Home Cable Asylum

Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

Re: How is it that power cords can make a sonic difference???

I used to think this power cord/interconnect stuff was nutty until I bought a plasma HDTV. The picture was so bad I was ready to send it back. Thanks to suggestions here, I replaced the power cord with shielded, 12 gauge wire and industrial fittings. Amazing! An s-video cable from Better Cables improved the picture further.

At the point, I figured, what the heck, lets see what happens with the audio gear. I have a decidely inexpensive system, a Foreplay, Art/DIO tied into a PC audio server, a couple of GR-Research speakers in different rooms, and two cheapie Audiosource Amp IIs.

The Audiosource power cords were junk, as in zip cord. Replaced with 14/3 shielded Belden cable, floated the ground, got a couple of heavy duty plugs at Home Depot. Did the same favor for the PC. They had a nice 8-outlet/metal box/extension cord at HD, so I bought that too, on the assumption that everything I ran into it would have the same ground potential. Also replaced that cord with shielded Belden.

Well doggone, up until then I didn't know what they meant by a "black" background. Junk I didn't know I was hearing disappeared. The space between cd tracks sorta hits you on the head, and subtle content (yes, Dianna Krall licking the bassman's ear) became audible.

At less than $2 per foot, this is a hugely effective upgrade. You'd think that you need high end equipement to hear something as subtle as a power cord, but I have to wonder whether the counterintuitive is true, since the cords on cheap stuff are so inadequate.




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  • Re: How is it that power cords can make a sonic difference??? - LouD 01:41:44 09/16/03 (0)


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