Looking For 18awg Audiophile Power Cable Options

Erm...I thought this was an audiophile forum for people who understand the answer to that question, lol... Did I put this post in the wrong place or something?

@audphile1 Thanks for your response. Yeah, I’m not the do-it-yourself kind of person unfortunately. I’m not sure what else could be the problem besides the gauge of the wire delivering more energy than the PS is designed to work with (or something). Could it be that most audiophile music systems are just not run for such long stretches for this normally to be an issue? This is all top of the line pro gear I’m working with, not cheap stuff, so if it’s an issue with design, I’m not sure what to do about it. Unfortunately, in the music production world, audiophile products are pretty much seen as "ridiculous" by most, but I’ve done very extensive tests for years and have no doubt in my mind they can make a difference, for better or worse. The Triode Wire Labs Digital American cables absolutely transformed my monitoring system and enhanced the quality of my ADC’s recording performance, and I’ve had no issues with stability or the sound changing when the system is left on for many hours. I think it’s ironic that it’s only the non-digital components that have an issue. The digital components are all from different companies, too. ADC - Mytek, DAC - Lavry, and then the computer is a custom built PC with an RME AES card.

With the other components, the only variable I’ve been able to isolate seems to be the gauge of the power cord. I’ve tried several cables over the years from respected brands, and the 18awg cables, whether the stock cables or slightly upgraded hospital grade cables, are the only ones that don’t give me issues on the analogue components, but then I notice the sibilants are a little harsher and higher frequencies not as smooth, which I’d love to fix. I really don’t know what else to say about it nor do I pretend to understand why, but it’s only after the system has been running for many hours, 8-12, something like that. I’ve done extensive tests where I ran everything on stock with 1 component on an audiophile cable/thicker gauge that’s already been burned-in, let it run for a week to settle (turning off at night), and then listened for a day to assess. It’s been some serious work, lol.

@dodgealum Thanks for the response, I will check it out, thank you.

It seems like the consensus on here is that I’m an idiot for thinking cable gauge is a factor, but I don’t know what else it could be, as that’s the only variable I’ve been able to isolate. And then I think, ok, well current delivery from 18awg is what the gear is designed to work with, but I don’t understand the technology enough to really know what difference massive current delivery would make, I’m just speculating. I do however undoubtedly have the ears to know what I’m hearing. The change is subtle but distinct, and not something I can have happening in a production system for recording and making critical mixing decisions.

Any other ideas are welcome and appreciated. I’ll do custom cables if necessary but if you guys really don’t think it’s the cable gauge, I don’t want to spend a bunch of money on it. Most of this gear is using around an amp of power, so even an 18awg cable is delivering more than it needs. I think the real benefit is more related to keeping the power clear of RFI between the power conditioner (Transparent Power Isolator) and the gear, also it seems high quality connectors make a difference, hence the notable difference with the hospital grade cables. I’ve never really understood the proposed value of flooding the gear with a ton of extra current it’s not needing to operate. Anyway, I’m open to other ideas, if we can refrain from the "you’re clearly an idiot" insinuations. ;) Thank you.

@thyname haha, no drive by poster here, no Sir.

Yeah I don't really know, I just did a lot of testing before I came to these conclusions. I don't really understand the science behind some of this. It's ironic because my digital components are the ones doing great on the big audiophile cables. And when I test this stuff, I don't just swap cables and listen and jump to a conclusion; I let the cable break in or re-break in extensively and/or settle and then assess.

Like I said I don't really understand the ideology behind big cable gauge to begin with. I was just looking at a chart because I couldn't remember the numbers, and an 18awg cable accommodates 14 amps! I have a computer, 2 powered 6" inch monitors, a DAC, an ADC, a stereo preamp, a tube compressor, and tube microphone power supply all on one 15 amp circuit and it's not even at 50% last I checked. So 18awg should be plentyyyy for each of these components...

@vonhelmholtz Interesting, okay, so my theory about the system being left on longer than a music listening system doesn’t hold up, haha. I wouldn’t say it’s a reduction in fidelity, it’s that the sounds starts sounding slightly...denser, less open, kind of compressed, more fatiguing from the density, which changes the way I want to mix and process audio.

I don’t think it’s a matter of noise getting back into the system, the components are all on their own duplexes. I actually spoke with Richard at Shunyata years ago. I have their PS8 power conditioning bar (I think it’s called a PS8?) but I don’t use it for the music production system. It was affecting the sound. Works great for my TV and soundbar for watching movies, but not for music production. The Transparent Power Isolator I have is amazing, and I’ve used lots of power conditioners over the years. I’ll never use anything else. Very expensive, but luckily I was able to get one that was refurbished by the company.

I’m down the middle regarding power cables. I know some people think it’s BS but I couldn’t care less, I’ve studied it extensively and the difference in certain applications is not subtle. But as I’ve described here in this thread, it’s not always a good difference. If it’s not the gauge of the cable causing the problem, I have no idea what else it would be, there are no other pertinent variables really.

@audphile1 I did that with most of the companies involved, they said they do not recommend using aftermarket cables. The company that does the speakers, KRK, said I could take them to be inspected, but there are no authorized repair places for KRK anywhere near me. And there are no issues with performance when I use an 18awg cable. I don’t think I need better components. The vocal chain is top of the line professional recording gear, and all works fine on 18awg cables. I just thought maybe I could find options that gave me the smoother top end I was hearing with the other cables. I have a tendency when something is good I always ask, how can I make it even better...

@dekay Those are the exact cables I’ve been using that have been working. The 18awg variety, I did try 16 and 14, but they make the audio sound over-amplified for some reason. And again, somehow I don’t think there is something wrong with all of the power supplies of Manley, Great River, KRK, these are all top tier companies. Anyway, those cables are the cables I mentioned that are notable improvements over the stock cables, I just thought maybe there was something out there with better EMI/RFI rejection. The Transparent Power Isolator does a wonderful job of filtration, I’m just trying to keep the currents as clean as possible from the isolator to the components, for those extra smooth sibilants. If there aren’t other options and custom cables are too expensive, the system is solid as is, maybe just not as "audiophile" as it could be.

@thyname Yeah, I don’t know, seems like a waste of time to troll posts like that. I wasn’t asking, "Hey guys, do you think cables make a difference???" lol.

Anyway, I don’t really understand the purpose of delivering 10x or more current a component needs with a massive gauge cable (even though my Digital American cables sound fantastic and I’m pretty sure are massive gauge, they just work and make such a huge difference in my work flow, I don’t really care if they’re overkill), but the concept of filtering noise out of the power and keeping it clean from ambient RF/EM all the way to the component is not snake-oily to me.

Anyway, thank you all for your feedback.

I think I’m done with my participation in this thread. It was a simple question about whether or not anyone knew of cables that would have the specs of the stock cables that professional audio gear is designed to run with but with higher quality connectors and some kind of RF shielding, but clearly that is too much for people to handle.

But to "secretguy" I will say, being an "audiophile" has nothing to do with needing a gauge or power cord of any specific kind, it’s about getting a certain energetic experience from the system as a whole, whatever it takes to get you there. For me, it was a shift in the way the system felt so that the system kind of disappeared and the music became more real, allowing me to make more objective decisions in the production of music.

Thanks to the few of you who had constructive things to say. Peace.