Power Cord Test

ninerbj

A good read for those who believe and those who don't.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_4/feature-article-blind-test-power-cords-12-2004.html

dorokusai

I think that was conducted about as well as it could possibly be. Nice read.

I have dealt witrh Cristine Zmunda from Parasound quite a few times, she's great. I wish she would let ME keep some JC1 monoblocks for a double blind test.

steveinaz

Very interesting read. These folk's did no better quessing cables than they would have flipping a coin...

bknauss

Man, that thing is detailed... I'll have to wait until tonight before I can get the time to really read it.

One note, I was glad to see that they showed the excel sheet. This should answer a lot of questions... if it wasn't included and numbers were thrown out, I would have questioned the results for either (or no) conclusion.

faster100

Ive been testing this SC power cord, and thus far havent been able to tell a sonic difference.. on cd, or pre-amp. I think the most noticeable would be on a power amp, although my Rotel doesnt have a IEC, unfortunatly.. but if the experts and novice alike can't tell, guess its a good indicator

I think its good "just because' to use a heavier cord, cool factor.. more gauranteed power, no overheating of the cord... But sonics is subjective.. I think i may do a few DIY cords though as i love the looks of this SC cord,

steveinaz

Well, my take is--if it's really this difficult to discern a difference, then you only have a 48% success rate; should you really spend 300 bucks on that cool looking ac cable?

To each his own I guess. Me, I'll put my money into an upgraded source or speakers. If you need esoteric cables to get your system to sound right, you need to re-look your components. I think you should have a good quality/well built/engineered cable, but if you're spending $950 on an IC or $400 on an ac cable---bring your speakers to my house and I'll massage your tweeters for $200. PT Barnum....oh hell, nevermind.

Of course, if you're a lottery winner or close relative to Bill Gates...disregard.

tryrrthg

Originally posted by steveinaz
Me, I'll put my money into an upgraded source or speakers. If you need esoteric cables to get your system to sound right, you need to re-look your components.

BINGO!

I agree with Steve. Good connectors, good shielding and I'm good to go. Several hundred dollars on a cable is rediculous in my book. Spend that money on gear or even MORE important acoustic treatments!

steveinaz

Let me try to qualify my statements with a recent epiphany....

The other day I setup my garage for a party. Threw down some indoor/outdoor carpet, brought the bar in from the back patio...etc, etc, anywho, to make a short story long....I have a set of Pinnacle CGT speakers and and old Yamaha receiver (65 watts I think) and a Tosh 3950 DVD I use for CD's (un-modified). I threw this stuff in the garage paying no attention to speaker placement, cable routing...blah, blah. I used some sorry-**** no-name 18awg speaker wire that I got at the grocery store, of all places; had ac cables laying on top of IC's (which are 99 cent jobbies that come with components).

Bottom line? A crappy setup. Man does it sound good! You heard me. It sounds wonderful.

Moral of the story, enjoy your music...STOP di-secting it.

dorokusai

I like upgraded PC's. I do perceive a difference on my system, and that's all that matters to me.

I will continue to upgrade, to a point. Signal Cable is my max for power cords, as I won't pay $200-**** for a power cable either. I don't have any interest in it's jacket, or ferrite content, or super copper....it's just a power cable for AC delivery.

I would spend more on my Interconnects, as I feel there is much more to that idea, but again will not go crazy in that genre either.

You must find your benchmark, and set some limits, otherwise I agree, you're wasting money.

LuSh

I would have agreed with you guys 2 months ago, untill I upgraded my source. Using a Museatex DAC with a NAD 541i as a transport I used several different cables. The one I kept was a Moray James Digital coax ($500 CDN retail). Nothing was subtle in terms of differences between it a $400 Harmonic Technology's CyberLink and much cheaper Van Den Hul.

The differences were like changing a component. Nothing was subtle. The dynamic and harmonic changes were striking. Was it worth the used price of $300 I paid? Yes. There was NO WAY I could have spent $300 somewhere else on my system. I have a digital front end that can compete with most $3-4k CD players. I took me about $2k to get there. Including the cable and upgraded XLO power cable. It was worth it for me. If I had the funds I would have gone ahead and kept the Harmonic Technology Prosilay mkII's, that was the ultimate combo.

Cable do make sense. Spending $500 on IC's for a source or preamp that is under $1000 is rather foolish imho, but the further you move up the chain the easier it is to see significant results.

I seriously doubt a Moray James cable would make a huge difference when connected to a Sony CD player to an Receiver (there would be differences). The overall fidelity is not there in the first place to expose the differences.

RuSsMaN

Like with all things audio, there is a point of dimenishing returns. That, and the market is flooded with voodoo - but also good quality cables.

Don't expect a night and day difference with gruntball, entry level gear and power cords. You need to take a step up in quality, before you can start tweaking the resolution and details.

