Resolving power cables do they really make a difference

[Keith_W]

TT, I warned you yesterday. Do not ridicule other members. You have been suspended for a week. Anyone else doing the same will suffer the same fate.

We have noticed that there are a whole bunch of people who have recently joined SNA from aus.hi-fi. We know your posting history on aus.hi-fi, and if you attempt to repeat the same pattern here you will quickly find that SNA is not the same. If this seems very unwelcoming, it's because we do not really want you here based on your past behaviour and we would rather you go back there. You can stay if you agree to behave though.

[DIYnut]

When I built my current house I also did this. I have all my HT room on a separate circuit from the meter box and it is on a different phase from the air cons. Just a precaution and sound engineering

Cheers TT

Hello TT,

Do you have 3 phase power at home??

If you have large aircons I would think that you do.

But how can you isolate "1" phase just for the HT room? as the aircons use all three?

Of course you could be running smaller aircons on single Phase and have three phase available, that then makes sence and all of the above can be ignored.

Now back to the subject, I was at the said GTG and was supprised at the result also!

I did a little investigation and found that most "exotic" power cables have some form of filtering built in. This may go a long way to clarify the situation.

Remembering also that the original cable we had was one that came with a $50 DVD player!

Moondog may be able to tell us if the cables have any filtering built in?

One of my next projects is to make a power board that has separate filters for each item and then use fully sheilded AC inverter drive cabling to conect to the system.

Cheers

DIYnut

[56oval]

Hello all.

Any I have a seperate 20A circuit with a 4500VA isolation transformer works wounders next step is to run a seperate ground and a bigger iso tranny .The plasma TV runs of a 20A circuit as well needs an iso tran keeps the picture nice and clean .

Cheers.

[Cloth Ears]

Could I please understand this correctly? You are saying that "a 1.5m power cord will change harshness in female vocals on a SACD?" Not the 100s of Km of power line from the power station to the meter box, or the 20m-30m from the power grid to the meter box, or the 5m-20m from the meter box to the power point but just the last 1.5m in the chain? Is this what you are claiming you have heard?

Cheers TT

Hi TT,

Without buying into the rest of the debate, the power from the station (being 22,000v - or is that 33,000v?) to your local transformer is not the as susceptible to interference as the 240v that comes from your transformer. So the only area where added stuff one the power would be from the 30m/500m from the transformer to your meter and the cabling within the house.

Personally, I think a power conditioner (converting to DC and back again) would do this much better than a cable. Turning off your fridge also helps. And having a good power supply in your amplifer is probably better than all of these (Damn, I did buy in. Damn!). Shielding your standard 3 core would do better than buying something expensive - again my opinion only.

[Alan Monro]

Alan I am sure you are familiar with the technique I am about to describe and I have only re-posted it here so others may gain some insight from it

First, remove all interconnects, power cords and speaker cables.

Liberally coat with a name brand of Reptilian Lubricant.

Re-install, aligning all cables with the local magnetic flux lines.

Either purchase the special radiation excluder or make your own cone shaped tinfoil head piece so as to eliminate all eternal radiation to the cranial cavity. Occasionally a large red "D" affixed to the forward facing area may be beneficial.

Then have a friend or neighbour take a photo of yourself wearing the specially constructed radiation excluder and post to the group here.

Will any of this help? I doubt it but we all want to see the photos:D

Cheers TT

TT There are a lot of members that have spent many thousands of dollars on their equipment . There are a lot of dealers that pay to be on this site as members giving their advise and selling valve amps speakers etc to the members . Go with the tide , don't rock the boat , There are members that agree with you 100% . Put it this way ,I am not saying this site but If you were talked into buying 3 foot of cable at the cost say $100 and told your sound is going to be 200% better by using it you could really fool yourself that you could hear a difference . If you rang up and complained that you couldn't hear any difference you would be told the wire needs to break in for 3 days . Kind Regards AlanM

[terry j]

Hi TT, you don't happen to moonlight on an audiophile blog do you?

http://www.cyclesoft.com/Audiophile.html

[Marine]

TT There are a lot of members that have spent many thousands of dollars on their equipment . There are a lot of dealers that pay to be on this site as members giving their advise and selling valve amps speakers etc to the members . Go with the tide , don't rock the boat , There are members that agree with you 100% . Put it this way ,I am not saying this site but If you were talked into buying 3 foot of cable at the cost say $100 and told your sound is going to be 200% better by using it you could really fool yourself that you could hear a difference . If you rang up and complained that you couldn't hear any difference you would be told the wire needs to break in for 3 days . Kind Regards AlanM

I have never heard power cables claimed to make anything like that much difference. I would also be sceptical if someone did. I have found the difference noticeable, but far more subtle. But then I only have $100 power cords.......

[Moondog]

Hello TT,

Now back to the subject, I was at the said GTG and was supprised at the result also!

I did a little investigation and found that most "exotic" power cables have some form of filtering built in. This may go a long way to clarify the situation.

Remembering also that the original cable we had was one that came with a $50 DVD player!

Moondog may be able to tell us if the cables have any filtering built in?

One of my next projects is to make a power board that has separate filters for each item and then use fully sheilded AC inverter drive cabling to conect to the system.

