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Power cable recommendations....

I think what happens inside the amp once the current gets beyond the input socket...ie beyond the cable, that makes even thinking about cables daft. In the end, there is some stuff inside an amp (other bits of kit also apply) which takes whatever is coming in and stores or alters it so that, when your amp (or etc) needs some electricity, it get exactly what it needs, of the correct voltage and in the required quantity.

so what on earth difference can a cable make? I guess it is possible to muck about with plugss, wires, wrappings and fuses so much that they actually do audible damage to the flow?
Is that it? We pay more for a bad product?

ps. I know less about the above than I know about the life cycle of the wood ant....
The above is a sort of ignorant common sense summary of 50 years thinking...WTF?
 
John Phillips said:
An engineer does not make that assumption. Every engineer designs for the ranges of inputs a design will experience. That's normal procedure and it includes mains power.

There are, for example, test conditions in published IEC 60000-series (IIRC) standards, set out by engineers for reference by other engineers. These provide mains supply ranges and other deviations from perfection for designers to test their designs against, to check that they cope with the sort of imperfections expected on mains supplies. That does not mean all engineers are good and do this, of course. And it is possible for mains supplies to occasionally go further away from perfect than expected.

From a system architecture PoV the best place to cope with mains imperfections is right there in the basic power supply. If anything can be done externally it can be done in the best place too.

The more I pay for a bit of kit the less sensitive I expect it to be to unwanted external influence. The world of high-end audio seems to work differently. But I do know others see the hobby in a way I don't.
Click to expand...

Formica pratensis or Formica rufa ?
 
palacefan said:
Why is it assumed that every one has the same electrical supply. Why do you assume that people do not hear improvements. Same electrical supply but why would a loaded ring main sound the same as a dedicated ring or radial circuit. Electronic engineers are not unbiased, they surely are biased.

I have had enjoyable electrical supplies without problems and audio disaster in my current home where the components have adjusted voltage.... not at all good ...however using a regenerator makes an incredible difference. I use interconnects using 100% silver foil according to maker with superb results as opposed to the resident electronics genius with who sticks with the wire to get you going.

Fuses have nothing to do with sound.....what absolute cobblers that is!

I have highish end kit with a fantastic sound and if i abided by the electronic engineers I would not have achieved such results.

Electrical engineers have a far greater knowledge than me but superior sound can be achieved beyond a book.

Nothing else matters.
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We are talking about power cables here ie a kettle lead, not ring mains, conditioners or anything else.
A lead with a plug on the end generally 1m in length.
 
Are there audiophile transformers wound with audiophile specially woven copper or something?
(Forget AN)
Are drive units wound with anything else than hair-thin copper or aluminium?
Always wondered.
Those are the real questions – to me at least.
I’ll get me coat.
 
My experience. From the early days in my HiFi journey some 35 years ago I was a cable believer. Every dealer used expensive cable and recommended at every opportunity, some cable manufacturers had demo kits you could take home (Audioquest was one kit I took home) and the HiFi magazines gave away awards and 5 stars to hi end cables.

I spent a small fortune on all manner of cables and always thought I heard a difference.

I had some Chord top of the line speaker cables that were just north of £2000. They replaced some Nordost Red Dawn which I also thought better than the ones they replaced. I used for a couple of years but had started to pay attention to the science of cables.

One particular article made me determined to prove to myself the expensive cables were worth it. I purchased some fairly cheap copper cable from eBay and banana plugs. Total cost was circa £50 max and easy to make in an hour or so.

I swapped and was sure I could hear a drop in SQ, swapped back and was sure it sounded better. I spent a little while swapping back and forth and then got my (also HiFi addicted) son to swap between the two cables without me having a clue as to which ones he used. Some times he would swap, others he would not but tell me he had.

Result - no discernible difference.

After this I did the same with my expensive mains cables, same result.

My system was north of £20,000 so not as someone commented ‘too cheap to highlight the differences’ and at times quite a bit more.

I am so glad I escaped the expensive cable merry go round as there is always another version/upgrade/new brand etc which gets in the way of enjoying your music.

My advice, focus on the fundamentals, system synergy, good support, well made (not expensive) interconnects and speaker cables, speakers that work in your room and appropriate time invested into room set up and treatment.

Tuppence worth from me…
 
If there is a meaning difference then it should be measurable. I may be cynical but if it were measurable then I am sure cable manufacturers would publish the results to support their claims.
 
