftermarket power cord other than the size, wire gauge of the power cord.

Type of wire used.
Solid core conductor/wire or stranded wire.
Geometry, construction, of the cable. (Capacitance? Inductance? How does the geometry, construction of the cable affect EMI? RFI?
Shielded, non shielded.
The quality of the plug and IEC connector. Contact pressure of the female IEC connector. Type of plating material if used."

>>>>Ah, hem, you forgot one thing: wire directionality.


.
gs5556
769 posts
 
If that older equipment is Class II double insulated then no service tech is going to play around with changing power cords unless the new cord fits into the existing grommet and the cord has no grounding conductor. So if that lamp cord on your unit is 18/2 then maybe you can find someone to replace it with 16/2. Not sure what benefit that would be.
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
Correct.  The owner/user of a piece of audio equipment can do about anything he wants to a cord and plug connected piece of equipment.

Anyone claiming otherwise can cite to the relevant law, statute, or regulation.

That doesn't mean that a repair facility can do it, or wants to assume any liability, and besides, as per the above post, it does nothing for SQ.

Reverse the plugs if you have noise.
madmax1971
1 posts
 
If it’s been working all these years? Why mess with it! Upgraded old technology with new power cord seems like a waste. 
ncarv
974 posts
 
And you can tear the tag off your mattress, too!
More to discover