Why power cable effect overall syste sound?

A few years ago or so on another forum a member who had an incredible listening room constructed (~$75K) and easily over $150K of gear swore up and down changing power cables to his powered sub inside the overall speaker enclosure made a noticeable difference in sound. People gave him the usual "no way" for the usual (correct) reasons. He finally did allow some of the other members to come over and do a blind test. Somehow when somebody else touched the power cables they lost their magical powers - he could no longer hear the difference when he didn't know which cables were being used. Funny how what you remember may not be what you actually heard in the first place even though you'd bet money on it.

I would suggest that the real question that should be addressed is not whether aftermarket power cords can make a difference relative to stock power cords (Grant has provided plausible, and in my view, valid explanations for that), but the reasons, if any, that very expensive upgraded power cords may provide additional benefit relative to less expensive upgraded power cords.

Grant, I'd be interested in your take on that. Most of the advocacy for upgraded power cords tends to deal with the question of whether and why upgraded power cords will perform better than stock power cords. But what are the reasons that say a $2000 power cord might perform better than a $200 power cord, the $200 power cord presumably providing the shielding and other factors you and others tend to cite as rationale for upgrading.

Obviously the $2000 power cord will utilize more expensive materials and/or construction techniques than the $200 cord, but how and why does that translate into better sound?

Regards,
-- Al

Or better yet - Show the difference.

Sebrof,

I see no amping up, no marketing, no reports of seeing the pink elephants. I simply answered a direct question. This thread has drawn no overt attention and beside a few low-brow comments has remained relatively civil. And if you believe this type of discourse on a used product sale site has any real impact to commercial markets I have news for you, _it doesn't_. Maybe if a company pushes hard to market their gear here and they sell direct or have agon dealers there would be a small blip... but otherwise you give these forums w-a-y to much credit for having any real affect.. :o)

There are in fact impulse tests that clearly show differences in impulse current delivery efficiency between stock wire and wire that has been designed for lower resistance/impedance characteristics. The problem with posting results of any kind is that then the argument changes to: "oh, well prove that has an affect on sound" or "that's not peer reviewed" or... on and on, round and round we go.

For people that hold unshakeable beliefs, no tests, measurements or tidal wave of anecdotal evidence will be enough because they are not truly curious enough to perform their own simple empirical tests. The argument seems to be the point of their hobby and nowhere is that hobby more popular than here and other chat rooms, where people calling themselves names like zippo rip and run to their hearts content. It is a waste of time engaging in those debates. As far as changing the waveform, that would be a simple task but would imo sound horrible :)

Almarg, your question is posed in a general form and I don't want to get into a position where I am perceived as defending other companies products, design tenets or price models. Nor do I want to speak of our products or philosophies because that was not the point of my participation.

I will say this and leave it at that. Inexpensive designs from my perspective should act as tools to prove that noise-isolated power cords *can* and often do make demonstrable, repeatable improvements in sound and visuals. They should be over-engineered to perform at the highest possible level regardless of a shrinking profit margin because a broad range of exposure is expected. That said, obvious cost constraints apply such as the use of tinned copper foil or tinned-copper braided shielding instead of complex conductor braids etc. Also, having the cords machine made versus hand made can make an obvious difference in cost to manufacture--giving better performance at lower costs..

Once you get into the higher price ranges there is greater freedom to use advanced wire treatments, geometries, more complex hand applied terminations and upgraded connectors. Of course, whether these additional processes that increase the cost of manufacture also increase the performance value in a given context is subjective and should be judged independently in each system. Obvious rules should apply based on the cost of the system versus the cord being considered for trial.

Once again, the most compelling and convincing tests for non-believers is to swap out stock cords for a system of less expensive but well-designed shielded cords. This at least should prove the difference exists. Where anyone might go from there is the subject of many threads here so no need to make this another one of those.

Regards,

Grant

I have to wait until I find a good Playstation to do a real acid test.Then I might get impressive audible results.