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After Market Power Cables - Gold or Snake Oil?

Myself and a collegue of mine have been discussing the potential benefit(s) of using after market power cables with hifi equipment. I claim that since the majority of home owners gain their power from the everyday wall socket, how does the addition of a short length of 'expensive' cabling make any appreciable difference to the sound quality. Are we kidding ourselves and buying into marketing hype or is there some scientific truth to the matter? I am a musician/recordist who understands the fundamentals of electricity and sound reproduction.
checkmate110
blueswan
211 posts
 
I agree, after market power cords have made a great improvement in my system. If you are skeptical, as you always should be, start off with some used low-cost cords here on Audiogon at about half retail. The sellers are ususally upgrading to more expensive cords anyway. You may be pleasantly surprised... and addicted!
lak's avatar
lak
3,516 posts
 
Ncarv, I love the analogy you made to water/filtered water!
Good job.
vegasears
922 posts
 
Former PC Skeptic

A few months ago I bought a pair of VTL 300 deluxe mono block here on the gon. They came with 18 awg, computer type power cords. After using the amps for a while, I felt the PC’s and they were kinda warm. Not a good sign. Needing bigger PC’s I did the following.

I bought female Watt plugs from partsexpress.com. Then went to Home Depot and bought three sizes of CAROL Industrial power cord and Industrial Grade male plugs. The sizes were 16/3, 14/3 and 12/3. All the materials, including the Watt plugs cost around $100.00. Over a weekend I used each size cord for a few hours. There was an audible difference with each size. Power Cords do made a difference. I preferred the 14/3 cords.

Note: I have a dedicated 20 amp outlet.
judit
217 posts
 
A look at the archive will turn up the following two things:

1. The GREATEST benefits are obtained by running dedicated line to your audio equipment.

2. The benefits of after market power cords are much more readily apparent in systems with dedicated lines.
gooddomino
107 posts
 
I just recently ventured into the after market PC arena. They sure do make a significant difference in my set up. I hear more of a difference upgrading my CD players PC than my amps. I have the Synergistic Classic MC on the Miles CDP and the the Synergistic MC with MPC on the Aragon 4004 amp. Just recently bought PS Audio Lab II's to compare to the Synergistics.
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