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Shielded or unshielded power cables for class-D monoblocks?

I am moving to a new house in Europe where I will be having a dedicated hifi room. Two separate power lines have been installed, still undecided on the wall socket, they will be either Furutech SWS Rhodium NCF or SWS Gold or one of each.

I was thinking of the power cables to my Class D amplifiers (Ncore NC1200 based), for other classes of amplification I normally prefer unshielded power cable but since my amplifiers use SwitchMode power supplies should I try shielded power cables? What do you think?
greg_f
adurerca
38 posts
 
The EMI radiating from your amp is going to affect the other nearby components so I would focus on the digital source IC's and power cord more so than the amp.  Balanced IC's with some sort of shielding is the first thing that comes to mind.
tantejuut
125 posts
 
If your low level cables are shielded, most noise issues should be covered. I have the same power amp "problem". My current configuration is an unshielded star quad geometry for my power cable, that is self shielding by design. My TV, decoder and PC have shielded power cables. This works for me. 

Maybe you want to check the puritan power cables, because their shielding is about dissipating instead of draining noise to earth. 

http://www.puritanaudiolabs.com/products/mains-cables/





greg_f OP
75 posts
 
The amps are driven directly from a Weiss DAC 202 connected with balanced ICs. The front end is currently powered from a power conditioner and I think I will be using shielded power cables there. I currently use DIY supra lorad cables with wattage connector at IEC end and Neutrik power connector. I would like to upgrade them.

The power cables will be almost certainly DIY again, the cable either something from the Furutech range or DIY helix style. For the power amps I was thinking of using the Nanotec 308 wire which seems to be not shielded.

tantejuut , I think you are using the Viborg connectors, how do they compare to the Furutech ones? Which ones do you recommend?


erik_squires
15,619 posts
 
Shielded, and in a separate zone.

You want to keep the EMI/RFI from radiating out of the amps and into the other devices.

I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on this, DIY cables with nice plugs will do. Make sure you run the ground from end to end, but connect the shield at the wall only.
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