Cheap tweaks...What would YOU reccomend?

Romex Power Cord - 8 feet long

Since there are a few post in Agon that mention this I thought I'd give it a try.

Had some 12 gauge cable lying around - the 4 conductor stuff used for two-way light switching.

Stripped off the sheathing and removed the bare earth wire leaving me with three insulated conductors - I used the red for earth

Figured I'd better braid them to keep noise/hum to a minimum.

Soldered Spade terminals on the ends so the mains connectors had lots of surface area to bind to.

Attached some gold/copper mains conectors like these
Mains Connector

All parts cost about $35 and a couple of hours of my time

Results...
> Not quite as quiet as my Furutech, but required full volume to hear anything
> More dynamic and spacious than my Furutech 15 gauge
> Almost as good as my Furutech 10 gauge

Hard to believe? well it brings power to your outlet doesn't it?

RE: the trivial noise issue
- first I had to crank the volume to full and put my ear to the speaker in order to hear it
- I believe this is due to my less than stellar braiding
- get the conductors the same length and tighten the braid and the issue probably goes away

I didn't expect it to be quite this good - should be even better once burned-in

For the 8ft braided length I used approx. 9.5 ft of Romex

Only issue is it's bit springy - but it does support itself - no sagging at the outlet :-)

Wanna try a new power cord, but the cost is putting you off? Try this tweak - something to do on those cold winter nights :-)

Update - tried a 10 gauge romex power cord today.

Tough to braid - but sounds great and definitely worth the effort

Put the 12 gauge on my sources

I guess it's the same as plugging everything i to the wall outlet really.

Williwonka, I was using some DIY 10 guage Romex as power cords for my Acoustat tube amps, into a Furutech GTX d gold outlet on a dedicated 20 amp line.Very nice sound, and I moved my Annacondas out to my vinyl/headphone setup.

What sounds even better now is running the amps directly to the panel with no Furutech GTX D Gold outlet which until recently, each power amp was plugged into.

Each amp is now on it's own dedicated 20 amp line.
Each line has the cheap but good copper Furutech receptacle and plugs directly into the Furutech IEC on each amp.

Conclusions?

Better sound, yes.

But is it because each amp is now on a dediacted line?
Is it because I have one less break in the route of power from the panel to the amps ie- no GTX D receptacle?
Were the old Acoustat tube amps starved for power?
Until now I never would have thought so.

So for those who have multiple dedicated lines and multiple outlets of whatever brand, try the direct approach like I did.

Go direct from the panel to your amp.

The only more direct route would be to solder the 10 guage Romex directly to your amp,bypassing all IEC outlets and plugs which is not a safe thing to do and not reccomended.

Lacee - I had a very big surprise today - I received a pair of Sonar Quesr silver plated copper mains connectors that I ordered a couple of weeks ago.

Installing them on my Furutech 10 gauge power cord had an amazing impact, by opening up the image far beyond that obtained with the previous gold plated copper connectors. It also separated instruments much more than previously experienced. However - the power cord was installed on the power distribution centre than provides power to the source components. The Romex power cord is now on the amp

I have no doubt of the improvements you obtained from hard wiring the amps - have you thought of doing the same with the sources?

If that's not feasible, maybe try the silver plated mains connectors like these

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SONAR-QUEST-CRYO-Ag-Audio-Grade-Silver-plated-IEC-plug-Schuko-plug-/130856829251?pt=US_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item1e77acc143&_uhb=1

They work :-)

I use those same cheap Furutech all copper connectors on my power cords they sound wonderful. Tom