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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
jea48
2,944 posts
 
I have to admit I’m a bit befuddled by the fact that the cords have a, "Do not touch" policy attached to them (legal-wise), when I’ve had capacitors replaced in the power supply in many of my components.
You can believe what you want.

And yes you could more than likely hear the difference changing out the old 2 wire power cord and plug on your old McIntosh C-20 preamps .

Search the archives on the Steve Hoffman forum. You’ll find several guys that have changed out the old power cords on vintage audio equipment and were happy with the results. Can't recall anyone asking if they would be arrested for doing it though.
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oopwah's avatar
oopwah
9 posts
 
I have added an IEC receptacle to several of my older components with great success! It is fairly easy, and the vast array of powercord tech is then at your dispense. As a matter of fact most of the gear was mid fi and it responded very well. Just order a couple of receptacles, get a dremel tool with some cutoff disc. Make a pattern for the opening , mark tht rear panel and take your time. It usually takes me about 1.5 hours, then  used canned air to clean out debris and connect. This process has now been made easier with the new IEC receptacles which have screw connections. Give it a try it is WELL WORTH the time and the older powercords are very inexpensive here on Audiogon.
leotis
151 posts
 
Installed a 20 amp (C20) IEC on a Krell TAS so I could use a Shunyata PC.
Not sure if it sounds any better but easy enough to do. Local audio repair guy wouldn't touch it. Now I know why.
jea48
2,944 posts
 
Local audio repair guy wouldn't touch it. Now I know why.
Or possibly he didn't have the confidence in installing the IEC power inlet. What if in the process of cutting the hole for the IEC inlet he screwed something up? How many "repair guys" cut holes in the outside panels of audio equipment?

Did the "repair guy" specifically tell you he was prohibited from installing the IEC power inlet? 
toolbox149 OP
135 posts
 
JEA
Bingo. I think you just hit the nail on the head. The two times I broached this topic with audio techs the excuse for not doing the conversion was they didn't want to drill/cut into the back of the unit. (We wouldn't want to drill holes in your Mc C-20. That would diminish it's resale value.")
It was never a question of legalities. Otherwise, if a tech couldn't legally work within/on the power supply, you'd have to junk any piece of equipment that ever developed a problem with the power supply.

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