Who Here Makes Their Own Power Cables?

I made two power chords, one for my amp and one for my pre-amp. Used Belden 83803 wire I think, and some nice connectors from Parts Express. The only thing I have to compare to are the stock ones McIntosh provided. The Belden wire I used is kind of pricey but looks like it’s very well shielded, although it’s very stiff.

The twist on the Duelund is about every 2 inches and falls naturally.  Just a natural comfortable twist should give you this. Do this....

- be sure to twist the ground in the opposite direction of the twisted live and neural pair. The ground will end up being twisted about every 3-4 inches as is sort of rests naturally down the length of the twisted pair. 
- be sure to cut the ground several inches longer to accommodate the twist. 
- be sure the print on each of the wires reads from wall plug to iec plug.

I've had good results building my own power cords. Most of my store bought cord were JPS Labs. I use a 8 gauge wire solid core copper, stranded copper and solid core silver depending on sound I'm looking for. Solid core has big bass and more detail and stranded is smoother. I copied the way JPS did it with vibration control. I put the wire in some durable tubing, hot glue one end and fill it with brass powder bought off the internet( you can use any material you want, metal sandblasting material will work) I then take a palm sander and run it up and down the tubing to pack it very tight. I use either brass or chorion blocks( stuff counter tops are made of) and drill holes in them and use them as clamps at both ends of cable sometimes also in the middle. I put a sleeve over clamp (behind plug)made from metal tubing or pvc to hide clamp and shrink wrap. I use heavy duty screws because I tighten down really hard, cheap ones will break. 

" Solid core has big bass and more detail and stranded is smoother.."


Nope, wrong obdervations. A solid wire will deliver the signal in one piece while a stranded wire will deliver separated & distorted signals from every conductor. This kills the timing & speed and makes the sound "smoother", less dynamic, reduced 3D a.s.o. 

8awg is a capable size (110V?) even at the secondary site, would perform wery good if used as speakercables too. Better than any(!) commercially made speakercable unless they are solid core and thicker.

Cryogenics and wire directionality are equally germane to SQ as stranded vs solid core. At least that’s how the big boys roll. 

pop quiz - is directionality applicable to stranded wires?

Part 2 - How would you determine directionality for power cord wire?