Do hi-fi Power cords make a difference? [Archive] - Audioholics Home Theater Forums

View Full Version : Do hi-fi Power cords make a difference?

Kosta27

05-23-2003, 02:08 AM

This is my first post on the forum, and I'm surprised not to have found any pervious discussions about the new hi-fi trend of adding expensive power cords of 14 awg and larger to amps/pre-amps and CDs costing well over the $100s price range.  Is this the latest snake oil or is there any proof to their claims?   <img src="http://www.audioholics.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'>

Clint DeBoer

05-23-2003, 10:19 AM

So far neither we, nor the people selling the power cords have been able to provide any proof of their claims.

Power conditioning is a great way to improve your system's performance, but adding a fancy $100+ cable will probably just set you back a C-note.

As always, we'd welcome any scientific data to the contrary. Lots of people will talk about how they have heard a difference. The problem is, test measurement equipment hears better than we do and it says that power cables don't do squat.

brent

06-06-2003, 12:00 AM

I recently purchased a B&K AVR 507 and yep-as warned here-the store highly recommended that I replace the "flimsy" ,"audibly poor" and "inadequate" detachable power cord with a much larger power cord that-you guessed it -costs $100.00. I declined by replying that I had faith in B&K that they would not sabotage their excellent receiver with an audibly inferior power cord. I may call B&K to get their official opinion. In any event, thanks Hawke for saving me $100-I'll put that savings toward speaker cable-and if you have a recommnedation on those let all of us know.
Brent

Yamahaluver

06-06-2003, 09:51 AM

Using the same flimsy cable which came with my Yamaha DSP-AZ1 and my two Yamaha amps which have twin 700VA transformers on them. In this case I decided to put my faith on the engineers at Yamaha.  <img src="http://www.audioholics.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'>

gene

06-06-2003, 04:13 PM

How bout going somewhere like parts express and buying a 14-16AWG power cord for about $20 if you worried that the cord isn't good enough.  Filtering should be done at the line and in the product, NOT thru a power cord.   <img src="http://www.audioholics.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'>

Eric

06-06-2003, 08:42 PM

Gene, see what you've done! You have been beating on the snake oil speaker wire people so hard they moved on to power cords!  <img src="http://www.audioholics.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':laugh:'>

Dragon Warrior

06-10-2003, 01:34 PM

On the same topic as power cord, but slight deviation...

I have bundled all my power cords together, wrapped the bundle with aluminum foil, and covered with pipe insulation.

I have noticed that the video interference on my TV disappeared.  Wonder if my method above caused the interference to disappear, or maybe I shifted the video cable to a place where there is no interference?

Am I reducing my performance of the equipment by bundling the power cords?

06-19-2003, 02:59 AM

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Dragon Warrior : On the same topic as power cord, but slight deviation...

I have bundled all my power cords together, wrapped the bundle with aluminum foil, and covered with pipe insulation.

I have noticed that the video interference on my TV disappeared. *Wonder if my method above caused the interference to disappear, or maybe I shifted the video cable to a place where there is no interference?

Am I reducing my performance of the equipment by bundling the power cords?
Wrapping the bundle with aluminum foil will reduce "common mode" radio-frequency noise that might otherwise be propagated along the power cables. If common-mode RF is what caused your video issue, you certainly could fix it that way.

Heh.. After re-reading, the above sounds a bit pompous, but it's accurate. :-)

--jim
(just passin' through)

06-19-2003, 03:07 AM

Sorry, forgot to address this one:

>Am I reducing my performance of the equipment by bundling the power cords?

Absolutely not. It isn't the best safety policy, but the electrons care not unless you have a frayed spot or two in a cord that gets bridged by that foil. [smoke rolls]

--jim