Power Cord Stress

I have a wood rack & screwed a small plastic telephone cable clamp directly above the IEC jack & used a shoestring w/two half hitches & tied up the IEC ends of the PC's. That holds the biggest PC in place.

I recently purchased the 688 PC made by TG Audio & it's nice & lightweight in addition to its being a very nice sounding PC.

There are peel and stick pads that serve as mounts for tie wraps sold at Home Depot and other hardware stores. My favorite spot to mount these is on the back of my equipment shelves, securing them with a tiny wood screw once position is perfect. All that is left is to draw a tie wrap through the mount and around the cable you wish to support.

If the mount pad wont reach, loop two tie wraps together. This is a very simple inexpensive solution, it's non magnetic and electrically non conductive. If you make a mistake just cut the tie wrap with side cutters and draw a fresh one through.

Every interconnect and power cable in my system is supported in this way. Not only does this keep the weight from pulling on the equipment, it prevents damage to RCA connectors and the connection pins inside the IEC.

If your situation has gone too far and the IEC female is NOT shrunk wrapped from the factory (varies brand to brand), simply unscrew the cover and pinch the copper contacts to nearly closed position. Obviously this is done with power off and requires care and even pressure when reinserting into your equipment. Use common sense in replacing the IEC cover, with attention to it's alignment and proper tensioning of the screw that holds it together.

If you want a light weight and flexible power cord that sounds as good as the heavy weights, try the Pure Note Sigma, www.purenote.com/powercords.htm

On a mechanical level IEC connections suck. For manufacturers they are great, cheap and "universal", but, for the user they cause nothing but trouble as, mechanically, they are garbage. You pay $1000+ for a power cord and are reduced to using cable ties to keep your gear plugged in. Now that is sad.

Why not use twist lock connectors? They have been used in hospitals, industrial, military, and the electronics industries for years. They use a positive lock, have a huge contact area, and most are self cleaning. The only down size is that the equipment recepticles can be rather large. But,lets face it; on most pieces of gear that is unimportant (further, compact sized units are available).
Compare a NEMA L-5 connector (15-30A 125v) to an IEC. Its like a MB 420 versus a Yugo.

When are we going to start demanding connectors that works?