[304290]

I Just recently built my first power cable. I've been reading a lot about whether a power cable makes much of a difference or not. So before spending a lot of money on a high end cord, I decided to just purchase a cheep volex cord to see if there was a difference from my stock cord. After doing A and B comparisons I determined that there was a difference. Not a huge difference, but I like what I heard. I then decided it would be a lot cheaper to just build my own cord. I found some 12 awg wire on sale at lowes for 18 cents a foot. Along with that I purchase some very nice looking connectors of ebay. I know they could be knock offs but the goal was to build a cheep cable. After building my cord, I did A and B comparisons with the volex cord. I was completely amazed. The difference was nigt and day. Much bigger than the difference between the volex and the stock cord. With the volex cord the sound was somewhat muffed as compared to the sound of the cord I built. There were more separation between the instruments. I could actually hear tha air around the instruments. Wow at 18 cents a foot this wire sounds pretty amazing. I'm now going to build another one with high end silver platted wire and some more expensive ends to compare, but I'm completely satisfied with what I have now. All of this for only 40.00 bucks.

 

[Jambo]

Wow. You should recable all the way from your house to your local substation, imagine how good it would sound then!

 

[MASantos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 304290 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...but I'm completely satisfied with what I have now...

then why upgrade??

 

[304290]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jambo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow. You should recable all the way from your house to your local substation, imagine how good it would sound then!

I would give a sacastic response, but what you said doesn't even make sense.

 

[kuzzz]

erm it does make sense ... you made a 2m powercable but there's like xxxxkm's of powercable before your house coming from the powergenator

 

[ericj]

There's miles of cable, both good and bad, between the power station and your house.

There are probably also transformers, and capacitors, of varying age and quality.

That last three feet isn't likely to do anything that a ferrite bead and a common-mode choke won't do better.

 

[MASantos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif There's miles of cable, both good and bad, between the power station and your house. There are probably also transformers, and capacitors, of varying age and quality. That last three feet isn't likely to do anything that a ferrite bead and a common-mode choke won't do better.

x2!
Check this website:
About US | Triode Systems

they have a very simple-to-build power filter that will probably yield better results than a simple power cord.

I'm not saying that your cord doesn't improve your system, but sometimes our brain makes us hear exactly what we want. Placebo effect has been proven by modern medicine!

 

[ericj]

Yeah, you can do more with a few carefully placed X and Y class caps than you could ever hope to do with the purest of silver cable.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif There's miles of cable, both good and bad, between the power station and your house. There are probably also transformers, and capacitors, of varying age and quality. That last three feet isn't likely to do anything that a ferrite bead and a common-mode choke won't do better.

Intellectually, I understand and appreciate your argument. Practically, I have found better power cords to offer a host of improvements that were quite startling given that I did not expect there to be a positive gain.

To the OP, I'm glad that you've found a cost effective way to improve your rig. Nice work.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Intellectually, I understand and appreciate your argument. Practically, I have found better power cords to offer a host of improvements that were quite startling given that I did not expect there to be a positive gain. To the OP, I'm glad that you've found a cost effective way to improve your rig. Nice work.

But how could it possibly work? The impedance of the cable is a moot point because impedance will vary between each outlet to the breaker box, and across each breaker. If it were about impedance, you could just move the amp to an outlet closer to the breaker box for an equal or greater improvement. Or just to an outlet on a different circuit, potentially.

So what is it? inductance? capacitance? cables are an expensive way to achieve those.

 

[philodox]

All good questions, I have no clue.

I am plugging these cables into my UPC-200, but I think I did some tests straight out of the wall a while back as well.

I'm not saying people should go out and spend crazy money on high quality power cords, but it is worth it to get/make a decent one.

Oh, and I know this sounds crazy, but I've found that cleaning/polishing the pins on the power jacks makes a positive difference as well.

 

[Pars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh, and I know this sounds crazy, but I've found that cleaning/polishing the pins on the power jacks makes a positive difference as well.

A Jonathon Carr disciple, ehh?

 

[philodox]

Who's Johathon Carr? I just had my system apart one day with a friend and we decided to take a look inside the cables I use [easy with XLR cables and power cables]. While we had the system apart, I figured why not? I have some metal polish and spent a little time buffing everything from an ugly oxidized finish to a nice shining copper/brass/whathaveyou finish. Maybe it was just better routing of cables when I set everything, but maybe it was the polishing of the connectors. Either way, my rig sounded quite a bit more smooth afterwards.

 

[304290]

I was also a critic against power cords. I thought that there was no way even a 1000 dollar power cord could inpoved the sound. I didn't see how that was possible give everything that takes place before the electrical current even reach the the power outlet. That's why I started out going with the cheepest route. After trying this myself, I see that upgraded power cords do make a difference. People shouldn't trash people who have upgraded power cords. If you don't like them, that's your perogative. For the people who invested in power cords and like them, good. That's all that matters. As long as you are happy with the investment you made.

 

[304290]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuzzz /img/forum/go_quote.gif erm it does make sense ... you made a 2m powercable but there's like xxxxkm's of powercable before your house coming from the powergenator

When I said it doesn't make sense, I was refering to whether or not it was possible. I was refering to actually going out and doing that. That is what doesn't make sense.