After Market Power Cables - Gold or Snake Oil?

I'm an engineer but my emag and circuit theory is way too rusty to even begin to argue one way or the other on the technical details. I'm sure folks could use Maxwell's equations, Lenz and Faraday laws etc. up the ying-yang to prove there was or was not an effect to substantiate their arguments either way.

I do believe that there are factors, such as washing machines, rheostats, hair dryers, RF or whatever, that can add noise/distortion and corrupt the power that sits on the power line circuits of your house. Filtering/regeneration can absolutely improve upon the power being fed to your components in ways that are measurable and audible/visible. To me however, I find it tough to believe that the electricity that started it's journey far away at some power station somewhere, traveling through miles and miles of power lines, transformers, distribution stations etc., all manufactured by the lowest bidder, can be measurably improved in some way by a special cable in the last 4 feet before it enters a component.

But with as open a mind as I could have, I've listened to equipment with stock cables and listened to that same equipment with "upgraded" power cables. I can't honestly say I heard a difference much less an improvement.

In the end though, all the statistics and measuring and equations don't really matter. If you think you hear an improved sound from your system because of a power cord then good for you, they're gold. If you don't think you hear an improvement, power cables fall into the snake oil category. I don't hear an improvement from power cords so for me they are not worth it.

Just so you know, I'm not a fanatic who needs everything proven to him before accepting it. For example, I wear a copper bracelet on my wrist because I experience less joint pain in my fingers and wrists when I wear it. I haven't seen any credible scientific evidence to explain why that is, though I'm sure there are folks that will claim to be able to explain it to me. I'm equally sure that there are people out there that will claim to have scientific evidence to disprove the copper has any beneficial effect. To me it doesn't really matter whether it can be scientifically explained or is totally psychosomatic. I feel better when I wear it. For me the bracelet is worth it.

Same with cables. Some folks think they improve the sound, others do not. Your mileage may vary.

I'm trying to understand. If the expensive cords DON'T help, it's becuse I can't hear, or my equipment is too lousy to be improved by a cord, and of course the answer to that one is that I need to buy more expensive equipment so I can then purchase more expensive power cords and then I will hear the difference. I think it's all been said in this thread. Everything is system dependent, so something expensive purchased may not be an improvement. This of course lets the seller off the hook completely. It just didn't work in my system. What to do? Go get some more cords. Certainly something should work. If anyone should know what the proper power cord is for a give piece of equipment is, it's the manufacturer. Are they cheating us with crappy cords? If not, then why can't they give us something that we won't have to change right away. Or at the very least, they would know what the ultimate upgrade would be, thus saving us a lot of time and money. If this stuff was cheap I'd have no complaint, but we're talking very expensive electronics. I think that the Emperor is stark naked.

If 18 gauge cable floats your boat then use it. As for me, I admit to other motives beyond demonstrable sonic return. I want minimum 12 gauge shielded power cord and good strong connections to hospital grade outlets. It is just basic good grooming.

Elmuncy, SOME manufacturers go to the trouble of buying nice 2x14AWG Chinese or domestic 5' cables for about $8. Yet the rubber or PVC-insulated wires in these costs about six cents per foot! Said manufacturers need to multiply their raw goods costs to make a profit.
A great "high end" wire like Belden 83802 costs $1.55/ft in 1000' spools, or about TWENTY-FIVE times as much! A manufacturer simply will not spend that kind of money on a power cord. Yet you can make yourself a mighty nice PC for very little investment if you wire it yourself. As a convenience I assemble all the components (and instructions...NO SOLDERING required) for a DIY 5' PC Kit for only $33 + $7 shipping. Sorry to plug here, but you probably WILL hear a difference with good clean 12AWG copper sitting in nothing but pure Teflon, surrounded by a full, braided-shield. Quietness, detail, and dynamics all improve. If you can't hear it then yes your system is simply NOT a highly resolving one, and thus not capable of high-performance musical reproduction. But that doesn't mean you can't dance or sing along. That's what automobiles are for, eh? Cheers.

For the record, I've made power cords for most of my components out of Carol industrial cord, 12 gauge, with hospital grade connectors on each end. That makes sense to me and it's as far as I'm willing to go.