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

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Re: Hi Billyjo

Posted by pctower on April 25, 2002 at 07:46:57:
I wrote that last response right after I got up this morning. Now that Iâ€™ve had a good slug of coffer, Iâ€™m going to try for a little more clarity.
Logically, it seems to me that only two things can happen to power between the wall and the equipment â€“ either (1) damage (to the power in the cable or to signal in adjacent cables in close proximity) or (2) filtering.
You and I have both been exposed to technical arguments over the type of damage that can occur as a result of power cables and its audibility. Even though my experience tells me that some power cables do less damage than others, Iâ€™m not convinced that the yeasayers have made a convincing technical argument that explains why some cables will do less damage than others that leads to sonic differences.
But I think everyone agrees that the power coming into our homes carries with it RFI. There is disagreement over the capacity of our equipmentâ€™s power supply to filter out RFI obviating the necessity of further filtering of the line current, but at least there is common agreement that RFI leaking into the signal stage is a bad thing. In addition, most PLCs employ traditional methods for power filtering (transformer, capacitive filter circuits, or both), rather than the voodoo magic that seems to surround the power cord issue. The issue with filtering seems not to be whether it is real, but rather (1) how to do it without creating adverse side effects, such as compression of dynamics, and (2) is filtering of the line current necessary.
My own experience tells me that further filtering of line current beyond what my equipmentsâ€™ power supplies are capable of produces significant sonic improvements.
Now, as to your situation, you are looking primarily at your power amp. As I previously said, not all PLCs have the capacity to handle power amps. Some people believe you are always better plugging an amp directly into the wall. With my PP-1, I have found that running amps off of my PLC is superior to coming straight out of the wall. However, if I were starting from scratch today, I would probably try a power cable for my amps that claimed effective filtering before going to a PLC for my amps, because this is the simpler circuit for getting power from wall to equipment and there is less chance on inserting additional problems in the process. That is why Iâ€™m suggesting you consider trying to audition Virtual Dynamic cables.
Other cables, such as TG Audio cables, may also claim to provide filtering. Since Iâ€™m primarily concerned with getting power from my PLC to the equipment I have not really focused much on cable company claims regarding the filtering qualities of their cables.
Since Bob Crump and other cable manufacturers canâ€™t discuss their products here unless someone asks a question, Iâ€™ll pose this question to Bob and any other cable manufacturer who cares to respond: do your power cables provide filtering, and if they do, could you explain how they accomplish such filtering?
During my stint at AR, I grew accustomed to peppering my posts with all sorts of disclaimers. So, I include the following disclaimer with this post.

DISCLAIMER: The preceding post was written by a lawyer who, when discussing technical issues, has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. Anyone who relies in any way on the foregoing should be committed.