Why Power Cables Affect Sound


I just bought a new CD player and was underwhelmed with it compared to my cheaper, lower quality CD player. That’s when it hit me that my cheaper CD player is using an upgraded power cable. When I put an upgraded power cable on my new CD player, the sound was instantly transformed: the treble was tamed, the music was more dynamic and lifelike, and overall more musical. 

This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:

I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe. 

That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter. 

If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please. 
128x128mkgus

Showing 6 responses by michaelgreenaudio

Power cables, as with all cables, are highly tunable. I like starting with the basic wire and jacket and tune my way up from there.

http://www.michaelgreenaudio.net/mga-audio-cable

Hi 31

I don’t put stock in what anyone says here except for the music forums. What I do put stock in are the folks who use my product every day, and all over the world. The feedback I get and referencing I do with them is priceless. It’s like having a thousand sets of ears and it’s not opinion (ego) it’s reality, and it’s constant. Having a listening family is a lot different than opinion jousting. I have a lot of friends who are members here and read, but do little posting. Some of my friends who did start posting decided it wasn’t for them (better things to do like listen). Other friends of mine think most of the guys who post here are jerks and or very insecure folks.

Anyway, I just try to be up front with listeners and enjoy when they visit with me away from the pages here. So my answer to "If I want an explanation about how things really work" I wouldn’t come here to get enlightened :) entertained maybe, enlightened nah, making listening friendships that you can mingle with away from the forum itself not bad. As for me it's been a great place to reunite with old clients and friends.

Michael Green

I think the first cable referencing sessions I was ever involved in (professionally) would have been Criteria Studios and some of the other private studios, halls and churches in south Florida in the late 1970's. The art of cable making was fairly fundamental back then, and yes, all the cable sounded different and the only debate was what to use where for the best or desired results. Again in the early 1980-87 I was involved in the same sessions at MGAudio, In Touch and Fox Theatre (Atlanta), including the local audiophile clubs. I can remember making power cables for guitar amps for the original "Guitar Works" in Atlanta (not the now school). And, working with audiophile designers on some of our pet projects in the 80's.

I started designing audio cable while still in my Atlanta stores and around that time the cable craze had been in swing for a good ten years, both pro & home. I don't remember the "If" cables made a difference was even an issue back then. It was weird to see HEA audiophiles on the internet, years later, create these threads about "If" but it's just as weird to see so many talk without doing any real research on their own. The communities of pro & home listeners of the 80's were far more advanced in the art of testing vs today. Today there are revolving door debates instead of real life testing, it's strange. Issues in audio that have been settled many years ago are brought up today in ignorance and often. People shouting "proof" about things that were common knowledge and common practice, before the amp of the month club and plug & play "discrete" systems became the norm, somehow loosing the intellect.

As I have suggested here before the talkers will be identified as talkers and the exploring audiophiles will move on to real pastures or separate themselves from those who have nothing better to do then make noise.

My hats off again to the Mods of Agon.

Michael Green

Speaking of ARC. Those of you who are world travelers might want to look into previewing ARC wired with my Bare Essence and Picasso products in Malaysia. The setup there is doing the "Wow" for those listening.

I enjoy the referencing we've been doing.

Michael Green

It's interesting to see the tide turning 2019 style. As more Tunable sights pop up around the world the "Tune" is becoming front and center again. I believe these will be the new reference points for variable audio as it was in the past. This time around we have the internet available to us to give more of a real time account. There are going to be a few forums that we will use to promote the variables, hoping Agon is one of them because of the deep roots that Agon has historically.

Four years ago (maybe longer) we offered our Tunable Room (TuneLand Vegas) as a welcoming testing sight for any who wish to either come listen or bring their own test equipment. Listeners did come, conclusions were made and we all went back to listening with big smiles. There were no heated discussions needed at all once the demos happened. We did the same thing in Pontiac Michigan and Nashville years ago, and the original "TuneVilla" also welcomed listeners and techs from around the world. Dr Robert Barstow from SUNY was so impressed (1990's) he explored the possibility of a dedicated wing at SUNY for tuning R&D.

Fact is, as the questions get answered and the proof is experienced in real time, those who are what are called here on this forum "naysayers" never show up to any of the events. Every year testing is done in real time and the electronic industry continues to move forward and the opportunities are all around for the curious.

Will this forum become a place of proof seekers beyond angry audio trolls? Maybe, but I think the telling part are the number of posts that end up being deleted. I have said the Mods have been extraordinary on this thread and others. For myself this also represents a maturing of the pages.

As I put in more Tunable Rooms my offer will remain for those who wish to do their tests and move from talking to walking.

Michael Green