Cheers

DIYnut

the cable is made up of 4 leads , 2 are earthed each has 10 strands of silver coated copper , insulated with Teflon and then the 4 leads are twisted at 11 turns per foot

Moondog

[56oval]

TT There are a lot of members that have spent many thousands of dollars on their equipment . There are a lot of dealers that pay to be on this site as members giving their advise and selling valve amps speakers etc to the members . Go with the tide , don't rock the boat , There are members that agree with you 100% . Put it this way ,I am not saying this site but If you were talked into buying 3 foot of cable at the cost say $100 and told your sound is going to be 200% better by using it you could really fool yourself that you could hear a difference . If you rang up and complained that you couldn't hear any difference you would be told the wire needs to break in for 3 days . Kind Regards AlanM

Hello Alan .

DIY,DIY

Cheers

[bassett]

This is all very interesting, but please consider the following and what effects it will have / won't have / might have

At the present time Country Energy have data / internet / pay tv all running via the mains power cables. Unfortunatly due to high RF interferance, this system only works with underground mains supple cables. These systems have been implemented overseas for years in places like Mexico, Japan, some European countries, a nd also parts of Tasmania and Canberra. The system will infact work anywhere there is underground power and it's a simply matter of plugging the modem into any household power point, then pluging phones, TV, computers, etc into the modem.

The question is, how will this affect our audio systems

[56oval]

I made a power cable for my pre .I lent it to a mate to use on his plasma which be did for 3 months he didn't notice any real improvement until I asked for it back because I finished my pre .After he put the original power cable back on he noticed how good the cable I made was ,so seeing is believing as well .

Cheers.

[kye]

Hello Alan .

DIY,DIY

Cheers

56 - the more you keep writing things like this, the more I like you!

[kye]

one of the things that I think helps the skeptics to maintain their view that there is no difference in such things is in ABX style testing. I know for one that I can't decide things on the spot - but the effects are something that you gradually notice and adapt to over time.

i've also noticed that up until recently, my hifi used to normally sound about 80% as good as anything else I heard, which I attribute to me not being able to hear much of the differences (of the better systems that is) but once you upgrade something at home you live with it and get to appreciate it, and then if you notice it gone in another system then it's something you now notice that you would not have noticed before.

I make changes to my system gradually (if they're subtle) so that I can give my senses enough time to catch up. normally after they've caught up then things are much more obvious a lot quicker in the listening session.

[ehtcom]

I'm sure I wrote all this down not so long ago.

here it is.

Up until recently I was a very big sceptic. A good power cable does make a difference! As for price, well I believe you can purchase a power cable that will equal anything on the market for under $150.00, just make sure it has an earthed shield. The shield is what makes the difference, especially if you are running class A tube gear. Most tube amps will draw quite a bit of power from the mains resulting in some stray flux emitting from the power cable, this could interfer with your interconnects. What you will find when using a good quality cable is an improvement with imaging and instrument detail, but you really have to listen. Another improvement is to run all your power cables away from your interconnects, this will result in a similar improvement.

Remember though when purchasing new power cables, the wire inside your walls is ~1.25mm solid core stock copper. The fuse that protects your equipment from burning out and starting a fire is most likely 0.25mm wire and the wire inside the primary of you power transformers is also around 0.6mm standard copper. The quality of the copper in the power cable won't make a difference, just the quality of the plugs and shielding.

Cheers, Earle.

[Pulse-R]

I don't use special cables, I use decent quality cables. I use a filter and physical separation to improve the noise rejection. Turning off the fridge and the air con work wonders - now to get the neighbours to turn off theirs....

[Monkeyboi]

TT, I warned you yesterday. Do not ridicule other members. You have been suspended for a week. Anyone else doing the same will suffer the same fate.

We have noticed that there are a whole bunch of people who have recently joined SNA from aus.hi-fi. We know your posting history on aus.hi-fi, and if you attempt to repeat the same pattern here you will quickly find that SNA is not the same. If this seems very unwelcoming, it's because we do not really want you here based on your past behaviour and we would rather you go back there. You can stay if you agree to behave though.

Just for the record I didn't find TT's post the least bit offensive.

If anything it was amusing and IMHO light hearted.

Personally I don't think it was intended to offend, however I can understand some may have read it that way.

The problem with the written word for most people is that we lack the literary panache to articulate ourselves compared to the great writers of the world. I'm sure if Shakespeare posted here he would have been beheaded by now. (That's a joke Joyce).

Cheers,

Alan

[ehtcom]

THANKS TT, BEST TWEAK EVER. IT ONLY COST SOME TINFOIL AND A BIT OF VAS

CHEERS.

[56oval]

THANKS TT, BEST TWEAK EVER. IT ONLY COST SOME TINFOIL AND A BIT OF VAS

CHEERS.

Hello Earle ,how come you didn't run the speaker cable up the centre of the horn like everyone else .

Cheers.

[Jake]

I was wondering that myself.

[56oval]

Hello Earle is that a diy music server in the left hand corner just behind you .

Cheers.

[snaggs]

Hey Earle, now that is the only explanation I have ever read thats made any sense (for me) with regards to power cables.

Is there anyone who sells a well shielded but utilitarian power cord?

Daniel.

PS. I want a hat too

[ehtcom]

Hello Earle ,how come you didn't run the speaker cable up the centre of the horn like everyone else .

Cheers.

It sounds better that way.

[56oval]

It sounds better that way.

which way

Cheers.

[damohpi]

I haven't tried it but I've read good things about the Volex 17604 power cord, meant to be a budget 'reference' cord at around USD10 for 2m, could be worth a try if looking for a cheap shielded power cord....

[ehtcom]

which way

The way of the horn.

You have to become one with the horn.

be the horn. Om