How can power cords make a difference?

New update on musicians using power cords on their guitar amps. This evaluation was performed by two people in the same band, using different guitars and amps(their own equipment). The contenders were the stock power cords, and two I submitted to them. Each of the two I provided were from the same company, with the same construction geometry. They differed in both wire material and gauge. One was silver, using 13 gauge conductors. The other was copper, with 8 gauge conductors. I feel the timing of their comments is a Godsend, considering this thread. The following are their opinions, not mine. First of all, both feel that TREMENDOUS improvements were made to their sound over the stock cords. So, both are now converts to "audiophile" power cords. Previously, both thought this was all BS. Belonging to the "wire is wire" club. Both felt the silver cord to be significantly better than the copper, despite its featuring much smaller conductors. The copper sounded duller, more lifeless, and less real. The silver had a presence that they were not used to. A realness that they do not want to give up. The knock on the silver cable is it would not be roadworthy. They also asked about the possibility of making our own, which would stand up to the rigors of playing out. I have accepted the challenge, and feel that we will build our "ultimate power cord" within the next couple of months. I will build three. One for each of us. It will be silver, featuring a silver male end(if anyone is aware of a source of a silver IEC connector, I would be most appreciative). Guage should come in between 6 and 10 AWG. It will feature a rugged jacket and plugs. Possibly a braid. Yet, it will look very sedate. The reason being people steal stuff that looks interesting, and we don't want our cable to look interesting to anyone. I will evaluate this cable in my system, using both my CD player and integrated amplifier. If results are promising, I will start a thread regarding the cord. I now feel that anyone who doubts the sonic differences of a power cord to be anything but "objective", and will stop referring to such people as what they have traditionally been called.

Trelja -

Interesting post and information. One question - were these blind tests, or did the musicians know which cord they were using? If they did . . .

Cheers,
Jordan

Elizabeth-
I like your story, but... you may be confusing Apsaras with Asuras. Apsaras are more likely to be making the music that the Devas are appreciating. For power cords I understand that they prefer the Shunyata King Cobras, of course.

Bill Lowe, the founder of Audioquest explained it to me once. He said first, their power cable uses better quality copper, also a few solid core conductors shielded from each other instead of cheap skinny copper and many conductors laying on top of each other. The thicker copper made it easier to draw power and the aftermarket powercords have better shielding. All the rest of the stuff he told me went way over my head and therefore I don't remeber! It did make a big difference on my DC-1 though. The strangest tweak of them all is the sorbothane feet because both my collegue and myself noticed a difference but couldn't tell you what it was, although someone else who had them noticed a difference and was able to put the difference into words for me.

Jordan, the musicians did not test the cords blindly. They knew exactly what they were using. Please see my post in this thread dated May 4th. My friend was using the cord, and was happy. A recording session went REALLY well. Later, he switched back to the stock cord and was playing and seemed to be in a funk for a few days. Something just didn't sound right. Was it his playing, did he need new strings, etc.? He decided to try the cord I gave him again. Instantly, everything snapped back to what he had grown accustomed to. He then tried the copper cord, and gave the silver one to his bandmate. Then, they switched. After a week or two, these two guys who belonged to the "wire is wire" philosophy were cable converts. Not only were they able to determine that the better cords bested their stock cords, they were able to describe in detail why they preferred the sound of the silver cord over the copper one. In fact, their descriptions completely mirrored those of us audiophiles who are partial to silver. It was superior to copper in terms of detail, microdynamics, immediacy, speed, and presence(the word they keep going back to). For these guys, the quality of silver more than offsets the quantity of copper. So, I am sorry but the improvement in a power cord over a stock cord is most definitely not just a function of larger conductors.