[Uncle Erik]

If it's a serious issue, I have not heard of anyone with a problem (are there?), and I certainly have not had any issues using his stock cables or the one "upgraded" one I had for a while (and I have ordered 8-9 items to date). If it's so serious, why don't I smell smoke or have a unit fail (I am in an old house with crazy wiring BTW)?
 
Would these incorrect cables cause failure?
 
And again, an MOT commenting on another MOT on an open forum seems inappropriate to me? Why am I the only one commenting on this?

Tim, reversing the polarity of the power cord effectively turns a fused piece of gear into an unfused piece of gear.

Ask any electrician or electrical engineer if it is safe to run unfused equipment.

Power supplies don't care which way the power comes in. However, if something goes wrong with the equipment and it starts drawing a huge amount of power, there could be a real problem. And if there's a power surge, your gear is toast. If the fuse doesn't blow, equipment could continue to draw power until it catches fire. If you touch it to turn it off, you might be electrocuted.

It isn't one of those problems where it's a hazard under normal operating conditions. What it does is bypass an essential safety item. You wouldn't take the seatbelts and airbags out of your car, would you? You don't plan on an accident, but you sure want them in case one happens.

I don't know how old you are, but have you seen a fuse panel for an old house - before circuitbreakers became code? There used to be screw-in fuses with a base like a lightbulb. When they blew, people would sometimes put a penny in the socket and screw the blown fuse back in. This bypassed the safety of having a fuse. Sometimes it was OK, but it also used to kill people. That's part of the reason circuitbreakers are code today.

When you deal with something lethal like electricity, you have to get a few steps ahead of forseeable problems. Never assume a problem won't happen - life doesn't work that way. A fuse, or circuitbreaker, is there to protect you when somethin goes wrong. Take it out and the hazards get a lot more hazardous.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

If it's a serious issue, I have not heard of anyone with a problem (are there?), and I certainly have not had any issues using his stock cables or the one "upgraded" one I had for a while (and I have ordered 8-9 items to date). If it's so serious, why don't I smell smoke or have a unit fail (I am in an old house with crazy wiring BTW)?

 
Hey, why don't we just go back to the good old days before the safety ground was added, when it was common to wire AC neutral directly to the equipment chassis? For the most part it worked ok. Equipment wasn't blowing up all over the place and most folks didn't get electrocuted or have their homes burn down because of it. But not everyone was so lucky.
 
Look, we have electrical safety standards in this country for a reason. And if a manufacturer can't provide an appropriate power cord for the equipment they sell in this country, then the appropriate thing to do is not provide any power cords for the products they sell here, NOT send cords that are inappropriately wired an in violation of this country's electrical safety standards.
 
Quote:

And again, an MOT commenting on another MOT on an open forum seems inappropriate to me?

 
Well, it didn't have to be this way.
 
The moderator to whom this was first brought to their attention refused to post anything about it.
 
HeadFi refused to make it a general announcement.
 
And finally, Kingwa, who was urged to make the announcement himself also refused.
 
There were three opportunities for someone other than a MOT to make it known publicly that these power cords are inappropriately wired. 
 
So instead why aren't you asking yourself why did it finally take a MOT to get the information out?
 
Quote:

Why am I the only one commenting on this?

 
Perhaps because others care more about being informed than who it is that informs them?
 
se
 
 
 
 

 

[tim3320070]

I get all that (I promise I am not playing dumb), but I have cranked all my gear with these cables for over 2 years now (DAC's, amps, head amps, DI) without issue. It seems I am defending Kingwa blindly (I really don't mean to) but where is the evidence of the failure? If there is, I really do want to know. I plan on using different cables anyway even though nothing has happened just to cover myself.
 
My beef is, why have you allowed a MOT and competitor bring this up on an open forum? Surely there are other means without interested parties being involved.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Doug /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
no one who was not a MOT became aware of this initially - and given the potential importance, I'm fine with the fact that they did.
 

Others were made aware, including Kingwa. It was only after a moderator, HeadFi, and Kingwa all chose not to make this information known to the public that I chose to post it myself. So it's not like I came to know about the problem and ran over here and posted about it. It was nearly a week from the time the moderator was told about it and I finally made the decision to post.
 
se
 
 
 

 

[Teejaay]

Quote:

I get all that (I promise I am not playing dumb), but I have cranked all my gear with these cables for over 2 years now (DAC's, amps, head amps, DI) without issue. It seems I am defending Kingwa blindly (I really don't mean to) but where is the evidence of the failure? If there is, I really do want to know. I plan on using different cables anyway even though nothing has happened just to cover myself.
 
