Do I need a power cable - if so what brand?

Ledinhhien,

I recently installed three dedicated lines - two 30 amp and one 20 amp. I used standard 10 gauge Romex. The whole job cost $500 through a licensed electrician who does new construction work and he and his assistant completed the whole job in about 2 hours on a Saturday morning.

If you install more than one dedicated line, be sure to discuss the grounding scheme with the electrician to avoid 60 hz hum.

As for receptacles, this is somewhat controversial. From my experience with different power cords/different plugs/ different receptacles, I believe that the way the metallurgies interact makes a very big impact. Certain Hubbell products (but not all)are good bets for low $$. The Hubbell CR5352IG isolated ground outlets work well for me and can be found on ebay - I paid $50 for 10. Next step up is cryo'd Hubbells, say from Albert Porter or Jena Labs (both under $50). Synergistic Research has a new Quantum Tunneled receptacle for $75 that should be good.

IMHO, the most desireable receptacle is the Oyaide R-1 at $130. It is very neutral and extended and also extremely well built with SOTA materials.

The key to picking receptacles and power cords is compatibitility with each other (and with your equipment). Scan the threads by Duster on Audioasylum for great advice on this.

Good luck.

Dave

Dedicated lines do make a positive improvement, if for no other reasson to get the dimmer whitches out of the line, or to get the loose fitting AC receptacles and wire out of the front of the audio. Many homes are equipped with very low quality AC receptacles and they are fire hazards too. With regards to power cords, they are more hype than reality. Change something important like caps to v-caps or amps. A power cord is just a filter to change the sound, not necessarily more accurate or true. The only one I have heard to help digital was the Cardas Golden Reference in a high RF area and the noise was markedly reduced. In the absence of the nosie, it would not be needed. Spend money wisely, there is much hupe to "filter" it is your money, I like mine to do real good.

I am not an electrical engineeer or a rocket scientist, but in my experience, power cables can be as substantial as speaker cables and interconnects in a system. This is my experience and my reality and if anyone says that I am deluding myself, what's the difference between delusion and reality if I believe that I hear it!? There are many out there that also believe that zip cord is as good as any of the high priced speaker cables that are available.
So who or what do you believe? I trust my ears and my own judgment and I know that power cables do make a difference, just find the right one for your system!

As a follow up to Jallen's post above, I have experimented with many power cords, and have found that Cardas is the very worst. It closed up my system, added grain, reduced the sonic picture, etc. Maybe it will work better in other systems, was very audibly just awful in mine.

Dave (Dlcockrum) -- Let me answer your well phrased thoughts about my not validating my opinion via experimentation by drawing an analogy to the businesses you have successfully managed. You were no doubt required to frequently and almost continually make decisions as to what tasks should be given priority in allocating limited personnel, time, and financial resources. In so doing you used reasoned judgment that drew upon your experience and education, and upon analyses and thoughts that others may have presented to you.

Similarly, I choose to allocate my audio-related investments of time and money to where my judgment tells me it is most likely to be most productive. That is why I choose to not devote time and money to assessing the sound of power cords.

I cannot explain why many sincere and intelligent people believe that they hear significant differences between power cords. I do feel, though, that the marketing hype surrounding them is generally techno-babble that fails to provide a rational correlation between the cord design and the claimed sonic effects. Therefore, as I implied in my earlier post, if there indeed are effects, they are likely to be system-dependent, they are likely to be findable only through trial and error, and they are likely to have no signficant correlation with price.

Regards,
-- Al