Brian Ellis said:
My experience. From the early days in my HiFi journey some 35 years ago I was a cable believer. Every dealer used expensive cable and recommended at every opportunity, some cable manufacturers had demo kits you could take home (Audioquest was one kit I took home) and the HiFi magazines gave away awards and 5 stars to hi end cables.

I spent a small fortune on all manner of cables and always thought I heard a difference.

I had some Chord top of the line speaker cables that were just north of £2000. They replaced some Nordost Red Dawn which I also thought better than the ones they replaced. I used for a couple of years but had started to pay attention to the science of cables.

One particular article made me determined to prove to myself the expensive cables were worth it. I purchased some fairly cheap copper cable from eBay and banana plugs. Total cost was circa £50 max and easy to make in an hour or so.

I swapped and was sure I could hear a drop in SQ, swapped back and was sure it sounded better. I spent a little while swapping back and forth and then got my (also HiFi addicted) son to swap between the two cables without me having a clue as to which ones he used. Some times he would swap, others he would not but tell me he had.

Result - no discernible difference.

After this I did the same with my expensive mains cables, same result.

My system was north of £20,000 so not as someone commented ‘too cheap to highlight the differences’ and at times quite a bit more.

I am so glad I escaped the expensive cable merry go round as there is always another version/upgrade/new brand etc which gets in the way of enjoying your music.

My advice, focus on the fundamentals, system synergy, good support, well made (not expensive) interconnects and speaker cables, speakers that work in your room and appropriate time invested into room set up and treatment.

Tuppence worth from me…
Click to expand...
Well done for fessing up, there are others on the forum that have been down the same route.
Welcome back to reality.
 
Brian Ellis said:
My experience. From the early days in my HiFi journey some 35 years ago I was a cable believer. Every dealer used expensive cable and recommended at every opportunity, some cable manufacturers had demo kits you could take home (Audioquest was one kit I took home) and the HiFi magazines gave away awards and 5 stars to hi end cables.

I spent a small fortune on all manner of cables and always thought I heard a difference.

I had some Chord top of the line speaker cables that were just north of £2000. They replaced some Nordost Red Dawn which I also thought better than the ones they replaced. I used for a couple of years but had started to pay attention to the science of cables.

One particular article made me determined to prove to myself the expensive cables were worth it. I purchased some fairly cheap copper cable from eBay and banana plugs. Total cost was circa £50 max and easy to make in an hour or so.

I swapped and was sure I could hear a drop in SQ, swapped back and was sure it sounded better. I spent a little while swapping back and forth and then got my (also HiFi addicted) son to swap between the two cables without me having a clue as to which ones he used. Some times he would swap, others he would not but tell me he had.

Result - no discernible difference.

After this I did the same with my expensive mains cables, same result.

My system was north of £20,000 so not as someone commented ‘too cheap to highlight the differences’ and at times quite a bit more.

I am so glad I escaped the expensive cable merry go round as there is always another version/upgrade/new brand etc which gets in the way of enjoying your music.

My advice, focus on the fundamentals, system synergy, good support, well made (not expensive) interconnects and speaker cables, speakers that work in your room and appropriate time invested into room set up and treatment.

Tuppence worth from me…
Click to expand...

Reading another power cable thread here and what you have just said.
Made me remember a chat I was having on Friday evening with a fellow audio loving mate and cables and interconnects came up in the conversation.He's got a mate who has a system in the £150 000 bracket and he had at least £25 000 worth of cables of all description.
It was only after a big cable bake off with fellow Wam members blind testing cheaper and often bog standard cables he came to the conclusion that he could hear no difference.He sold all his cables and now uses just well constructed- shielded and terminated cables and put all the money about 10 grand into a hand built phono stage with top caps etc.

Another thing we talked about with powercords my mate said basically you have bog standard cable coming from the fuse box so how will the last meter make a difference.A dedicated ring spur from the fuse box I get with higher spec cable.

I remember a story years ago I read in a magazine the guy took it to a whole new level .I think he was from an engineering background and got the electricity board to dig up the road next to his house and he payed them to install the type of cable they use for big blocks of flats to go into his home and fuse box .All higher spec mains cable off the fuse box to his system.

I think just well made cables and keeping mains cables away from speaker cables interconnects so their not touching cleaning and reinserting plugs about 5 times to stop oxidisation every 6 months keeps things nice and clean in my system seems to keep the sound sounding good.
 
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