interconnects vs speaker cables vs power cords - which make the biggest difference?


Like the subject line says, I am curious what others think in terms of whether interconnects, speaker cable or power cords make the biggest difference when it comes to noticeable sound improvements, or are they all equally important?  I am thinking of upgrading them all and am trying to decide how to allocate spending.  Thanks in advance.
ccandte

Showing 1 response by almarg

Factors that tend to increase the criticality of speaker cables:

-- Low speaker impedance.
-- Long cable length.

Factors that tend to increase the criticality of line-level analog interconnect cables:

-- High output impedance of the component driving the cable.
-- Use of unbalanced interconnections.
-- Long cable length.

Factors that tend to increase the criticality of power cords:

-- The component being powered has an unregulated power supply and draws large amounts of current that fluctuate widely. Namely most power amplifiers and integrated amplifiers.
-- The component being powered tends to generate significant amounts of electrical noise, that may couple via the power cord to other components. Namely power amplifiers, integrated amplifiers, and digital sources.
-- AC line voltage at the particular location that is lower than nominal.  ("Nominal" being 120 volts in the USA).

Phono cables and digital interconnect cables involve complex issues that I won’t address in this post, but their criticality will vary widely depending on the specific equipment that is involved.

Regards,
-- Al