ZU audio does in fact do this on their top power cables, not copper but custom cut aluminum housings. And I believe they are also filled internally with an Epoxy such as mentioned above with filling the IEC with Silicone, because you cannot take them apart even removing the screws so there definitely glued down and feel full not hollow, Zu does this with their RCA connections and XLR as well. They are the quietest I have heard. |
For those ordering I decided to take a Watt gate / marinco IEC and AC plug end to my nearby Ace hardware... Warning NOT ALL THE copper fittings are going to fit, Problem is that ONLY the fittings with a 1.25" ID(Inner Diameter)will work, most of them have a 1.25" OD (outer diameter)
All of the straight fittings I found had only a 1.25" outer diameter so they did not fit over the body of the plug, the 1.5" are WAY too big and you would need to fill the gap with a bunch of tape or something to beef up the connectors size and or Tape it on in place if you don't want it falling off. The best I found was a Coupler made with one end as a 1.25" inner diameter, and it was then reduced to a 1.25" outer diameter
And use a pipe cutter to just cut it at the rounded reducer shoulder and throw the bad half away.. This fits super snug and has a professional finish. |
You can skip the double sided tape and just use a bead of Blu tack on each side of the Body and it will slip on tight and the blu tack will just ball up underneath and keep it super solid without vibration.. also this way it is removable with a little force to slide it back off, that is if you have the correct 1.25" ID copper pipe to finish it well without it just hanging off rattling around like on that marantz video. |
Yeah the blu tack is perfect for this application and semi-permanent, and has better mechanical and damping properties as well. Plus leaves no residue on the copper or your plugs which is nice, so you can test this out where you want and reverse it quickly. I also have decided to only do the IEC ends on my amps, and Do both ends on my DAC and Both ends on my Transport
Mainly I stay away from preamps with this kinda thing as it does seem to suck some life out of them.. Most analog gear accept amps for that matter dont seem to benefit from this, such as phono stages etc.. I just do the digital fully and the amps just the IEC connection.
I am curious however if there would be some benefit adding a Drain wire by soldering a small wire onto the Copper coupler at the IEC end and connecting it to the back of the Component chassis screw with a quick conneect tab or alligator clip? It would be grounded this way as well, not sure if any benefit but interesting. This way you have a positive solid connection as it seems in the marantz video above he basically was just trying to hang the copper so to touch the IEC inlet screws
I can see however its worth using stainless steel or Brass wall plates for more isolation on that end vs. cheap plastic ones.. However I would not pay the 30 to 300 dollars for the voodoo carbon fiber or brass plates from some of these guys advertising them! |
I would be curious however if a couple of the shields are just simply NOT having any negative effect, but also not doing anything positive but lame ducks, like the ones possibly on the preamp.. So if you get a chance let us know.. But again it will really depend on the equipment too I am sure, tube, solid state, overall design and power supply in the component can make this tweak better on some and not so good on others who knows? |
Nasaman,
Yeah you could probably get away with steel or aluminum too, but copper is pretty easy to get.. Brass would be really heavy and pull on your connection a lot depending on the thickness.. Standard Wattgate connections you will need exactly 1.25" or in otherwords 1-1/4" INNER diameter couplers if you want the perfect fit. 1.5" will be larger than your wattgate and you would need to put some type of spacer, either wrapping a thick line of electrical tape, or some thick double sided tape if you just want to hold it in place. |
Kenk168, in this case it really should not matter much in the gauge of metal used, its going to block the same for the most part, only reason I could see thicker being better would be with a really strong inductive/magnetic field, but I think this would be far more power than what we are able to run in the house. Essentially this might work even just using Aluminum duct tape, or copper tape wrapped around the connector a few times, problem is that a roll of that tape is probably a lot more expensive than a few of the 3 dollar plumbing pipes we are talking about here!
For example there are many hi end manufactures that wrap just the transformer in the component with a simple foil thickness type metal with good shielding results. The only other advantage to thicker being possibly better would be simply the mass adding more mechanical damping, but for the shield properties if thats what your going for I really doubt you would find much of a difference.
Who knows maybe just balling up a strip of the aluminum foil in your kitchen right now might be just as effective! But it would not look as cool :-) |
They should call it a "Loading plug" opposed to "Shorting Plug" |
Nasaman, Quite honestly I saw the biggest advance in Video with the tweak.. Audio about 5 to 10% maybe, video 15 to 20% cleaner. For the most part as stated above this is most effective on digital gear, however more so on the transport side even over a DAC. |
2chnlben
Definitely with todays Digital Displays as all Flat panels are basically "DTV's" if you can get a copper ring on the IEC and its a standard WBT type IEC you use to make a custom connection/cable etc...Then what we are talking about above will work well, For sure this could be of some benefit right on your TV.. You can do it to both ends but seems the most important by concensus so far is doing the IEC at the Units input closest to the transformer.
Mostly everybody above is talking about on your DVD player, or Cable box, or Movie server I am sure could all benefit from an upgraded cable with this copper shielding being they are all based in the digital component realm. You could even keep your cheap belden IEC computer cables that come with the components and take one over to the hardware store and find some Copper to fit those as well, but they will NOT be the sizes above, they will be smaller, like 1" or 3/4" or something probably.
Beyond that I have not tried it on a TV display, I would accept mine has a Standard IEC but its RECESSED into the back and very difficult to get an IEC other than the standard generic cables to fit in there, also with a copper ring Definitely will not fit, but I could do it and may on the AC end at the wall.
Bottom line although some above argued it, I explained very Clearly that 1 1/4" couplers are tricky, THEY ARE THE EXACT correct size if the ID (Inner Diameter) is this size not the OD (outer Diameter), Only for WBT's and Wattgates which are made by the same manufacture MARINCO. Above somebody says a 1 1/4" coupler Hits and does not go over but just hits the insert, Yes and this is why He used standard Marked 1 1/4" couplers, you need to be careful and find the more rare it seems Reducer couplers, or get lucky and find a straight pipe with the REAL 1 1/4" ID. You can use the 1 1/2" and use some Blu tack or double side tape to make up the difference, but I prefer not to, it has a pretty good amount of space.
I had to custom cut some with the ID of the correct size and they fit directly on like the plug was made out of Copper, but this is probably not easy for most, so just buy the 1.5" and modify as you see fit to fill the gap.
Good Luck |
Nasaman
Okay what about filling the body of the connector with some hot glue or silicone? Guess if you go this route it will not be reversable, not sure, actually I guess hot glue will not really hold the connector body permanent, it would probably just slip right off still, and hot glue could be peeled off the wires and connections inside rather easy? |
Nasaman Note on Page one of this thread I stated that Zu is already doing it yes. |