Cheers,
Russ

polkatese

Just to chime in my three cents' worth of experience on power cable:

I use SC Power cable throughtout my HT and 2 channel systems. I did notice the improvement when I put them in the first time (back in early 2003). For me, what it boils down to is the objective: to push my system resolutions to its maximum potential and within the cost range (i.e. subjectively comparable cost to the rest of the chain). Other than the cool factor, heavier power cable gauge, taken within the context of the overal chain, do make a "difference" Whether it is better or not, it is up to your subjective ears...

dcarlson

Not to disclaim the test. I think it's one thing to listen to someone else's system and try and evaluate what you're hearing and a different thing to try stuff and listen on your own personal system.

I have a SC magic powercord and a Cardas Cross powercord. Depending where I put them in the chain it can make a significant difference. On my CDP it's not a night and day difference in a short listening session.... However, when I have them in there for an extended period, I always end up back with the Cross for it's smoothness. The difference is there. On my integrated the difference is much larger and the Cross is my preferred choice all of the time, no question.

TheReaper

My take on power cords:

No reputable manufacturer intentionally puts a power cord on a device, that cannot handle the current draw of the device. If they did, the cord would heat up and become a safety/fire hazard. Resulting in recalls and possible lawsuits (if an actual fire), both of which are not very profitable.

Not to mention that both UL and NEC require the current draw to be no more than 80% of the cord rating.

bknauss

I think we all need to remember something:
If someone buys something and notices a good difference, then so be it.

shack

I was a total powercord skeptic until I went throught Doro's cable swap. I got the Signal Cable Magic Powercord fully expecting it to make NO difference in my modest gear. I WAS WRONG! If you care to read it my review is HERE.

I agree with Russ that there is probably a dimenishing returns especially that is closely corelated with the quality of the gear as well.

No reputable manufacturer intentionally puts a power cord on a device, that cannot handle the current draw of the device.

I don't think it is a question of whether the cords or cables are "capable" of performing the intended function. The question is how well do the do the job. Even with a good quality CD or DVD player what is alway in the box? El cheapo audio patch cords that are horrible. Companies put in the most cost effective cables and leave it to the consumer to upgrade if they choose. The same applies to powercords. The majority of the audio buying public could care less. There is a reason why some high end gear is sold with NO powercords at all....the mfg. knows that the high end consumer will generally upgrade anyway.

As I said, I was a skeptic about speaker cables, interconnects, powercords, etc... But after lots of testing, I am now a believer....just ask my bank account.

Emlyn

Maybe I'm missing something in the article, but if they were running everything through a Sonic Integrity power regulator, couldn't the power regulator have affected the results of the test by imparting its own characteristics on the sound of the system that masked subtle power cord differences?

I'd probably want to run Halo monoblocks straight to the wall outlet for a test like this, but it's not clear to me whether they tried this.

I have noticed a subtle difference between running a Rotel RB-1090 amp with a PS Audio Statement power cord versus a generic one in my own system. Granted it wasn't a double blind test though.

F1nut

A number of flaws in my eyes, some mentioned already. Bottom line, if you don't try it in your system with music that you are familiar with, what's the point. I think we all agree that this is a subjective hobby and this is but another example.

mantis

Nice read... I enjoyed it.

With that being said , I found power products in general to make a difference in overall system performance. I have tried Kimber Kable , Monster , Cardas , and standard power cables. Each setup reproduced different results. Replacing the outlet also seems to do something.

The age old question is "do better or more expensive cables make a difference? ..... I believe only the one asking the question can answer the question.

Over the years I have seen many different opnions on this very subject. Power cables , speaker wire it doesn't even matter what your testing or asking about. There is always 2 sides of opnions.

I believe again everyone needs to answer this question with there own system thereselves. I love nothing more then playing with cables and trying to hear something better different or worse. Sometimes it's so damn close I can't make a decesion. Other times it's night and day difference.

When you into something like we are , you get so juiced on what it looks like , the name is wears , pride of owership that sometimes it may over shadow your true opnion.

So many good cables out there.........

dorokusai

Originally posted by mantis
So many good cables out there.........

And so little time.....

amulford

Interesting read, but long winded. I'm not impressed.

I am in the same boat as Shack. I was not a supporter of the idea, until I heard it myself, on my system. Now I believe. Simple.

It is subjective, period. And a matter of preferences. If I want to spend the money, I earned it and it's my system. If you don't agree, so be it. I'm not asking for anyone's opinion or approval...

Just my take.

HBombToo

I have never been a supporter of 1000 dollar cables for mass market components. That is how I read "point of diminishing returns". At this juncture money spent on electronics is the way to go IMHO.

I do believe that cables beit power or interconnect are a part of the overall system regardless of price and do make a difference.

I would hope that everyone would ensure quality throughout the system and for this reason have no issue with exotics; however, I would hope that all would do a sufficient amount of research prior to a large purchase to ensure quality over a marketing campaign.

Point in case, I found a site pushing cryo treatment for tubes and nearly fell out of this chair. "****" is all I have to say but again I may be wrong.

HBomb

Joey_V

Crazy! Cryo-treatment? Wow.

PolkThug

ninerbj wrote:

A good read for those who believe and those who don't.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_4/feature-article-blind-test-power-cords-12-2004.html

This is a great read. If you fear ABX, don't click on it.

hearingimpared

PolkThug wrote:

This is a great read. If you fear ABX, don't click on it.

Didn't we just go through this with johnada or whatever his handle is????