Power Cord Question

I appreciate your responses. Very informative. I won an auction for power cords here on Audiogon but thought it may be a waste of money to upgrade two prong power cords with the three prong type. My NAD C372 integrated amp has a two prong receptacle on the rear panel but the new power cords use a three prong female ends, thus my question. I find it strange that my audio components use detachable power cords with two prong receptacles: NAD C372 intagrated-amp, Marantz CC4001 CD changer and OPPO DV980H, but my LG LCD TV uses a three prong receptacle for its detachable power cord. I guess that shows how little I know about the electronics end of this hobby.

Eee3, I checked that website. That cable looks awesome. Oh, the name is Dark Keys, like on a piano haha

To clarify, the receptacles on the back of my components look like and are in the same shape as the IEC type but are only of the two prong variety. I didn't realize there was such a two pronged beast until I just happened to look. Like I mentioned above, I was surprised that my TV has a three prong IEC receptacle but my audio components come with a two prong version. I am also familiar with the smaller figure eight type and C7 type plugs. I actually have an older CD player with the C7 type (flat on one side). According to Musicnoise in his above statement, the third prong of an IEC power cord is only a ground and shouldn't degrade the sound or cause any damage by making this connection in a two prong IEC styled receptacle with a three prong female end of a detachable power cord. Hey, this is nice to be surrounded by such knowledge!

Jea48 writes: Many manufactures of audio equipment are building their equipment this way. Because of potential ground loop hum problems manufactures are using double insulated AC power wiring instead of having to use the safety equipment grounding method.

With doubled insulated AC power wiring the metal case of the equipment is floating and does not need the use of the safety equipment ground. Jmho eventually all audio equipment will be built this way. ************

Based on the above explanation is there any reason to go beyond the manufacturers specs by replacing the power cord with another companies power cord in the pursuit of better sound?

By the way, for those who may be interested I have tried the Audioquest series of power cords and currently own Black Mountain Cable Silver power cords obtained through the Audiogon auction process. Two of the three Audioquest cords sound pretty horrible in my system. One of the Audioquest power cords sounded neutral/balanced. The Black Mountain Cable sounds neutral/balanced. Overall, I don't hear any advantage in using any of these power cords over the power conditioner I am using. Adding the power conditioner (Belkin-Pure AV) was a huge improvement. The only difference I hear with adding the power cords is more impact or forwardness, which does not improve the sound quality in my opinion.

Maybe the new cable needs to "break in" but for now the stock power cord sounds better, smooth with no harshness/forwardness. Is this something to do with owning components more on the budget end not allowing one to appreciate the sound of another companies power cord?

Hopefully my ears after years of listening and performing are telling me the truth about these power cords and that what I am hearing (or not hearing) is not because of a limited budget. Well, I don't consider power cords valued at around $600 bucks cheap although I paid nowhere near that amount.

Eee3, I know what you mean. Although I have a great sounding system there is a lot better out there if you spend the money. In my town there is not any selection in terms of high end audio so to get high end you either have to rely on reviews and travel or use mail order, which makes it difficult. I was in the Pittsburgh, PA area one day and stopped in a shop that had a system hooked up with Macintosh electronics and a pair of B & W 802D's. The sound was beautiful but this caused a problem for me. When I got home, my own system sounded dull for about a month. So I agree that you can get a lot better sound if you spend the money. I suppose that system was valued somewhere around 25k as opposed to my system valued at around 5k. The next issue for me is that I recently started reading Stereophile and this has started me down another path into another realm in audio. I have been buying audio for around 30 years myself and always kept a nice system but until reading Stereophile, etc. and trying things out, I never realized the difference made by interconnects, speaker cables and power cords. Good enough for me was the likes of NAD and Mission, not that any of this is junk. I am happy with the sound of my system but this is like starting over again. Anyway, thanks again for your help. Lots of knowledgeable people and good advise on Audiogon.

Jea48, Thanks again. Very informative and useful!

This is the response I got from NAD Electronics concerning power cord upgrades:

****Thank you for your recent request via the NAD Electronics web-site.

No, do not use a new power cord. The one supplied with the C372 is the proper cord for the unit, and meets safety standards.

Best regards,

NAD Electronics
(mg)*************

Anyone agree or disagree with NAD tech support?

Knownothing, your recommendations are noted. Thanks.

1. My speakers are set up within space constraints but they sound very good anyway. Especially my living room system. It is on a rare occasion that I hear any sound coming from them. They are very large but look as if they are only sitting there doing nothing. All the sound is between the speakers and at times beyond the outsides of them. These speakers do not present themselves as point sources at all in their present position. Before your mentioning proper speaker setup I had noticed many of the systems displayed here on Audiogon show extremely large speakers placed next to walls in very small rooms in relation to the speaker size. I found that odd. All of my speakers, with the exception of one in my living room are at least 30 inches from the side wall and at least 15 inches from the rear walls. The best I can do in my current space.

2. I will have to work at resolving the isolation issues.

3. I feel that I use decent interconnect and speaker cables, which total approximately 10% of the cost of my audio systems. 10% seems to be the standard guideline. I use Audioquest Diamondbacks IC’s along with Audioquest Bedrock (bi-wired) and Audioquest Type 6 speaker cables. Adding these cables to my system made a huge improvement in sound quality in my budget system.

4. Far as a CD player I purchased the Onkyo DX-7555 based on a positive review in Stereophile. This was also before I became aware of Audiogon as a source of information. This CD player sounds good in my opinion but I have aspirations to try out tube equipment in the future, especially amplification.

5. I have never experienced a noise problem from any electronics in my home. I agree with your observation about smoothing or what I want to call balancing out the sound but did not hear any loss in dynamics. I realize my power conditioner valued at $500 is budget gear by Audiogon standards but in my opinion it improved the sound. However, I will try the new power cord directly in the wall. Although I like the sound improvement after including the power condition, it was a change of the sound, which you indicated that a power conditioner should not do.

I appreciate the information you provided as well as everyone else who provided information. I have learned quite a bit in a short time. I now have a lot of experimenting to do.

Back to my original question. I still walk away from this with the opinion that you all feel that it is not a hazard or not necessarily a detriment to the sound by replacing a stock IEC styled power cord of the two prong type with an after market IEC power cord constructed with the three prong type end. The third prong on the after market power cord is simply a ground and should not create a problem for me. ( Recapping what I learned here on Audiogon)

Thanks again for your help.

Knownothing, I agree that the power cord directly to the wall sounds better. No compression effect and more resolution especially notable in the treble ranges. Guitar riffs sound clean along with cymbals and other sibilant sounds.

I suppose one of the difficulties of the pursuit of better sounds is that when you add something new into the audio chain, the difference in sound caused by the new addition automatically gives the perception of something better. I think that interconnects may cause the same kind of perceptions. I have seen the debates here over interconnects.

I have a feeling that the ear can adapt to any clean sounding stereo and can distinguish one that sounds like absolute junk. Reminds me of the Hammond organ. Everyone I have played sounds different but most of them sound good. As with stereo, the change in sound is effected by room acoustics as well as the speaker cabinets used with the Hammond.

I suppose the bottom line is to enjoy the art form of music. The enjoyment comes from skill and passion of the artist/musician, not the Hammond or the audio equipment. A song from an artist you can not relate to will sound like trash no matter the quality of of the equipment. A song you love sounds good no matter what you listen to it on. Bottom line in the audio chain is the artist but yeah, nothing like your favorite song on a awesome system.