Schipo, the designs always have tradeoffs and conditions in the design facilities may differ than the ones at home. Good manufacturers generally address that but i know of more than one amazing sounding amps that do benefit from power conditioning, better current etc. That is quite clear and not a psychoacoustic phenomenon. Now, extending that argument to power cords is a bit more artistic as the science is not yet conclusive. nordost recently made some efforts to prove their point and I am not well versed enough with electrical theory and practice to be able to fully comprehend what they are saying. That in itself may be an issue.
In any event, imho power cords do make a difference and one that is often not subtle. In my system and my conditions, I find that they make a bigger difference than even interconnects. |
no human can hear much past 20 KHz. Few microphones respond to frequencies beyond that, and even fewer loudspeakers can reproduce that high.And your telling me that you can hear the small difference in power cords. Every competent circuit designer knows how to filter out power line noise, and such protection is routinely added to all commercial audio products. Spending hundreds of dollars on a six-foot replacement power cord ignores the other hundred-odd feet of regular wire between the wall outlet and power pole. |
How about this question: What if you're using a voltage regulator/regenerator which corrects the waveform to 120v 6o hz? Theoretically, it wouldn't matter if you used a two dollar cord or a two thousand dollar cord. |
Spending hundreds of dollars on a six-foot replacement power cord ignores the other hundred-odd feet of regular wire between the wall outlet and power pole.
Schipo (Threads | Answers) That's an oft repeated argument against after market power cords. Grant Samuelson of Shunyata Research recently addressed this: Power cords are designed to act as sympathetic, noise-isolated extensions of the primary winding within a components power supply. Seen this way, their function takes on a more understandable role. They represent the initial outward electrical interface for each piece of electronics in the system. That raw wire interface can either act as an antenna for radiated HF and ground-borne noise or it can be engineered to isolate the power-supply port from internal and external EMI, RFI interference.
There is no such thing as a power supply that is adequate to filtering or isolating itself entirely from the huge volume of gigahertz noise that surrounds electronics systems and comes from within them. The bigger and more powerful the system, typically the larger the problem an unshielded or unprotected AC port can become. That is not to say electronics systems cannot sound great without after-market cords, or that tons of money must be spent on them, it's just to say that there is real-world science that explains why that they "can and most often do make an easy to hear difference or improvement in recorded or reproduced sound".
In general, power cords do not represent the last few feet of an AC grid leading to a component; they are first few feet from the perspective of each components power supply. Due to the fact that your AC is in principle the_source_ of sound for any music or sound system--AC rectified to DC which carries the signal through the system--it would seem imprudent to ignore the possibility of a difference and not perform the simplest of empirical experiments for oneself--unless the point of discourse is only to make funny asides under strict internet protection :o).
Since no product of this or any kind are being forced on anyone, each is free to try for themselves and make their own determination. Certainly the fact that many of the finest recording studios, mastering professionals, electronics engineers speaker manufacturers openly use and endorse them would seem to dim some of the more ardent "internet posting professionals" erm, arguments...
Grant
Shunyata Research
Samuel (System | Answers) FWIW... |
Having turned into a thread on the merits of powercords, i can only say I did not believe. Then I tried some. Now I know. Same with Power conditioners. (My caviat is that I have ONLY experimented with the lower half of the price range) They can change subtle aspects of the noise result: (most folks call that noise result music)
i would say in general, my experience is that cords clarify. Powerconditioners clarify AND tighten up the LF, sweeten the HF, and lessen the strength of the LF slightly. The LF becomes leaner, tighter, less 'wool'ly. And the Lf quickly can become too thin very easily with nearly any multiples of cords and conditioners i have ever tried. |
