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Do power cords really matter?

I'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseum in the past, but while reading an ad for a power cord, I've had a very simplistic thought on which I would enjoy hearing other's opinions.
Case in point : The idea of dedicated lines appealed to me, but as we will be moving in the not too distant future, I just grabbed a left over roll of 14-3 Romex and strung about 60 ft. through the basement, and terminated in a box w/ a couple of audio grade duplexes. I did run the ground wire directly outside to a separate ground rod. (I realize for optimum performance I should have several runs to separate amp, digital, analog, etc.) My question is this: am I really to believe the last 6 ft. of power delivery can be that critical, when it has already traveled a much greater distance in ordinary wire. As we use outlets for convenience only, why not just terminate a 6 ft piece of Romex w/ high grade connectors? Are we just buying eye candy? Have we been duped w/ the hype?
Without having studied power conditioners, perhaps they can actually "clean" the raw power electronically?
Thank you for enduring my Sunday morning musings - all opinions cheerfully received.
Best regards,
Tom
tburn

Showing 3 responses by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
If people would stop thinking of power cords as an extension of the wall outlet and instead think of them as an extension of the power supply ( with the potential for various amounts of tuning / filtration / impedance alterations included ), this "debate" might have ended a long time ago.

Yes, they do matter. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Will, if i get my act together here ( i'm working on it ), i'll soon be doing some testing that should be able to document the differences amongst power cords. Once i can do that, i should be able to come up with a design that is a more effective "filter". If the filter action is high enough and someone has enough "junk" coming into the line, the cord should be able to make an undeniably audible difference. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Thanks to PsychicAnimal and Bob Bundus, i just snagged a handy piece of AC related test equipment off of Ebay. You plug it into the wall ( courtesy of a power cord with an IEC jack ) and it gives you three distinct views of your AC signal via an o'scope ( o'scope not included but i have a few ). Not only can you check to see if your 60 Hz sine wave is symmetrical or how much distortion it has riding on it, you can also check for common mode noise, noise between either the hot to ground or neutral to ground, etc...

It can do all of this simultaneously if you have a scope with enough inputs or multiple scopes. One can literally watch the changes in AC noise levels, small spikes and surges, etc... as they occur. I've been doing this for the last two days while at work and it has been pretty interesting to say the least. This should be an even greater help to me once i finally start testing PC, PLC's and noise filters.

My business partner, who is a "non-audiophile" and scoffs at the things that we "tweakaholics" do, was so intrigued by this device ( along with the Audioprism Noise Sniffers and Quiet Lines that i showed him ), that he "snagged" them from me for the long Memorial Day week-end. He wants to check out the AC in his house as he's been having a lot of interference on his Amateur radio gear lately. I'm sure that he'll be experimenting with his HT system also since he's got all the "goodies" to do so now. Hopefully, he'll see the value in working with "tweaks" and become more interested in such things. I could surely use the added "brain capacity" that he could offer when it comes to doing some of the testing / designing that i want to do in the near future. Sean
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