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Has anyone who owns >$50 powercords ever wired a house?

post #1 of 42
4/16/10 at 4:02am
Thread Starter 
Simple question. If you have ever wired a house have you spent more than $50 on a powercord for your amp or DAC ?
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post #2 of 42
4/16/10 at 8:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by regal View Post
Simple question. If you have ever wired a house have you spent more than $50 on a powercord for your amp or DAC ?
As a person who has been in the game for many years I can assure you that all of my gear runs of the generic power cables that they came with.
If you have problems with mains noise etc then spend your money on a power conditioner,it will do more than any exotic cable ever will.
As to the power cord making a difference in SQ .
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post #3 of 42
4/16/10 at 9:52am
I love simple questions; they really are simple.
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post #4 of 42
4/16/10 at 10:00am
I had always thought that the idea of a separate mains spur just for the hifi made sense. Having moved house I went to change a damaged socket that had been pulled out of the wall when someone tripped over the iron cable. I found that I had got a mains spur and it was what my hifi was on and the iron when that needs to be done.

I still have two mains conditioners and I can easily hear the difference they make. So from my experience, mains conditioning is worth it. Not that I am saying power cords and separate mains spurs are never worth it.
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post #5 of 42
4/16/10 at 10:01am
Never!
I also eat omelets without ever having laid an egg.
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post #6 of 42
4/16/10 at 10:05am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Prog Rock Man View Post
I had always thought that the idea of a separate mains spur just for the hifi made sense. .
I can add a breaker on my outside meter and wire it dedicated to my dac/amp, is this what you mean by "main spur", ie. supplying before the inside house breaker box like is done with well pumps?
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post #7 of 42
4/16/10 at 10:27am
I only used OFC silver-stranded wire when I wired my house
Nothin but the best for my rig
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post #8 of 42
4/16/10 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by boozcool View Post
I only used OFC silver-stranded wire when I wired my house
Nothin but the best for my rig
Did you get the power company to run a line to their generators


I was kind of serious about the thread as I have no experience with power cords other than 12 guage sans IEC directly wired to fuse/transformer. But I've done house wiring and just can't put my head around how a $300 powercord can improve things after 50ft of home depot 12guage house wire.

Maybe the answer is to run the house wiring straight into the amp skipping the outlet, that would not meet code but would certainly take the power cord out of the equation.
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post #9 of 42
4/16/10 at 11:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by regal View Post
But I've done house wiring and just can't put my head around how a $300 powercord can improve things after 50ft of home depot 12guage house wire.
Very sound thread, no pun intended.

Don't put your head around it. One thing an expensive power cord will certainly do is to make things worse for your pocket. And that's pretty much it. Check out the following post in another thread, in which I elaborated precisely on this topic:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f21/ho...ml#post6556399
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post #10 of 42
4/16/10 at 11:27am
In all seriousness though, IMO, I agree that its tough to prove that expensive power cords can make a difference in the absence of a power conditioner
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post #11 of 42
4/16/10 at 12:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by boozcool View Post
In all seriousness though, IMO, I agree that its tough to prove that expensive power cords can make a difference in the absence of a power conditioner
In the presence of a power conditioner it would be equally tough to "prove" that expensive power cords can make any difference.
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post #12 of 42
4/16/10 at 1:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by regal View Post
I can add a breaker on my outside meter and wire it dedicated to my dac/amp, is this what you mean by "main spur", ie. supplying before the inside house breaker box like is done with well pumps?
From the main fuse box there is a circuit that has just three sockets on it and nothing else. So apart form when the iron is plugged in it is for the hifi and TV only. So, my understanding is that mains noise caused by fridges, microwaves etc will not affect the hifi as it is not on the same circuit.
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post #13 of 42
4/16/10 at 1:12pm
No, I've never wire a house. Yes I've spent more than 50 on a power cable. Yes I imagined there was a perceived difference.
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post #14 of 42
4/16/10 at 1:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by regal View Post
Did you get the power company to run a line to their generators


I was kind of serious about the thread as I have no experience with power cords other than 12 guage sans IEC directly wired to fuse/transformer. But I've done house wiring and just can't put my head around how a $300 powercord can improve things after 50ft of home depot 12guage house wire.

Maybe the answer is to run the house wiring straight into the amp skipping the outlet, that would not meet code but would certainly take the power cord out of the equation.
My understanding is that you should look at it the other way round. So you go from the hifi back to the power station. So, it does not matter what is going on on the mains and all that is needed is to condition the mains/remove RFI/EMI just as it goes into the hifi.

It is a bit like a harbour wall. So what if there is a storm at sea, so long as the harbour is protected.
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post #15 of 42
4/16/10 at 1:31pm
interesting topic!
I have the aforementioned Home Depot wire straight from my breaker panel to the plug that my battery back up is plugged into. Into the battery back up is the PC, AMP, monitor. I have a second plug for my turntable and phono preamp but I can't think of what else would be running from that circuit breaker....
Is it cheaper to run new wire to an unused breaker than it is to get either a power conditioner or expensive power cord?
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