I am currently using several Montgomery Scott power cables by Klingon Enterprises as interfaces between my units and power conditioner as well as from mains to the power conditioner itself I also tried their Mr. Spock power cable but it is a bit cold and too much analytical for my set-up. Of course I dream about their James T. Kirk top-of-the-line POWER Cable, but at 18lb & 8.6k$ per foot maybe it is a bit overkill for my Crosley CD/DVD/Cassette/Vinyl and my Tin Gan Ling 100% China made integrated. please smile once in a while
Are you talking about wires inside the house? We already have aluminum from pole to pole and from pole to the house. We don't have any aluminum inside the house.
FYI - In Ontario, homes with aluminum wiring were deemed a fire hazard, many paid to have wiring completely removed and replaced with copper wiring. USA too: The Fire Dangers of Aluminum Wiring
The only possible explanations for power cables improving sound as opposed to a slight difference. 1. The standard cable was of poor quality. 2. Given an IEC rather than captive cable - the connections are responsible for the difference. 3. The fancy cable is filtering out some mains rubbish. 4. Unplugging your old cable and replugging your new has introduced clean plug pins and cleaned the wall socket. The budget Kimber mains cable I tried only improved one component I tried (an amplifier). So a marginal improvement dependent on component design. Did not encourage me to waste further money. Maybe spend money for cables on balanced mains or regeneration.
It may be that something like this is due to the contacts being a bit dirty (is that oxide? help me out guys). Just the act of pugging in and unplugging can scrape some of that away. It's considered good audio maintenance to pull all of your various connections periodically and wipe them down with a product specified for that use.
Exactly. My home was built long before aluminum wiring was a thing. Still, the power lines you see or don't if they are underground are most likely aluminum.
I've played with power cords quite a bit over the years and there is definitely a difference between many of them. The most pronounced was when I installed a Nordost Valhalla (first version) onto my power amp after having used a Signal (something) for some time. Air around the instruments, clarity and detail immediately ratcheted upward. It was shocking at first--some people might have immediately said it was too bright--but I decided to just let it settle in as it likely hadn't been plugged into a system for awhile. After a bit it did settle in as I expected it would. What a fabulous upgrade (and since I got it on the secondary market it was half the list price). At one point I had installed some rather inexpensive red cord (manufacturer I can't recall) but the name of it was Red Storm--it was around $80 or so and it the time it did bring greater clarity to the signal. I thought it was a relative bargain. That Signal cord mentioned earlier had been a minor upgrade at approximately a $220 price point. Another cord that made a noticeable difference was the JPS Digital AC cord. Designed specifically for digital components, I plugged it into my CD player and there was a instant change in articulation and clarity. I can't recall the price on that but I don't believe it got to four figures, even new. I picked up a JPS Kaptovator which used to be the top of the JPS line and I use it for my power conditioner. I honestly can't say I heard any great difference when I did that but I do feel better having a higher quality power cord for that unit (I plug my power amp straight into the wall). There's been a few "custom" power cords I've tried at low price points--up to $120 or so--but with the exception of the Red Storm mentioned above, none of them made any audible difference. I should mention that all of this swapping out of various power cords was going on as I built toward my present system so many of those low cost cords were being experimented with on gear that was not the quality of what I presently use. I do subscribe to the idea that better gear is more revealing (just my experience) and so if there are benefits (or faults) to be exposed, it is with higher-end gear that you will experience many of them.
I have always been extremely skeptical that power cords could make a difference in the sound, and the one and only high end cord I have ever tried in my system I could not hear any difference with when I connected it one of my power amps. I have had mixed experiences with power conditioners. Some helped, and some I could not hear a difference, and others screwed-up the sound. But at least these make sense to me in concept. However I would be willing to try a fancy cord again if I knew of a relatively inexpensive cord that people have actually been able to hear a difference with. Do any of you guys have any suggestions of a great, yet inexpensive, power cord to try? This post is not an attempt to troll. I'm not trying to get into a debate on this topic. I'm genuinely curious, and have an open-enough mind to give this a try again since I have found many things in audio which I know for a fact make a difference don't make very much sense to me either. But the last $250 or so I spent on a fancy cord made no difference which I could discern when connected to one of my power amps. Unfortunately most of my components have integrated power cords, so I only have a few places inside of my system where I can try a fancy cord.
