bypass outlet and hook wires directly to romex??

Albert - great post. I've done the same experiment with similar results.

Here is the solution!! Bypass the main circuit breaker and install a fuse block with a ceramic fuse. This will ensure your power comes direct from the pole. Contact your favorite high end power cord manufacturer and pay them to make you a 75' cord with an IEC on one end and exposed wires on the other.

Drill a hole in the floor next to your system - and run the power cord through the hole and under your house, up to the fuse block.

Tie your high end power cord in to the fuse block and presto!

Audiophile Nirvana!! or Nervosa??

Hi Albert - What do you think...??? a more realistic test might be made by taking a "lesser" or cheap interconnect and coupling it (via a female to female adapter) to your usual interconnect. Then using this creation to provide signal from your source to your preamp.

Wouldn't that be very similar to the test with the Home Depot extension cord plugged into the wall and the Purist plugged into the HD extension cord? Which resulted in insignificant differences.

My guess is that doing this with interconnects might make a bigger difference since the signal is so much weaker... but who knows.. it would be interesting to try.

Stehno - The point made was that aftermarket power cords can produce a significant improvement in a system regardless of what type of conductor (romex or home depot power cord) precedes it.

From your post I get the impression that you do not believe this and have yet to be too impressed with aftermarket powercords in general. I might suggest that you actually try a few good high end aftermarket power cords before you start comparing them to zip cord. This will add credibility to your posts since your oppinion is clearly based on experiences that differ from those of the greater majority. I usually associate comments such as those you've made with a person who tried a cheap aftermarket cord and was dissatisfied with the results.

However, I must say you are partially correct, in some cases, cheap aftermarket cords are not much better than stock or zip cords.

Given that GOOD aftermarket powercords (such as Purist Audio's Dominus) truly DO make a difference we pondered the idea of replacing the romex entirely with an longer version of the power cord. OF course this was purly fantasy since few people have the means to complete such a project and its doubtful that electrical code would allow a power cord to be run from circuit breaker to a component.

Thanks for your help in getting this thread back on track!

Hi Stehno, Glad we cleared that up. When I talk about good power cords, I usually speak of those which retail for more each than the cost of three Foundation Research LC1/LC2 conditioners so forgive me if I get defensive when I read claim that only SOME aftermarket power cords are better than zip cord - because I have personally never tried one which wasn't better.

A single run of Romex from pannel to component will not minimize RF unless it is twisted 180 degrees every 5 to 10 feet the full length of the run. 10AWG Romex sounds the best and a step further would be to bypass the pannel completely and install a fuse block with a ceramic fuse.
The Romex is then terminated with a male IEC connector (Wattagate (Marinco) accepts 10AWG conductors) and connects to the component itself.

While this is a minimalist approach and does a good job of limiting the number of breaks in current it isn't all that fantastic sounding.

Plugging a simple 5Kva Topaz Ferroresonant power conditioner in to the wall receptical and connecting the amp, preamp and another stand alone isolation transformer in to it (plug your digital in to the isolation transformer) will produce better sonic results and cost under $150 if you get the conditioner/transformer on ebay.

Stehno... Sorry you took what I said as being pretentious and self elevated. I will accept your comment and bow my head to you with sincerity - I feel bad about coming across that way (understand that I may have) and do not wish to argue further.

A point I would like to make is that most people (including myself) do not jump directly into a 2000+ power cord without trying MANY less expensive solutions first. I have experimented to the point where the cost of my failed experiments actually rivals the price of my power cords. So what's better, to blow a bunch of cash (which can never be reclaimed) on projects that really aren't terribly successful or to just look the other way while paying WAY TOO MUCH for something that works better?

It isn't much different than buying a pair of speakers that sound worse and cost less because we want to save money. Only to find ourselves upgrading - selling at a loss and spending even more money to eventually get what we should have purchased in the first place. It's the audiophile trap I guess...

I wish I had someone who provided me guidance, suggestions or oppinions before I embarked upon my past experiments because it could have saved me lots of anguish.

Fortunately, today we have Audiogon - a means for people to communicate and learn from the mistakes and experience of others. This is a very valuable tool.