How can power cords make a difference?

Jadem6: Why such hostility? I'm always open to learning, and I try to learn constantly. I recommend it to you, too. I've been away, busy with work, writing, playing music, etc. It's good to have a little free time again.

What's wrong, Dekay? Why would I not want to think or hear? BTW, are you still up for double-blind tests of power cords?

Sedond: why do you assume that I don't listen? That's part of testing, man.

All a power cord has to do is deliver AC energy to the audio or any other kind of device's power supply. The more current the device needs, the larger the conductors in the cord should be. Thus a 120VAC power amp might benefit from a 14 or 12 gauge cable, while a CD player would typically only need an 18 gauge cable. There is no audio signal going through the power cord, and the supply itself isolates--or it damn well should, if any sort of competent person designed it--the audio circuitry from the AC and the power cord. Fortunately, cables are a commodity item, so there are inexpensive ones for those who want performance at a low price, and there are expensive ones for those who want performance at a high price.

Jcbtubes: Who are the losers musically speaking? That's a boastful claim to make about people you know nothing about.

Jadem6: The true pioneers in audio design made a point of understanding electronics, acoustics, music, and psychoacoustics. Without knowing these, you can't know what to do, why to do it, what to improve, and what the difference is between real and imagined. True audio pioneers learn the strengths and weaknesses of components, test equipment, and yes, the human ear. True audio pioneers aren't guys who got their hands on some fancy braided copper wire and simply proclaimed it "better" without any knowledge. True audio pioneers aren't guys who come up with flaky New-Age pseudoscience like power cords resonating and thereby altering room acoustics or strangling the bass and stuff like that.

Frap: Many people do like the distortion and coloration that tubes impart to the audio. That's your preference, and there's nothing wrong with that. My own playback preference is to be able to reproduce the recording as accurately as possible, with any intentional distortions left to the recording side because that is part of the creative process, where IMHO all's fair if it gets the artist and producer what they want.

Frap: A lot of people want the "tube sound," even at the expense of a couple percent THD. That's fine. I know you can make tube circuits without that distortion, but that's not what most seem to want to hear. For the "nice sound," tubes are great. For accuracy and neutrality, I pick solid state. And actually, for a while I was experimenting with FETs to get the tube-like transfer function. That was fun, but I didn't have a practical application for it.

IMHO, the audio pioneers (not only design, but also techniques, science, etc.) included Bell and Edison, of course, but also Helmholtz, Fletcher and Munson, Alan Blumlein, Edwin Armstrong, Jack Mullin, Paul Klipsch, Ray Dolby, Rudy Van Gelder, Stanley Lipshitz, Julian Hirsch, Eugene Patronis, Kees van Imminck, John Eargle, George Martin, Harry Olson, F. Alton Everest, and many more.

Brulee: No, I did not make a boastful claim in saying that PCs do not make a difference. I've designed, built, modified, and repaired many dozens of power supplies in audio gear, and the claims that the cable purveyors make are just downright silly, just as a claim that designer air in your tires would seem silly to an automotive engineer or to a mechanic.

Do I believe that you, Jcbtubes, and others are hearing things that aren't really there? That's a very strong possibility. Sound is invisible and temporal, our hearing varies with conditions, and aural memory is evanescent. Thus, audio is susceptible to biases, misjudgment, and misperception.

BTW, what CDs did you get?

Jadem6: I don't know what you're saying. Are you saying that building Heathkits is more instructive to audio design than studying acoustics, electronics, music, psychoacoustics, etc.? Man, I've done both. I guess I could've save myself some time and tuition, eh? I'm delighted about your practical experience, but I enjoy the fruits of my own even more. If you feel that true audio excellence is attainable only by spending megabucks on power cords, well, I guess your peasants are pretty damn wealthy and out more to impress than to listen. I don't object to your spending big bucks on such things; if anyone should spend his money on snake oil, I have the least objection to your doing so.

Jcbtubes: I will add the adjective "untrue" to your latest "boastful" statement. I've heard many, many audio systems of exceptional quality that had nary a designer PC, and couldn't possibly be improved by adding any. If slavish and worshipful devotion to every cockamamie marketing scheme meant to separate audiophiles from their money is being a "winner" musically, I'll let you have that one.

Mmccoy, your skepticism is well-placed. The expensive power cables are audio fashion, not audio performance. The purpose of a power cord is to transfer AC power from the outlet to the audio device. A very simple commodity-grade task, but there's little profit margin in commodity-grade simplicity. Thus, the hype, the snake oil, and the megabuck power cables.

Albertporter: why do you say I don't care for Audiogon or for music? Do you have some psychic ability to look into peoples' thoughts? If you do, it's defective.

What's your basis for saying I'm unable to think for myself? Do you have some rebuttal to double-blind testing? If so, please, please tell me what faults you find with it and what sort of testing is better and why.

And should I care that someone who believes in magic properties of wires believes I'm a "pseudo intellect?"

I have my ideas of what learning about music and audio is, and they do not coincide with yours. And I channel my energy into learning the way I see is correct, which means real research and testing and involvement.

Jadem6: Ha ha ha haaa!!

Sedond: If I told you what I use, I wouldn't have the fun of seeing a bunch of people telling me what _they_ think it is. ;-)

Albertporter: Obviously what? You make a lot of assumptions on things you know nothing about, Albert. Maybe that's why you disapprove of blind listening tests? To me, valid tests require that assumptions and biases be eliminated and that they be maximally sensitive. That means double-blind testing, especially ABX. Non-blind listening tests are so easily fudged that they aren't worth a bucket of warm spit except to the person making a sale.

Brulee: When I put in something new, I don't expect a change in sound unless I purposely alter something that will obviously change the signal; I wait to listen to see if there actually is a change. Expecting a change is an assumption, an article of faith, a baseless and premature decision. To be open minded, you have to first prove that there is a change; then you can decide if it's a change for the better or not. I don't expect a change with PCs because in my experience, any design engineer halfway competent or better is going to make his power supply robust enough to handle AC that varies over some range, and a change in the AC wires to the outlet just isn't going to make a detectable difference unless the wires are actually damaged. I'd like to try some of the fancy PCs some time in a proper double-blind test with a bunch of different listeners who are sharp and then publish the results. It's not a priority, though, just because I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate already, and those that pay the bills get first dibs. Some people whose opinion and audio knowledge I respect have done numerous blind tests of all sorts of cables and found that within certain parameters (for example, comparing a 12 gauge speaker cable, whether it's zip cord or something fancy, to a 24 gauge wire would be an absurd thing), they don't affect the sound because their electrical effects are minimal enough. OTOH, I've yet to find or read about anyone who actually knows audio and electronics (and I don't mean just knowing the buzzwords or how to sell) who genuinely believes in fancy special cables AND can prove that they're better.