My beef is, why have you allowed a MOT and competitor bring this up on an open forum? Surely there are other means without interested parties being involved.

if you read what has been posted it will answer your questions what a pain in the ass now i have to go through 20+ power cables and test them all

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

 
Hey, why don't we just go back to the good old days before the safety ground was added, when it was common to wire AC neutral directly to the equipment chassis? For the most part it worked ok. Equipment wasn't blowing up all over the place and most folks didn't get electrocuted or have their homes burn down because of it. But not everyone was so lucky.
 
Look, we have electrical safety standards in this country for a reason. And if a manufacturer can't provide an appropriate power cord for the equipment they sell in this country, then the appropriate thing to do is not provide any power cords for the products they sell here, NOT send cords that are inappropriately wired an in violation of this country's electrical safety standards.
 
 
Well, it didn't have to be this way.
 
The moderator to whom this was first brought to their attention refused to post anything about it.
 
HeadFi refused to make it a general announcement.
 
And finally, Kingwa, who was urged to make the announcement himself also refused.
 
There were three opportunities for someone other than a MOT to make it known publicly that these power cords are inappropriately wired. 
 
So instead why aren't you asking yourself why did it finally take a MOT to get the information out?
 
 
Perhaps because others care more about being informed than who it is that informs them?
 
se
 
 
 
 

I posted my last comment before reading this and your argument seems sound. If Kingwa really refused, and moderators did not take action themselves, then that is a different story. I am not trying to crap on you Steve. Others with problems, please chime in.
 
 

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

 

My beef is, why have you allowed a MOT and competitor bring this up on an open forum? Surely there are other means without interested parties being involved.

There were other means. But neither the moderator, HeadFi, nor Kingwa chose to step up to the plate.
 
se
 
 
 

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

There were other means. But neither the moderator, HeadFi, nor Kingwa chose to step up to the plate.
 
se
 
 
 

See above comment.
 

 

[Uncle Erik]

I get all that (I promise I am not playing dumb), but I have cranked all my gear with these cables for over 2 years now (DAC's, amps, head amps, DI) without issue. It seems I am defending Kingwa blindly (I really don't mean to) but where is the evidence of the failure? If there is, I really do want to know. I plan on using different cables anyway even though nothing has happened just to cover myself.
 
My beef is, why have you allowed a MOT and competitor bring this up on an open forum? Surely there are other means without interested parties being involved.

Tim, this is one of those things where it doesn't matter unless something goes wrong.

When something does go wrong, not being correctly fused will be a whole lot worse than it should be.

On one hand, you could be slightly inconvenienced and have to spend $2 for a new fuse.

On the other hand, your gear could catch fire and/or you might be electrocuted.

These are forseeable events, you have to think ahead.

 

[3602]

So AUDIO-GD is saying that:
 
Their power cables, being made in China PRC, have to conform to Chinese regulations, which have the Hot and Neutral swapped (relative to the U.S. standard).
OK. Just following rules.
 
However, I personally have several Chinese-made appliances with Chinese-made power cables, such as my Proctor Silex water boiler. They have C (UL) US Listed printed on them.
So can they not switch factories?

 

[SoulLi]

So I just checked my cable for my nfb-12 I just got and it is indeed reversed from the pictured shown on the 1st page. Should I get a new cable? And does it mater what kind of cable or any 18awg cable will work?

 

[snaps11]

Im pretty surprised how this problem was not announced to keep things quiet and away from the public. Anything that involves possible injury should be spread throughout the community to ensure no one gets hurt. It is just silly to cover things up like this. Good work SE, you are doing the right thing. I don't have any Audio GD products but at the very least I think Audio GD should email people that had these units sent to them in the states to avoid any problems.

 

[Poetik]

Wow that's interesting, time to change power cables!!

 

[n3rdling]

Another reason to buy power cords from monoprice.

 

[kwkarth]

Several moderators spent a lot of time and effort to validate and research the issue and appealed to kingwa to address the issue first.  It was then decided that it was fine that those who first brought up the issue make the announcement.    This issue was not ignored.