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Power Cords Snake Oil ??

Having been a long time audiophile living with countless high end compnents I have to wonder about the theory and practicality of high end power cords.

I have yet to hear the difference a power cord makes. Ive owned, synergistic, Shunyata, BMI and cardas. I in no way can detect any sonic signature or change. Give me a pair of interconnects and I imeadiately notice a difference somewhere in the sonic spectrum. Not the PC though. I have accomplished 4 blind tests with my friends. 3 out of the 4 they did not know their cord was replaced. All 4 were using a stock factory supplied cord. Each of the 4 tests were done on different components. Amp, CDP, Preamp & dac.

My electrical backround tells me that provided you supply the component with its required voltage bet 110vac or 220/240vac its happy. Now, change the incoming frequency from 60hz to say 53hz and watch how quickly your soundstage collapses.! This is often the case during the summer months when home air conditioners are in use and the utility company power output is taxed to the max. A really good power conditioner should however take care of the frequency fluctuations. But 110vac is still 110vac regardless of the conductor it passes through as long as its remains 110vac when it reaches the intended circuit. Does your 8k amp or preamp know the difference of the path the voltage took to reach it ? Many an audiophile will use a dedicated 20amp circut for their equipment.That is a good idea as voltage & frequency fluctuations will occur in the home circuit to to other loads on the main breaker panel but again, A power cord simply is the means of transporting the voltage from the wall to the component. IF there is a clean 110vac @ 60hz at the wall socket, no matter what the medium is to go from the socket to the component, it will still be 110vac @60hz.

Could somebody expand on this a bit more. I just dont understand it. ??
128x128jetmek
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Must be all those years of listening to nothing but goth and speed-metal... ;^)

I recommend NRBQ's song "12 Bar Blues" (from Grooves In Orbit) as an antidote. Terry, Joey, Tommy, and Big Al will step you right through it...just like riding a bicycle, it'll all come back to you in a rush. :-)
corona
132 posts
 
Sean;
No problem, I took your interest as a compliment. What makes copying difficult, on most of the models, the internal structure is bonded together any attempt to disassemble will lead to disaster unless you have sourced the replacement materials. If you would like to see a picture of these wonders: click Browse then Cables [power] scroll to Dealer Demos and click PreThrilla and Ampthrilla, the Prothrilla and Supremium are not yet posted.
Any of you Audiogoners that not yet investigated “String Theory” check it out on the “net”; its implementation is what’s going to divide the past from the future.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Corona: Are you implying that your product achieves 'unification' on the sub-atomic, electro-magnetic, and gravitational planes, while operating in 12 looped dimensions so tightly packed into the fabric of space-time that their existence may never be directly revealed to us? (Answer: If the theory's true, than yes - same as for you and me and everything else. But that's the beauty of a marketing plan that invokes untestable hypotheses - you can never disprove it.)
corona
132 posts
 
Zaikesman:
I didn’t say that you did; according to E. Whitten it’s 11 dimensions.
So what does “String Theory” have to do with my audio system; is that your question? Here is a list of conventional electrical engineering precepts which are employed in almost all cable designs to the detriment of all audio systems. The following would not be supported by String Theory.
1. Building a cable without any consideration of the field that surrounds the conductor.
2. Designing a power cable as an isolated entity as if is has no bearing on the performance of the speaker,amp,etc
3. Claiming that electrical and mechanical resonances are mutually exclusive phenomena.
4. Claiming inductance, capacitance, resistance are the central issues in all cable design.
What String Theory is asserting: all revolves around resonance. This has been our position for the past decade.
vvrinc
323 posts
 
?!¼?ion:
Why not have forum sub-categories under "CABLES" (IC or PC.)

ie.
Forum>Cables>for those who "do" hear a difference
Forum>Cables>for those who "don't" hear a difference

I now belong to the former after being a rabid member of the latter for many years.
I have had electrical engineers, physicists, mathematicians, and palm-readers explain to me the laws and characteristics of an electrical current...I've also visited my doctor for an ear exam. My conclusion is that my ears are right and the theories, although not wrong according to present level scientific knowledge, will eventually be deciphered correctly when more facts are available through experimentation.

I don't own megabuck PCs. All of mine were purchased from Signal Cable. Incredibly well made and the first PC that let me hear the difference between regular equipment cables and after market ones. Although I have auditioned quite a few much-more-expensive cables, the small differences in sound–for me–didn't warrant the expense.

We can go on beating this dead horse until even the flies will refuse to land on it! (However, it was my reading of a few of these combatitive threads that lead me to give other power cables a listen.) So, maybe this carcass still has some meat to pound on.
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