Clearly if it makes such a pronounced audible difference, surely it is measurable too, right? Not to pick on any one post here, but help me out, what would I look for to corroborate "dark and rich" or "etched" in a waveform that was in sample B, but missing in sample A? Is there a guide or resource that describes / shows the audio waveforms and/or stats that support what is being heard by swapping out the electron flow guidance apparatus (cords), with descriptive audio sounds rather than electronic minutiae? It seems that would be one of the first "buyers guide" approaches, quantifying the benefit you will realize audibly of your product to attract a potential buyer? I would be much more inclined to dive in, having some notion of what the expected audible musical difference will be? I've got money to spend, but I want some guidance as to where to begin and expectations regarding the benefits I am going to get from my upgrade investment. Is there anyone publishing or using this type of approach / marketing?
What makes me puzzled is that this whole thread started talking about a $265 High End power cord. The topic is so hot that nobody did notice this slight misuse of a term?
Given the endless possible combinations of any number of power cords and components I would say that is a difficult thing to accomplish, if not impossible. So much of this is a function of chemistry. In the end it is a matter of experimentation; just find the cheapest way to do it.
Well, I'm not certain how much the exotic cable industry (or manufacturers of other escoterica) has contributed to the fortunes of any country but doubtless it has done so for a select few individuals.
Everyone's budget will determine what is "high end" to them. My spending $265 on a power cord is "high end" to me.
You know why your post was deleted. Who is the "THEY" you mentioned? Just watch your tone and things will be OK. Also, a moderator told me your gear profile is blank. Fill it out so we can understand what you are hearing. Thanks.
This thread made me try to find info about that cheap power cable i mentioned in an earlier post. The manufacturer is (or was, whichever) Element Cable. I thought I'd paid about $80 for it but it looks like it was less than that. Here's a review (don't get thrown off by the EAR title): StereoTimes -- The EAR 834P Phono Preamplifier I see in the review that it was designed for digital components so I can only imagine I had it installed to my CDP but I honestly don't recall; it was many years ago. I was running rather mid-fi gear at the time and the cord opened things up a bit. It might be worth a shot for someone as a cheap experiment.
Thank you for taking the time to research and list all four of the ONLY possible explanations of how a power cable could improve sound. Since the explanation I formulated based on personal experience and subsequent measurements is NOT on your list, I must conclude I am completely delusional. But, perhaps the real kernel of knowledge is in the last few words, "improving sound as opposed to a slight difference." If there is a difference, slight or not, then it would seem that one should be able to determine which is better, yes? IOW, a slight difference would have one improving the sound perceived while the other would be a step back. Many people feel that when they find something that makes an improvement, marginal or not, they will want to keep pushing that button to further their marginal improvements, which all together, could result in a noteworthy improvement. Then again, some people, when confronted by an improvement, will say, "nope, I'm not going to waste further money on it."
I have yech power here, so didn't think my power was really worth bothering with - other than getting a regenerator (doesn't PS Audio make one now?) Can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, right? Before I'd broken in my Oppo 105 I was slightly nonplussed with the lack of bass and solidity. I swapped in the new Shunyata I'd received with it and was surprised that it indeed made a significant difference. One friend who claimed he'd heard no difference from his previous visit with the stock cable later confided to me that he sometimes uses an old fashioned (whistling) hearing aid and suffers from tinnitus, and can't listen to anything at loud volume else it turns to white noise. So then I put on some Throbbing Gristle...
